BLOOMINGTON — Everybody and their cousins Elwood, Bubba, LeRoy and Man-Man has been waiting for the Indiana Hoosiers hoop season to start. Well playa….the Hoosiers basketball season officially tipped off on Tuesday night with a 80-64 win over No.17 Florida State.
Sure, Indiana came into the joint 7-0 but they hadn’t played a real basketball team all season so the 7-0 record was suspect and I refused to acknowledge it as real until they actually played somebody. It’s IU for crying out. Has the program fallen that far from being legit that we have to play the little sisters of the poor and Boo-Boo State the first month of the season just to gain confidence? Is that what we’re doing now?
So I refused to write a recap to even watch a game until they played a real basketball team. Yeah, I knew that former Center Grove standout and McDonald’s All-American, Trayce Jackson-Davis, was balling and doing crazy work but I didn’t expect any less from him. I covered him in high school. I just wanted to see them play real basketball players before I got excited about the possibilities of the 2019-2020 season.
The Hoosiers pulled up in the red hot ’64 Impala with white interior with the seats leaned all the way back. Florida State came in with their usual swag and before they knew what hit them Indiana was out of the ride in the middle of the street throwing haymakers.
Led by senior Devonte Green’s 30 points off of the bench the Hoosiers stayed in control all night as they won their portion of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Ole boy was unconscious shooting 10 of 15 from the field, 5 of 7 from 3-point land and he knocked down another 5 free throws.. He finished with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals as well. Green is still trying to find his rhythm after missing the first three games due to a hamstring injury.
While Green was getting loose on these boyz, Trayce Jackson-Davis came out of the passenger seat shooting. He finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds while Justin Smith came out of the back seat with another 14 points for good measure.
The Hoosiers were lights out shooting 56 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the arc. That’s what I’m talking about playa. Show up when the lights come on. A nationally televised game with everybody watching including Big Momma and Aunt Betty. You’ve got to show up on nights like that and Indiana did just that.
Big Ten play starts on Saturday at Wisconsin. Let’s see how they respond on the road in a hostile environment. Stop me when I start lyin’!
