The Indiana Hoosiers were without VJ3, but they certainly owned the three tonight versus New Mexico State in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2008.
Verdell Jones III had been a key cog for IU this year, and been the BMOC during some lean years in Bloomington. I’m a little sad he didn’t get to play in the tourney given what he’s dealt with. Well, I’m not actually sad because those problems are trivial compared to other things, but it’s still unfortunate for the Champaign native.
IU beat NMSU the same exact way, they’ve beaten most of their opponents this season, by owning the perimeter on both ends.
Indiana held the Aggies to just 31% from behind the arc (4-13), while hitting half of their treys (7-14). Jordan Hulls, arguably one of the worst defenders in college basketball, can certainly bring it on the offensive end.
Tonight he did, scoring a game high 22 points on 8-12 from the floor, 4-6 from behind the arc. It was an exciting night for the IU faithful, who’ve had VERY LITTLE to get up for since the corruption of Kelvin Sampson ravaged the program like an F5 tornado cutting through a small southern Indiana town.
“I was pretty pumped all day for this game,” said Indiana super-fan Chris Hellinga.
“And IU’s big win was worth the wait. In prime time, the shooters really showed their A game.”
Three more Hoosiers added 14 points: Will Sheehey, Christian Watford and Cody Zeller.
After the abyss of the last four years, winning a tournament game never meant so much as it does now for a proud program with five national titles.
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