Indiana defeats Providence in Maui Invitational opener

The Providence Friars never seemed to be able to get their offense going in Monday’s 79-58 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers in their first game of the Maui Invitational.

Providence fell ten points behind over the first ten minutes of the game, and Indiana’s first half lead swelled to as many as 17, as Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson proved to be too much for the Friars to handle, as the duo combined for 17 points and 10 rebounds in the first half.

Compounding Providence’s issues was the fact that everyone besides Nate Watson had troubles getting going in the first half, an issue that would continue throughout the game. Watson accounted for 10 of the Friars 24 first half points, but finished with just 12 points in the game as he was shut down in the second frame.

Indiana hauled in 15 offensive rebounds in the game, with Thompson accounting for eight of them on his own. Of those 15 rebounds came 17 second chance points. Indiana also nabbed 17 points off 13 Providence turnovers. It’s a lot to ask for a team to not allow a single offensive rebound or turn the ball over, but that’s 34 of Indiana’s 79 points right there.

It ended up being Thompson that led Indiana in scoring and rebounding with 22 and 13, respectively, but Aljami Durham also recorded 19 points, 15 of which came in the second half. Jackson-Davis finished with 12 and Rob Phinisee finished with 11.

David Duke was the only other Friar to join Watson in double-digits, finishing with 12.

The Friars don’t have much time to dwell on the loss, as they’re back in action Tuesday night against Davidson.