JAGUARS OPEN COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON WITH 100-44 TROUNCING OF IU COLUMBUS

INDIANAPOLIS – The IU Indianapolis basketball program officially opened the 2024-25 season with an emphatic 100-44 victory over IU Columbus in the Jaguar debut of new head coach Paul Corsaro. The annual NCAA ‘Readers Become Leaders’ game attracted a crowd of 3,716 fans, who were treated to a fast start and through victory from the hosts. Junior Sean Craig led four Jaguars in double-digits with 16 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Keenan Garner also had a double-double in his college debut with 11 points and 13 rebounds. 

“It’s always good to get a win. It’s our first win as a team and it’s IU Indy’s first win as a rebranded basketball program, so that’s really really special,” Corsaro said. “I thought these guys competed hard for 40 minutes and I thought all 12 guys that played today gave us something positive. 

“I’m really proud of our group.”

Graduate-transfer Jarvis Walker had 13 points in just 23 minutes and sophomore Nathan Dudukovich had 11 points and three threes off the Jaguar bench. IU Indy (1-0) bullied their way to a 64-27 margin on the glass, including 25 offensive rebounds which led to 28 second chance points. Junior Timaris Brown also grabbed double-digit rebounds with nine points and 10 rebounds. 

Owen Law led IU Columbus (0-4) with 13 points, including three threes. 

Craig and Paul Zilinskas connected on threes on the Jaguars’ first two possessions and Walker later scored on a steal and layup to build a quick 8-0 lead, prompting an IUC timeout. The Jags had no intentions of letting off the accelerator as the lead quickly ballooned to 19-4 when Garner tipped-in a Walker miss at the 12:16 mark. 

“I’ve been on these guys all week about how our starts to practice have been not the best,” Corsaro said of the quick start. “We’ve been harping all week about the important of from the jump and out the gates. I really appreciate the leadership from our captains emphasizing how important that was because we really did that today.”

Later, a 12-0 run pushed the lead out to 35-8, punctuated by a Zilinskas three and Craig putback. The lead was 48-21 at the break with the knockout blow having already landed. 

After shooting just 38 percent from the floor in the opening half, the Jags shot 54 percent from the floor after intermission with more attempts coming inside the arc. Corsaro’s squad finished the game shooting nearly 46 percent overall and hit 12-of-31 (38.7 percent) from three-point range. However, the Jaguars committed just five turnovers and grabbed 25 offensive rebounds, leading to an 81-58 margin in shot attempts. Defensively, the Jags held the Crimson Pride to just 31 percent shooting and 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from three. 

With the game in hand, Corsaro was able to rotate an assortment of bodies in the second half with Craig finishing with a team-high 24 minutes played. Zilinskas finished with eight points, including the 1,000th of his collegiate career in the game’s opening minutes, and both Alec Millender and Goode tallied eight off the bench. 

Both Zilinskas and Walker closed with three steals to lead the defensive effort.  

“It was tremendous,” Walker said of the team’s start. “Coach has been harping on all us week to coming at it from the start – coming out and hitting teams in the mouth and so that’s what we were focused on – defense. Not so much offense, but getting stops and getting kills. That was something that was on our mind coming into it.”

The Jaguars converted 16 IUC miscues into 25 points while allowing just seven points off turnovers. Offensively, the Jaguars went over the century mark for the first time since 2018, doing so on an Ebenezer Ogoh dunk off a nifty Ron Rutland III assist. 

The Jaguars will return to action on Friday (Nov. 8) when they travel to Cincinnati to face Xavier at 6:00 p.m. on FS1. The Musketeers enter the season receiving votes in both the AP and Coaches Polls. 
 

Print Friendly Version

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.