IU prevails over pesky Portland St.
BLOOMINGTON — A second consecutive win to open the season didn’t come easily for Indiana because its defense fell far short of coach Archie Miller’s expectations.
The Hoosiers’ 85-74 home triumph over pesky Portland State on Saturday wasn’t without its positives, but Miller shook his head about his team’s lack of toughness in guarding the ball, allowing a backcourt to hit eight 3-pointers and sending the Vikings to the foul line for 32 free throws.
“To be honest with you in the first week as we kind of look at things, if we don’t get our defense going in another direction here, we’re going to experience some really hard moments in games,” Miller said. “We can’t get stops. There’s just some alarming things out there defensively.”
Holland Woods and Matt Hauser each hit four 3pointers to keep the smallbut-feisty Vikings (1-1) close for about 30 minutes. Woods finished with a game-high 27 points and Hauser had 21.
“We’ve got to be better on the ball,” said Al Durham, who led his team with 18 points. “We’ve got to be better at help (defense). We’ve got to be able to close out and be able to guard. We’ve got a couple of things to work on and fine tune in practice.”
The Hoosiers (2-0) led just 58-53 with 11:41 remaining.
“The way we play, I think that we’re always going to be in it,” said Portland State coach Barret Peery. “Our guys keep coming. We’re going to pressure. We always play fast. I wasn’t scared of how we would play.”
Notre Dame 92, Robert Morris 57: Mike Brey liked what he saw at both ends of the court, and particularly in light of how young this college basketball season is.
“This is what, 20 home openers?” Brey said of his time as Notre Dame coach following Saturday’s 92-57 blowout victory over Robert Morris.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more pleased about one, given what I needed to see after last year,” the coach said.
“I saw some stuff today that I was going, man, that’s really good to see in November.”
Last season, the Fighting Irish (1-1) went 14-19, their worst record under Brey. On Saturday, according to the coach, they were a team that was fast, yet controlled, on offense, a team that guarded effectively and a team that performed fearlessly.
Dane Goodwin led a balanced attack with 18 points off the bench as Notre Dame improved to 20-0 in home openers under Brey.
T.J. Gibbs added 15 points, Prentiss Hubb 13, Robby Carmody 13 and John Mooney a doubledouble with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Already leading 39-20 at the break, the ball-sharing Irish effectively put the game away with a 16-2 spree over the first four minutes of the second half for a 55-23 advantage. All five ND starters scored during that spurt.
Josh Williams netted 18 of his game-high 21 points for the Colonials (0-2) in the second half, finishing 6of-16 on 3-pointers, but little else went right for the visitors.
“I thought our effort was horrendous,” RMU coach Andrew Toole said. “Obviously, their guys really know how to play. They take advantage of any crack in your armor. They’ll expose your weaknesses if you’re not engaged or urgent, and they did it to us all day long.”
The Irish shot 57% from the field while holding the Colonials to 34%. Notre Dame also made 22 of 25 free throws to the visitors’ 2 of 4.
“I think we sent a big message today,” senior Rex Pflueger said of ND’s bounce back from Tuesday’s season-opening 76-65 loss at No. 9 North Carolina. “It was a tough game down there. We had a real shot to win, but the maturity to come to practice the next day and get after it, get after each other, and to come into today and play the way we did, I think it sends a good message.”
Texas 70, No. 23 Purdue 66: Matt Coleman III scored 22 points and Gerald Liddell added a career high 14 to help Texas upset No. 23 Purdue.
The Longhorns (2-0) have won seven straight dating to last season's run to the NIT championship and they became the first nonconference team to beat the Boilermakers on their home court in nearly three years.
Sasha Stefanovic scored 14 points to lead Purdue (1-1). Eric Hunter Jr. and Jahaad Proctor each had 12.
The Boilermakers looked like they were in control when they scored seven straight to take a 62-57 lead with 3:14 to play.
But the Longhorns forced three straight turnovers and the next seven to take a 64-62 lead on a 3-pointer from Jase Febres with 1:25 to go.
Purdue only got two more baskets the rest of the game.
Stefanovic made his first four shots, all 3s, after sitting out Wednesday's opener with a foot injury. The Boilermakers were 8 of 16 on 3s and shot 41% from the field. Purdue had a 36-24 rebounding edge. The last non-conference team to win in West Lafayette was then No. 3 Villanova in November 2016. Purdue also had an 18-game homecourt winning streak snapped.