Saturday was Ugly Sweater Night at Assembly Hall, and Savannah State brought an ugly offensive performance to go along with it.
IU leads Savannah State 43-17 at halftime. The Tigers entered the game as one of the least effective offensive teams in the nation, and it has shown thus far.
Savannah State has converted on just six field goals, has nine turnovers and was outrebounded by IU 23-13.
Savannah State started the game opting to immediately go with a press, regularly switching out its lineups to preserve energy, but that strategy wore away as the half progressed.
IU broke a string of empty possessions midway through the half with a 3-pointer by junior guard Nick Zeisloft that was immediately followed by a layup from freshman forward Emmitt Holt to make it 17-9 in favor of the Hoosiers.
The scoring was part of a 10-3 run that gave IU its first real breathing room of the night. As Savannah State continued a poor shooting night, IU continued to pull away.
Sophomore guard Stanford Robinson saw more playing time after being limited to just five minutes in IU’s win against Pittsburgh. He had a stretch of three minutes where he dished out two assists and converted on an and-1 opportunity to make it 20-12 with just under nine minutes left in the half.
Robinson finished with three points in six minutes. Junior guard Yogi Ferrell leads IU with 11 points.
Savannah State will have possession to start the second half.
Sam Beishuizen
