BLOOMINGTON —
The first half belonged to Illinois’ Meyers Leonard.
The win belonged to Indiana and Cody Zeller.
The 23rd-ranked Hoosiers (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten) took advantage of a glaring free-throw discrepancy to defeat the Illini 84-71 on Thursday.
Indiana hit 35 of 42 free throws, helping counteract a big first half by Leonard, a native of Robinson, Ill.
The Illinois sophomore center was 6-of-8 from the field and scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, including a layup just before the buzzer. But the Hoosiers still led 38-36 at the break thanks to a 16-for-16 showing at the free throw line.
Indiana would hit its first 19 free throws before a miss by Zeller. But with Leonard — indeed, most of the Illini (16-8, 5-6) in foul trouble — the Hoosiers pulled away in the second half.
Leonard was just 1-of-2 from the field in the second half and fouled out with 3:09 to play — appropriately, on a Zeller drive to the basket with IU up 77-65. He was one of three Illini to foul out, with Brandon Paul and Nnanna Egwu also picking up five fouls.
All told, Illinois was called for 30 fouls.
“It’s the Big Ten, it’s a physical conference and we knew it would be a physical game,” Indiana guard Jordan Hulls said.
Zeller noted that Leonard has been in foul trouble quite a bit in Big Ten play.
“We just wanted to attack and get the ball inside,” Zeller said.
But the Illini kept it close in the first half because they were hitting their shots and the Hoosiers weren’t. Illinois was 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) from the field in the first half, while Indiana was just 9-of-22 (40.9).
Zeller and Victor Oladipo each had 8 points in the first half thanks to their trips to the free throw line. Zeller was 6-of-6 and Oladipo 4-for-4 on free throws before the break.
Zeller finished with a game-high 22 points, shooting 12-of-14 from the line. Oladipo finished with 18, going 10-of-12 on free throws.
Christian Watford also scored 18 and Hulls added 15 points for the Hoosiers, who shot 60 percent from the field in the second half (12-of-20).
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Through orange and blue: Indiana's Victor Oladipo drives through the Illinois defense to score in the first half of action Thursday in Bloomington.
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Leonard dominates in first half, but IU, Zeller earn the victory
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