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Indiana Basketball Postgame Wrap-Up Show vs. USC
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Jan 22, 2025
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welcome in to The hoer Illustrated
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domcom Indiana basketball postgame
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wrap-up show John Alden from in touch
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with Indiana sports with you and staff
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writer and site publisher Alec lley with
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us this evening Indiana gets the 82 to
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69 Victory against the USC Trojans in a
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game that where just quick recap real
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quick and I'll make this brief USC looks
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very comfortable in the early going
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Indiana goes on a run late in the first
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half and then they really take control
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from the second half onward into the end
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of the game and just an overall really
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good balanced performance I feel like
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from Indiana Alec what were kind of your
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thoughts on what happened tonight yeah
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absolutely I think that's a good way to
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put it I mean I think this is kind of
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one of those trap games where we talked
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about it uh the other day where
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typically over the last couple of years
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Indiana have struggled in right they
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they started to gain some momentum
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coming off a couple really really strong
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performances in terms of kind of finding
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ways to win games that they typically
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wouldn't um and you want to maintain
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that especially with kind of what the
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next couple of games look like and
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potential opportunities that they can
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have to to obviously add some key wins
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um and they they came out pretty
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lethargic know they did not have the the
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type of effort or intensity that you'd
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like to see um certainly not what they
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had played with in the previous two big
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10 games um and that was a big concern
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and I think you look at you know what
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they were able to do in the second half
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they completely flipped the script right
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they they played not only great
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offensively but but much much better
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defensively and this is a USC team that
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you know just does not have a lot of
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star power uh when it comes to scoring
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so uh the fact that Indiana was really
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able to limit what they did uh in
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transition a lot of that has to do with
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what they did offensively I mean they
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scored uh on 61.8% of their offensive
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possessions in the second half and
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limited to only 2.9 um I think it was
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percent uh turnover rate in the second
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half and when you look at what they were
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able to do uh in the in the first half
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for USC that is a lot of that came off
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of transition a lot of that came off of
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early turnovers for Indiana to kind of
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find a rhythm and so they were able to
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completely uh flip the script when it
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came to that and uh you know you look at
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the from top to bottom I think outside
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of Mackenzie and Baka you have to be
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pretty excited about what this team was
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able to do offensively especially after
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halftime yeah just one of those
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unfortunate nights for Mackenzie and
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Bako 0 for eight shooting zero points
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total but outside of that you had
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another really the third straight good
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performance and really you should say
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great performance from balow with 23
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points uh perfect at the free throw line
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nine for 11 shooting Luke goody
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continues to I mean he's not streaky I
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almost use the word streaky for him he's
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really coming into his own it feels like
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this new role of his now that Malik Renu
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is not in the starting lineup and he has
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filled that void this is something that
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I'm not sure he anticipated coming into
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the season but he is absolutely thriving
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in this new role of his right now yeah
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he is and and again I think a lot of
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that has to do with the the players
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around him now the the type of lineups
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that he's playing in um and the types of
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lineup that uh that Indiana's putting
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out there right the the one big and I
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think you see again the potential of
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what that really looks like uh
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especially you know in the second half
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right uh not only you know specifically
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when Mackenzie andb was awful for just
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because he was not able to contribute
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much of anything tonight but when you
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have both of those Shooters on the it
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not only opens up the game for every
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single perimeter player it opens up the
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game for whatever big man's going to be
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on the floor and so when you have both
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of those going for him you you saw what
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the guards were able to do um with with
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Trey Galloway and Miles rice being able
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to attack downhill and when you have all
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three of those areas of your game the
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the attacking guards the perimeter
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shooting and the dominant post
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presence you're G to find a way to score
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points and all three of these things
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have really kind of snowballed over the
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last three games um and Luke good is a
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big part of that I mean his ability to
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connect from the three-point line uh
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consistently uh now after that really
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tough start to the year has been you
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know really fun to watch he's really
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kind of grown into you know I don't even
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want to say what Indiana thought because
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I think he's already kind of far
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exceeded what they thought they would
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get from him because he's he's kind of
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turned into uh a very vital part of this
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team even more so than what I think a
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lot of people expect him to be um and
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when you look at true kind of quote
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unquote glue guys which is you know the
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the token term that that Everyone likes
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to use um for for maybe not the the star
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player but one of the more important
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players I think he's exactly what uh a
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glue guy should be right he plays with
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great energy he plays with great
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intensity he's he's definitely the best
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leader on this team and he plays
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consistently every single night you know
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what you're going to get from him you
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know exactly what his role is he knows
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exactly his role is and when you have
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that uh and he brings all of those
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assets to your team consistently right
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that that's the the true definition of
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what that glue guy is and you know he's
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he's now 10 of 15 come January from
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three uh in the last three games um
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obviously knock him down at a high rate
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but now he's showing a little bit more
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of that aggressiveness in actively
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seeking out some of those shots that
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maybe he didn't do you know maybe two
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and a half three weeks ago um and that's
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something that I think really can take
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not only his game yes but Indiana's
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offense to another level when you add
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his ability to maybe put the ball on the
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floor um and find some extra points
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there either at the free throw line you
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know getting fouled or just in the
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mid-range there as
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well and I don't want to leave out miles
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rice he had a great game as well 19
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points he seemed especially poised down
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the stretch when Indiana was trying to
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close out the game USC never really made
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a a big run to try to get back at
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Indiana but there were a couple of
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moments where felt like if USC would
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have been able to hit some big shots
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then they could have found themselves
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right back in that game but anytime
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Indiana needed to to kind of pull back
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ahead it felt like miles rice was kind
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of the spearhead down the stretch for
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for Indiana absolutely and I I think you
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know he had three turnovers in the first
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seven minutes of the game and then went
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the next uh 24 minutes of action of his
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game time without a single turnover and
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really uh turned the game around with
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his ability to get downhill and his
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attacking ability that's when he's at
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his best right attacking downhill he was
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able to do that not only in transition
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uh but really sped up in the secondary
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break as well and and put USC on their
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heels numerous times um able to get to
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the line 11 times which is something
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that uh you know he hasn't done
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consistently enough um and sometimes
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settles for maybe that you know
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contested jumper or that that deeper
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three when he clearly has the the
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ability to get to the paint and get to
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the rim whenever he wants um I think
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that's just the biggest thing with him
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but you we've heard mikee Woodson talk
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about trying to find the the good
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balance of Miles rice scoring the ball
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and Miles rice making plays for his
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teammates I think tonight you you
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probably saw the first uh the first time
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where he did both consistently from from
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half to half and uh you know when you
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again add in you're probably not going
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to have this type of offensive
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performance again every single night
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from all these guys but when you add in
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these pieces you you clearly see what
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this team can do offensively um and
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that's a a very positive thought that
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you can take not only from this game but
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but clearly from the last few games from
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from all these pieces kind of fitting
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together I heard the announcers say at
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the end of the game that this 4-one
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start in conference play is Indiana's
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best start to a conference slate since
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the 2016 the 15 16 Season where of
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course they won the Big 10 Championship
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with yogi frell and Company and granted
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that team started off I believe 7 and0
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is what they also mentioned so Indiana
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can't do that or surpass it but
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definitely a good company to be in when
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thinking about the expectations for
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Indiana moving forward with the rest of
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the conference slate oh absolutely I
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mean again we we've talked about how
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important kind of these next few games
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are for Indiana uh in their ability to
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really continue to gain some of this
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momentum going into that really really
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difficult stretch come February and so
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games like this were games that they had
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to win not only you know because they
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are clearly a better team and more
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talented than USC but we continue to
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hear right you have to defend home court
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and we know how difficult it's going to
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be to win on the road in the Big 10 so
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you could not drop a game like uh like
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like today especially if you want to try
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to compete for you know one of those top
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couple spots in the Big 10 regardless of
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kind of where the draw uh eventually
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obviously ends up in you know two months
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from now Indiana will travel to Iowa on
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January 11th uh of course another big
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road test against uh fr mcaffrey teams
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can be very tricky they're usually very
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good offensively I haven't done a deep
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dive into this Iowa team just yet but
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will definitely be a very interesting
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another road test for this Indiana team
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uh and I'm sure they'll go into it as
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confident as ever not only are you
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riding a five-game win streak but one of
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those wins of course being on the road
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at Penn State just a few days ago even
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though it was in a very different
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environment playing at the Petra but I'm
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sure Indiana will ride a lot of
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confidence into Carver Hawkeye Arena
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later this
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weekend absolutely and you know very
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difficult game that that IU's always
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struggled in going at Iowa just an Iowa
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program that's always a difficult team
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for Indiana to face with their offensive
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power um and and you know we continue to
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see that this year the I was averaging
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pretty near 90 points a game uh so
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Indiana needs to obviously you know
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bring a much better defensive effort
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from the tip uh just play with a lot
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more energy from the tip in general I
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think that's you know we we've seen some
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of these big second half runs that
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Indiana's had over the last few games
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but uh need to be able to bring that
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from the tip and and play kind of a full
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40 minutes they've played a much better
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overall game uh over the past couple of
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weeks and they have uh honestly for a
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lot of uh the last two years uh but need
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to be able to kind of make that
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transition from you know maybe 25 to to
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28 minutes to more 35 minute games um
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when you get into the the real big heart
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of Big 10 play moving forward last thing
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I'll throw a comment up there Andrew
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Jones says just play Bryson Tucker when
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McKenzie and Bako goes cold well that
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certainly worked out tonight Bryson
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Tucker is a very interesting uh kind of
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player for Indiana somebody who comes
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off the bench he's a freshman he it
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seems like he either he he really is the
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streaky player for Indiana he's either
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really hot one night or kind of McKenzie
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and bakish if you will and not able to
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hit anything and I guess the give and
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take there is one of those guys may have
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a good night and the other won't and and
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that's kind of the situation that Indian
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may be in with those two players on
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occasion but uh interesting observation
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by Andrew you don't have to add anything
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to that if you don't want to but just
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wanted to throw that comment out there
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yeah I mean t typically you do get the
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the much more consistent game from
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McKenzie and bako and and you still have
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a freshman in Bryson Tucker obviously he
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play you know great tonight but but you
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do limit a little bit more uh what that
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perimeter game should provide uh when
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you do have Bryson Tucker in the game
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and and obviously K andak is not going
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to go over um no any point probably
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moving forward uh it's just one of those
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games and and luckily you had you know
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four other guys to to step up and pick
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up the slack in a game that obviously
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you needed
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so uh we'll go and wrap this thing up
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Alec any any final thoughts on where you
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feel this Indiana TEAM stands right now
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as they they move further into big Tim
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play yeah I think you know the biggest
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thing that I think a lot of people
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really wanted to see was kind of what
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the identity of this team uh really was
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coming out of December uh getting back
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into Big 10 play and there were a lot of
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questions about really what this team
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was right I think more questions than
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answers uh past three games I think you
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you see what that is and it's uh you
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going to revolve around a one big lineup
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moving forward I I I truly think the the
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more that we see this and it's probably
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gonna again be a couple of weeks um I I
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I think that's going to be what is the
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Catalyst for Indiana moving forward
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whether that's Malik new or Omar Balo
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but the play of Omar Balo as of late I
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think you're starting to see him really
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turn a corner this is exactly what we
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saw with col we last year is starting in
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January moving into the end of the
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season he averaged 17 and 11 and was the
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the key featured player of that offense
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you're you're now starting to see that
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exact same feature uh in the offense
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with Omar Balo and it's a it's a type of
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dominant performance that uh you know
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slightly different than how kware did it
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uh but not many guys are going to be
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able to
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Omar Balo and he continues to have this
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sort of effort and motor um and you know
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again say say whatever you want from you
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know that winr game that he missed uh
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know four games ago he's he's turned a
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corner since then and and obviously
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Indiana has as well and there's no
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coincidence that both happened at the
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exact same time it's been good to see
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Indiana answer the call so far into the
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year
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2025 and hopefully they'll be able to
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continue to carry this momentum into the
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games moving forward Alec I appreciate
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you coming on not only this show but in
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touch with Indiana Sports also this week
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and uh of course as always we we'll do
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it again sometime absolutely appreciate
13:39
it John this has been another edition of
13:41
The whoer Illustrated domcom Indiana
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