Myles Rice attacked the interior, searching for a final bucket to close out the first half for Indiana men’s basketball. As the redshirt sophomore guard lifted his attempt toward the basket, Rutgers guard/forward Ace Bailey soared through the air to emphatically block the layup.
The block capped off a stellar first-half performance for the freshman phenom, who scored 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting and had three blocks, the final coming against Rice. It seemed only fitting Bailey contribute the final highlight of the half.
Except, that wasn’t the final highlight of the half.
As the ball careened off the glass, there was still time on the clock. Anthony Leal knew that and in one motion, turned and launched a shot toward the basket.
The ball hung in the air for a few moments, but after a soft touch off the backboard, the net rippled with Leal’s first 3 points of the game.
A veteran play from the fifth-year senior guard resulted in Indiana’s 41-34 halftime lead. And that play, which only occurred because of Leal’s hustle granting a second opportunity, encapsulated the Hoosiers' performance in their 84-74 victory over Rutgers on Thursday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
It took only four seconds for Indiana to take the lead, thanks to Malik Reneau’s dunk. However, only 25 seconds later, the junior forward fell to the hardwood, suffering an injury that held him out for the rest of the contest.
With sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo not in the starting lineup following his absence against Winthrop University on Sunday, Indiana was dealt a major blow with one of its three featured big men exiting.
But head coach Mike Woodson noted postgame Indiana has a next man up mentality. Which is why it comes as no surprise that Ballo had one of his best performances of the season –– in his first appearance off the bench.
“He played dominant,” Leal said postgame. “We know that’s what he can do. That’s why we brought him here, to be a dominant presence down there, and that’s where we needed him today.”
It wasn’t just Ballo. Leal managed to stifle Bailey after he scored 11 points in nine minutes, producing a top defensive effort that seemed off-putting to the Scarlet Knight. The Bloomington native understood his role, playing hounding defense on the five-star recruit.
“He's projected to go where he's going to go, so (I) just tried to make it tough on him and tried to make him hit contested shots, which today he did,” Leal said on Bailey. “But it's a team game so we were able to get the win.”
That was the difference between both squads Thursday.
Indiana had four scorers in double figures, with senior forward Luke Goode just behind with 9 points. The Hoosiers dished out 16 total assists, secured 48 total rebounds and committed only eight turnovers, three coming in a minute segment of the second half.
Conversely, Bailey’s 39 points were over 50% of Rutgers’ total scoring output –– no other player reached double digits. The Scarlet Knights only had seven total assists and 36 rebounds, 12 fewer than the Hoosiers.
It was a total team performance from Indiana in almost every aspect. From the shooting to the bench production to the defending, the Hoosiers completed a full team performance when it needed it most.
Indiana did not ride much momentum into Thursday’s contest. Just four days earlier, the Hoosiers shot 1 for 20 from behind the arc in the close 77-68 Winthrop victory. On Dec. 21, the Hoosiers needed an escape act to survive the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga winning 74-65.
Extending back to the Nebraska defeat on Dec. 13, Indiana had not produced a quality performance, either due to its 3-point struggles, defensive inefficiencies or lack of effort.
And because of that, a win over Rutgers entering 18 straight conference games was paramount.
Now riding a 3-game win streak, regardless of the manner in which it was obtained, Indiana has a blip of confidence. It has seemingly quelled its turnover issues, shot phenomenally from 3-point range for the first time in almost a month and held its opponent to 28.6% from behind the arc.
The Rutgers victory saved Indiana’s season from a disaster, as a loss would have been a Quad-3 defeat. But now, two of Indiana’s next three contests are Quad-1 win opportunities, a necessity for a squad that has next to nothing on its resume.
As was the case against Minnesota, the blueprint for success has been achieved. Whether Indiana continues down this path, one that sees Big Ten success overshadow a lackluster nonconference showing, is what will determine its season.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
