Indiana easily defeated Sam Houston State on Thursday 99-45. Senior Jordan Hulls was the man of the forty minutes scoring his 1,000th career point with 7:02 left in the game.
Hulls came into tonight's game needing 10 points to reach 1000 points, and he did exactly that before exiting the game. Hulls is only the 44th player in the history of the Indiana program to reach that milestone. He and his 183 threes also rank 7th among all active players
"That kid epitomizes Indiana basketball," Head Coach Tom Crean said after being asked about Hull's performance. "I'm extremely proud that he did that."
The Hoosiers were strong in all aspects of the game this evening. Junior Will Sheehey, who got his first start of the season, scored the first points of the game with a huge dunk off of a big transition pass from Hulls.
The points energized the team and brought fans to their feet. The team never looked back from there, continuing to score at will until the final buzzer sounded. Indiana had 5 players in double figures lead by Christian Watford who tallied 23 points while also playing hard on defense getting his hands on 13 deflections.
The Hoosiers used the second half to experiment with a lot of different defensive options. Previously playing a lot of man-to-man defense, the Hoosiers flashed a little zone and really focused on their half court play. The Hoosiers were able to score 13 points off of 19 Bearkat turnovers.
"You work hard to have fun on nights like tonight," Will Sheehey said.
Sam Houston State could not run with the Hoosiers who pushed the ball for the entire 40 minutes. Their leading scorer freshman Paul Baxter came off the bench to score 9 points. The Kats only shot 30.2 percent for the game.
The Hoosiers did struggle from the free throw line, shooting only 68.2 percent. Cody Zeller also only played 22 minutes because of a cold he has been battling since the beginning of the week.
The Hoosiers advance to play Georgia in New York on Monday in the next round of the Progressive Legends Classic. The Hoosiers are now 3-0 on the season.
