IU cruises past Samford 105-59

Fueled by a career-high 26 points from sophomore point guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell, IU dismantled Samford 105-59 Friday night at Assembly Hall.

Ferrell scored 17 points in the second half, including connecting on four 3-point field goals. He finished the game 5-for-7 from distance, and also added six assists.

"Yogi had his best game at Indiana thus far," IU Coach Tom Crean said. "Won't be his last best game. He let the game come to him. He established it defensively.

"You could see it coming. You could see it coming in the way he absorbed the film on Tuesday. You could see it coming the way he practiced yesterday, the way he's talking in walk-throughs. Slowly but surely Yogi is figuring out just how good he can be."

Sophomore forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea also set a new career-high in scoring, chipping in eight points. Six of his points came via three slam dunks, all of which drew loud applause from the fans. But perhaps the loudest ovation came during his second half dunk when he tipped in a missed layup from sophomore forward Austin Etherington with one hand.

"That one was nice," Ferrell said.

IU (3-0) never trailed in the game, as freshman forward Troy Williams started the scoring for IU with his own tip-in on the game's first possession. It was the second offensive rebound of the possession for the Hoosiers.

IU totaled 17 offensive rebounds on the night and dominated the paint, outscoring Samford 56-22.

Four Hoosiers reached double-figure scoring, including Ferrell. Freshman forward Noah Vonleh scored 13 and had 10 rebounds to tally his third consecutive double-double to start the season.

"He's probably one of the best freshman I've seen, especially as a big," graduate student guard Evan Gordon said.

Eight of Vonleh's 13 came in the first three minutes and 55 seconds of the game.

"This game, we tried to get an inside presence early," Ferrell said. "We were looking more inside-out."

Gordon scored double digits for the first time as a Hoosier netting 10.

Williams (10) was the other Hoosier to score double figures.

"Troy made as much progress as anybody has from Tuesday to Friday," Crean said.

At one time in the second half, the Hoosiers had a 51-point advantage.

IU's defense limited Samford to 29.9 percent shooting on the night. Part of that was IU's 10 blocks on the night. Freshman center Luke Fischer led IU in that category with three. It was the second time in the first three games IU has had 10 or more blocks.

IU went on a 24-4 run after Samford tied the game at 2 at the beginning of the game. From that point, the game was never in doubt.

During about a five-minute stretch from the 14:29 mark to the 9:07 mark in the first half, IU tallied four dunks, including two from Mosquera-Perea. During that stretch, IU grew its lead from 13 to 22 points.

In the second half, IU scored on every possession for seven consecutive possessions from the 14:50 mark to the 11:43 mark.

In that stretch, Ferrell made two 3-point field goals. IU grew its lead from 28 to 42 points during that time period.

Freshman forward Collin Hartman was the first player off the bench for IU and recorded his first bucket as a Hoosier in the first half. He finished with five points on the night on 2-for-3 shooting in 10 minutes of play.

"I think Collin was as shocked as anybody that he came in first," Crean said.

After just edging LIU Brooklyn just three days ago, Crean said he was pleased his team was able to come out and dominate a game and he liked how his team responded following the narrow-win on Tuesday.

"The bottom line is, I think they've grown," he said.

Samford is coached by former IU assistant coach Bennie Seltzer, who Crean asked fans to give a standing ovation for during his pregame video address.

Seltzer, who coached at IU from 2008-2012, said IU has changed a lot since his time in Bloomington.

"There's no doubt it's a different team than the one I left a few years ago," he said. "The athleticism of that team is completely off the charts. That's probably the most athletic team I've seen in a very long time.

"With that size and that athleticism, Indiana's going to be a very tough team to beat."