A Christmas gift for IU fans: 3-point shooting. Hoosiers hit 12 3s to bury North Alabama.
BLOOMINGTON – Indiana basketball wishes you a Merry Christmas.
Thursday's comfortable 83-66 win over North Alabama, after far too many close calls, will have felt like at least a small gift. The season-high 12 3-pointers — most by an Indiana team in three years — were an added bonus.
They were also one of at least three reasons for such a comfortable victory. Here are some more.
Twelve 3-pointers? In this economy?
Mike Woodson swears by his belief the Hoosiers (9-3, 2-0 in Big Ten) attempt enough 3s. They just don’t, Woodson says, make enough of the ones they take.
His team knocked his logic sideways for the first time this season Thursday night.
Sending themselves and their fans a fond farewell into Christmas, the Hoosiers made 12-of-24 3s against North Alabama. Both makes and attempts marked season highs.
Bigs got involved — Malik Reneau hit four by himself — the bench got involved, everyone got involved. For the first time all season, Indiana made the 3-point work offensively, and it made a tremendous difference in finally cashing in one of these guarantee games for a largely stress-free night at the arena.
Gifting Galloway
IU’s star turn against Kansas happily reined in his scoring Thursday night, in favor of excellent distribution.
Galloway finished a comfortable win with just eight points, on 2-of-4 shooting. Far more impressive were his career-high nine assists, Galloway giving even better than he got from his teammates in a blowout on paper that finally turned into one on the floor.
In Xavier Johnson’s absence, Galloway’s creativity blossomed early before tailing off, as the senior from Culver shouldered more of the scoring load.
Now, Johnson might be closing in on a return, just as Galloway appears to be putting a more completely offensive game together. Coupling those two would be a boon heading back into Big Ten play.
But speaking of career days
No one outshined Reneau.
He went to work early. He stayed at work all night. The sophomore from Florida scored inside and out. He pulled down seven rebounds, and even threw in a pair of assists.
Reneau needed just 14 field-goal attempts to score a career-high 25 points, his 4-of-4 mark from deep helping tremendously in that effort. With so much of the Lions’ (6-7) defensive attention focused on Kel’el Ware, Reneau made excellent use of the extra space. This was a game that suggested he can be even more offensively than what he already is, especially if that 3-point shot can arrive consistently.
After a series of stressful evenings inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Indiana delivered an early Christmas present in the form of a comfortable bulldozing where one was expected. No one had a greater hand in it than Malik Reneau.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball finally finds its 3-point shot, beats North Alabama
