Indiana Hoosiers Win Ugly One against Notre Dame To Stay Unbeaten

It wasn’t always pretty for Indiana against Notre Dame on Saturday, but good defense and a strong performance by freshman Cody Zeller carried the Hoosiers to their first 10-0 start in 22 years.

As was expected coming off of their emotional win against Kentucky, Indiana started out stagnant on the offensive end. They fell to an early 15-6 deficit on poor perimeter shooting and sloppy ball handling, which is what Notre Dame coach Mike Brey had in mind.

Brey had a plan to take the Indiana guards out of the game; seems he forgot that the Hoosiers have a seven-footer named Zeller that’s pretty decent. Cody finished the game with 21 points and eight rebounds, numbers that could have been better had Indiana focused on getting him the ball more.

The Irish simply didn’t have an answer for the talented freshman, they didn’t do much to come up with one either. It was clear that junior PF Jack Cooley couldn’t handle Zeller in a one-on-one situation, and the Irish didn’t attempt to double team Cody when he caught the ball in the post. Victor Oladipo also had another strong effort for IU, finishing the game with 16 points on 6-7 shooting.

But it was Indiana’s defense and rebounding that allowed them to win this game. The Hoosiers shot only 34.4 percent from the field in the first half, yet were still able to carry a 26-20 lead into the break. IU clamped down on Notre Dame shooters from the opening tip, and Jack Cooley was overmatched by Zeller on both sides of the floor.

The Irish forced up contested shots the entire night, finishing the game shooting 38.1 percent from the field and only 4-11 from beyond the arc. At one point, the Irish went over 17 minutes without a field goal, and still the Hoosiers weren’t able to put this one out of reach.

In the end, this was as physical a game as Indiana has played this year. The Hoosiers owned the Irish on the glass, out-rebounding them 40-28 for the game, thanks largely to the efforts of Zeller and Will Sheehey. Despite Sheehey having one of his worst shooting nights in an Indiana uniform, he had a team-high nine rebounds on the game.

This was another important win for a team whose confidence continues to grow and grow. Indiana is one of six undefeated teams left in the entire country, and thanks to upcoming games against Howard and UMBC, it will stay that way heading into their Big Ten opener against Michigan State a week from Wednesday. Though it wasn’t their best game from an execution perspective, winning ugly is part of the deal, and the Hoosiers found a way to get it done.

This article originally appeared on www.thehoosiercafe.com