Indiana Rains Three’s Down on Rutgers in a rout

Indiana Rains Three’s Down on Rutgers in a rout

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

    The Indiana Hoosiers exploded for 36 third quarter points in an 80-61 blowout victory of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Thursday Night in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers led 32-21 at halftime in a lackluster performance. Indiana came out of the locker room and went to work and put the game away with a shooting performance that will go down in the record books. Shay Ciezki was asked after the game asked about the halftime message “It was pretty simple. Coach just said we’re gonna make shots.”

The Hoosiers went 10-13 from three-point range, 12-15 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line as they outscored the Scarlet Knights 36-19 in the third quarter. Indiana dished out 12 assists, 7 rebounds and committed 1 turnover in a complete turnaround from the first half. “I think it comes down to trust, we trust each other to hit shots. You could see it in the third quarter, we were excited.” Indiana Junior Guard Shay Ciezki said after the game.

Indiana led 14-8 after the first quarter as the Hoosiers were 5-14 from the field, 2-8 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free throw line. In the Second Quarter the Hoosiers were 6-12 from the field, 2-4 from three-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line outscoring the Scarlet Knights 18-13 to lead 32-21 at the break.

Rutgers finished the first half 8-23 from the field for 28%, 1-6 from three-point range for 16% and 4-6 from the free throw line for 66%. Rutgers outscored the Hoosiers 20-13 in the fourth quarter and ended the game on 13-2 run in the last 4:46 but Indiana had emptied the bench at that point.

Sydney Parrish led the Hoosiers with 22 points, Shay Ciezki added 16, Yarden Garzon 14 and Chloe Moore-McNeil added 12 points. Indiana finished the game 29-53 from the field for 54%, 15-28 from three-point range for 53% and perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. Indiana pulled down 29 rebounds, dished out 24 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks and committed 13 turnovers.

Destiny Adams led the Scarlet Knights with 21 points and Freshman Kiyomi McMiller added 14 points. The Scarlet Knights finished the game 22-57 from the field for 38%, 2-13 from three-point range for 15% and 14-24 from the free throw line for 58%. Rutgers pulled down 35 rebounds with 11 from JoJo Lacey. The Scarlet Knights had 6 assists, 5 steals and committed 13 turnovers.

Indiana improves to 15-7 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten and have won 3 in a row. The Hoosiers have two tough road games ahead at Minnesota Sunday Afternoon and at Michigan Wednesday Night. Indiana has a lot of quad 1 opportunities left playing three ranked opponents with Michigan State on the road followed by Ohio State and Maryland at home along with a home and road battle with Purdue.

Rutgers falls to 9-14 overall and 1-11 in the Big Ten as the Scarlet Knights have lost two in a row and ten of their last 11 games. Rutgers is tied for 16^th in the Big Ten and with six games left in the regular season they have couple chances to get out of the bottom three hosting Northwestern, Purdue, and Penn State along with the Scarlet Knights are in danger of missing out of the Big Ten Tournament in March. Rutgers travels to Iowa, Washington and Oregon.

Indiana is 9-6 all-time against Rutgers and 4-2 at home. Indiana has won six in a row against the Scarlet Knights dating back to December 2019. Indiana controlled the game start to finish, and Hoosiers are hoping that third quarter performance continues to show up down the stretch heading into the postseason.