Indiana basketball lets loose from 3-point range in blowout win over North Alabama

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball shot the lights out of Assembly Hall on Thursday night in a 83-66 win over North Alabama.

The Hoosiers' 12 3-pointers (12 of 24) were the most in coach Mike Woodson's tenure and shot 53% from the field. The last time the team hit that many 3-pointers was a game against North Alabama on Dec. 9, 2022.

They pushed the lead to 20 points when it hit seven straight shots early in the second half.

Indiana forward Malik Reneau had a career-high 25 points (10 of 14) and Trey Galloway had eight points and a career-high nine assists. 

Galloway set up Reneau and Kel’el Ware for highlight reel dunks throughout the night. He forced North Alabama to burn an early timeout in the half when he dished out a no-look pass for an alley-oop to Reneau with 16:05 to go in the game. 

The effort earned him a nice ovation when he checked out with 9:11 left in the game. He played heavy minutes in the first half after Gabe Cupps picked up two early fouls while Xavier Johnson remained sidelined with an ankle injury.

"When Gabe (Cupps) got the two fouls, Trey’s basically our only ball handler, big time, on the floor," Woodson said. "I thought he did a great job in getting us into our sets, and getting the ball where it needed to go."

Reneau was on fire from the start with 11 points in the first eight points. He buried a pair of 3-pointers including one to beat the shot clock buzzer from two-feet behind the line. He also had a career-high four 3-pointers in the win.

"I think we really coming in, like, this past week or so, you could see a lot of people had been in the gym getting up shots, getting up extra shots," Reneau said. "Even during practice, after practice, before practice."

"I think that contributed to having so much confidence on the court and being able to knock down shots."

Indiana got another nice effort from Anthony Walker off the bench. He picked up where he left against Morehead State with six points, two rebounds and an assist in just four minutes off the bench in the first half. 

He finished the game with 11 points.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.