Indiana 92 Illinois 74: Three Keys | Final Box Score | Specialty Stats

Indiana (16-14, 7-12) defeated Illinois on Thursday night in Champaign.

The Hoosiers have won three games in a row and will host Rutgers on Sunday at noon eastern in the final home game of the season.

Stay tuned for our complete game recap with The Report Card.

"We had to be resilient and find different ways to get up off the ground."

Don't look now but @IndianaMBB just earned its 3rd straight win and is squarely back in the NCAA tourney conversation 💯 pic.twitter.com/1KPV6mrFyG

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 8, 2019

THREE KEYS TO THE GAME

1. Phinisee and Green dominate the game. Illinois leads the Big Ten in turnovers forced. Indiana’s point guards had 11 assists and NO turnovers on the game. Not only did the duo take care of the ball, they attacked the Illini pressure and found open teammates and opportunities off the dribble. Phinisee and Green were 11 for 18 from the field and combined for 28 points. We wrote yesterday how Indiana is a different team with a fully healthy Phinisee. That could not have been more clear on this night. The same holds true when Green is confident. He was once again dialed-in from three point range, knocking down 3-for-5 for the game.

2. The Hoosiers control the paint. Indiana had a major size advantage in this one, and they took full advantage. A byproduct of Phinisee and Green’s excellent play, IU outscored Illinois in the paint 52-26. IU did an excellent job spreading the floor, and with Illinois pressuring the ball with double teams and hedges on the perimeter, that created multiple 1-on-1 opportunities down low where Indiana was able to capitalize on their size advantage. Juwan Morgan led the way with 20 points, with Justin Smith and De’Ron Davis adding 15 and 9, respectively.

3. Indiana avoids the big run with an improved bench. We’ve seen the Hoosiers run out to leads on the road only to give them away. It happened at Maryland, Rutgers, Northwestern, and Iowa to name a few. In each case the opposition was able to string together huge runs to completely change the game. With Indiana as healthy and deep as they have been all year, the bench is much more of an asset right now, and IU has been able to use it to give the starters a bit more rest while protecting and even extend leads.