Field Level Media
Nov 9, 2018
Senior forward Juwan Morgan scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while freshman star Romeo Langford added 12 points as Indiana cruised to an 80-35 nonconference victory Friday night over visiting Montana State in Bloomington, Ind.
Sophomore forward Justin Smith scored 13 points and freshman guard Rob Phinisee added 12 for the Hoosiers (2-0), who sat just outside of the top 25 in the polls at the start of the season.
Senior forward Keljin Blevins had 13 points and six rebounds for Montana State (0-2), which was held to just 29.6 percent from the field in the first half (8 of 27) and 25.6 percent for the game (14 of 55).
No other player scored in double figures for the Bobcats, who were just 3-of-26 (11.5 percent) from 3-point range.
The game was never in doubt as Indiana jumped out to a 26-12 lead midway through the first half and 43-19 at halftime, while shooting 54.8 percent from the field (17 of 31) in the opening 20 minutes. The Hoosiers shot 56.1 percent (32 of 57) for the game.
Montana State was held to the lowest point total at Indiana's Assembly Hall since Western Kentucky was held to 40 points in a 2008 game.
Indiana took advantage of its size advantage to open the early lead, scoring 28 of its 43 first-half points in the paint.
After getting crushed on the boards 51-25 in their season opener against Utah State, the Bobcats showed some rebounding improvement. Montana State actually led Indiana 20-17 in rebounds in the first half and had 35 in the game to the Hoosiers' 40.
Indiana scored victories over Chicago State and Montana State in its first week of the season, but the schedule difficulty picks up quickly with games at home against Marquette and on the road at Arkansas next week.
Indiana is now 3-0 all-time against Montana State, with the previous two meetings taking place in 1953 and 1986.
--Field Level Media