BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Myles Rice scored 19 points, Oumar Ballo added 17 points to go with 12 rebounds and Indiana cruised to an 84-74 victory over Rutgers on Thursday night.
Mackenzie Mgbako added 16 points, Trey Galloway had 11 and Luke Goode nine for Indiana. They each made three of the Hoosiers’ 12 shots from long range.
Indiana (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) has won seven of its last eight games. Rutgers (8-6, 1-2) entered having won nine of the last 11 games in the series.
Freshman Ace Bailey scored a career-high 39 points on 16-of-29 shooting to lead Rutgers. He also grabbed eight rebounds, made four of the Scarlet Knights’ six 3-pointers and blocked four shots.
Rutgers’ freshman Dylan Harper did not play due to illness. Harper had the program’s first triple-double since 1983 (16 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds) in a 91-64 win over Columbia on Monday.
Indiana closed the first half on a 17-5 run for a 41-34 halftime advantage. Rutgers shot 50% (14 of 28) from the field in the first half to Indiana’s 38% (16 of 42), but the Hoosiers were 7 of 15 from long range.
The Hoosiers opened the second half on a 15-4 surge to stretch the lead to 56-38. Bailey made consecutive 3-pointers to end a 14-2 run that pulled Rutgers to 58-52 with 9:05 remaining. Goode answered with a 3 and the Hoosiers held a double-digit lead for nearly the rest of the way.
Indiana plays at Penn State on Sunday.
Rutgers begins a three-game home stand with Wisconsin on Sunday followed by ranked-teams Purdue and UCLA.
