INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — As Indiana men’s basketball headed toward the tunnel ahead of its matchup with Butler University, shouts of “Boo,” “Boiler up” and “You suck!” came from the Bulldog student section.
It was a rowdy environment for the Hoosiers’ first of three exhibition games. But it didn’t rattle or distract Indiana from securing a 96-68 victory over the Bulldogs on Sunday inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Following an Indiana turnover on its first possession, Butler got on the board first with a wide-open alley-oop dunk. However, Markus Burton quickly came alive for the Hoosiers. Over the next five minutes, the senior guard scored 11 points to lead his team on a 13-2 run. Heading into the first media timeout, Indiana boasted a 13-4 advantage over the Bulldogs.
The Cream and Crimson extended their lead up to 11 points. The Bulldogs continued to stick around, however, cutting the deficit to three with 8:03 remaining in the first half.
Junior guard Darren Harris immediately responded on the next possession with a pull up jumper from beyond the arc to put the Hoosiers back up six at the under eight-minute media timeout.
Indiana and Butler continued to trade buckets for the remainder of the half. The Hoosiers never let up their lead, but the Bulldogs stayed in striking distance. Over the final two minutes of the half, Butler went on a 7-2 run. At the break, Indiana led 44-41.
Through the first 20 minutes, Burton and junior center Samet Yigitoglu led the Hoosiers with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Butler sophomore guard Jordan Ellerbee led all scorers with 15.
Within the first 13 seconds of the second half, Burton committed his third foul of the contest, sending him to the bench.
But Indiana found offense outside of its first half leading scorer. By the first media timeout, the Bulldogs and Hoosiers had already put up a combined 19 points, as Indiana held a 54-50 advantage.
Out of the break, Butler graduate student guard Jalen Jackson got the crowd going with a made 3-pointer, which cut the deficit to one. But senior guard Bryce Lindsay quickly silenced the crowd on the next possession with a 3-pointer of his own to keep Indiana in front 57-53.
The Hoosiers began to pull away midway through the second half, earning a 70-56 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Indiana extended that advantage to 75-56, forcing the Bulldogs to call a timeout with 8:30 left on the clock.
Indiana maintained its control of the contest over the final eight minutes to defeat the Bulldogs 96-68. Harris, Burton and Yigitoglu led with 13 points each. As a team, Indiana shot 46.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc.
Indiana will hit the court for its second exhibition game of its preseason slate on Oct. 18, against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Follow reporters Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki87731 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) and columnist Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
