BLOOMINGTON — It wasn’t quite the shootout everyone expected, but Indiana basketball remained undefeated with a 86-69 win over Kansas State on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
The No. 24 Hoosiers (6-0) looked like it might run away with the game in the opening minutes by jumping out to a 16-point lead before fans settled into their seats. The Wildcats fought back to get within two points only for IU to reassert control with a 13-2 to end the half.
Indiana maintained a double-digit lead in the second half while experiencing some ups-and-downs on the offensive end — leading scorer Tucker DeVries didn’t score a field goal until there 15:00 to go in the game — thanks to a focused defensive effort against a team that came into the game averaging 92.8 points per game.
The game turned into a free-throw contest of sorts down the stretch with the teams combining for 45 fouls, but that wasn’t a problem for a Hoosiers lineup loaded with shooters. They went 22 of 29 from the line with Reed Bailey accounting for the majority of the freebies.
He had a game-high 21 points and was 13 of 15 from the charity stripe.
Indiana basketball shuts down Kansas State leading scorer PJ Haggerty
Indiana welcomed the challenge of facing the country’s leading scorer PJ Haggerty.
The Kansas State guard came into the game averaging 28.0 points per game this season with a pair of 30-point performances under his belt this season.
It was a team effort from IU’s backcourt to shut Haggerty down on Tuesday. He went into halftime with just as many turnovers (six) as points — he was called for travelling four times — and the Wildcats best offensive stretch in the half came with Haggerty on the bench.
He looked visibly frustrated at some of the calls (or lack thereof) and struggled to play through contact whenever Conor Enright was defending him.
Coming out of halftime, he missed his first four shot attempts, including a fastbreak layup that rolled off the rim. He looked to the officials for a whistle that never came and was slow to get back as IU turned the miss into a fastbreak of its own.
Haggerty finished with 16 points, his fewest points since a game on January 30 last year against Tulane.
Indiana basketball follows coach Darian DeVries advice to ‘keep shooting’ against Kansas State
Indiana tried to turn the page on its recent shooting woes by sticking to the game plan DeVries laid out for them earlier in the week.
“Keep shooting,” DeVries said when asked for the advice he gives players going through a shooting slump.
That’s what the Hoosiers did — they attempted 10 3-pointers in less than five minutes to open the game and went into halftime having attempted 22 3-pointers. That was more attempts than they had in all but seven games last season.
The advice produced mixed results with IU going cold from the field for long stretches while mixing in runs like one they had late in the first half where they scored 11 points in 70 seconds with multiple players knocking down 3-pointers.
This was only the second time in five seasons that Indiana attempted 30 or more 3-point attempts in a single game. The Hoosiers finished the game 10 of 33 from behind the arc to give them double the number of games (four) with double-digit made 3-pointers than they had last season.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball slows down potent Kansas State offense
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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