IOWA CITY, Iowa — No. 5 Indiana escaped from Iowa City with a narrow victory over an unranked opponent - and the Hoosiers were thrilled about it.
Life on the road figures to be this tough all season for Indiana and everyone else in the Big Ten Conference.
Cody Zeller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half and Indiana opened league play by holding off Iowa 69-65 on Monday night.
Victor Oladipo scored 14 points for the Hoosiers (13-1, 1-0), who snapped a four-game losing streak in Iowa City and have now won four consecutive since losing to Butler two weeks ago.
“We know this is a huge win for us, coming in here,” Indiana Coach Tom Crean said. “We kept saying that if we get a win in [Iowa] it’s going to be a big deal, because not a lot of teams are coming in here and winning.”
The versatile Oladipo was huge again for the Hoosiers in the final moments. He beat the shot clock with a put back with 1:04 left to put the Hoosiers up 65-60. He also made two key free throws with 26 seconds to go to make it a two-possession game.
The Hoosiers went just 3-6 on the road in the league last year, so this one was big for them.
“We struggled a lot on the road last year, but we won games on the road last year. We know what it takes in order to win games. Cody did a phenomenal job,” Oladipo said.
Aaron White had 15 points to lead Iowa (11-3,0-1), which shot 3 of 17 from three-point range.
Iowa’s Zach McCabe missed a three-pointer that would have tied it at 65-65 with under a minute left, and Oladipo sealed the victory at the line.
Will Sheehey scored 13 points, Christian Watford had 11 and Zeller and Oladipo each grabbed 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers.
In other Top 25 games, Michael Carter-Williams scored a career-high 18 points and added 13 assists, and No. 7 Syracuse beat Central Connecticut State 96-62 to give Coach Jim Boeheim his 902nd career victory. ... Andre Hollins had 22 points and six assists, and Rodney Williams added 15 points and six rebounds to lift No. 9 Minnesota to a 76-63 victory over No. 18 Michigan State in Minneapolis. ... Kevin Pangos scored 23 points and hit the clinching free throws with 4.3 seconds left, Kelly Olynyk scored all 21 of his points in the second half and No. 10 Gonzaga edged No. 22 Oklahoma State 69-68 in Stillwater, Okla. ... Cashmere Wright scored 18 points and Sean Kilpatrick added 16 to help No. 14 Cincinnati get past No. 24 Pittsburgh 70-61 in Pittsburgh. ... C.J. Leslie scored 21 points and No. 23 North Carolina State pulled away in the second half to beat UNC Greensboro 89-68 in Raleigh, N.C. .. Nino Williams scored 16 points to help No. 25 Kansas State beat South Dakota 70-50.
SOUTHLAND MEN C. ARKANSAS 107, CENTRAL BAPTIST 82
CONWAY - Jarvis Garner scored 38 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had 4 assists and Central Arkansas narrowly missed its season high in points scored, defeating Central Baptiston Monday afternoon at the Farris Center.
UCA (5-5) beat Hendrix 108-65 on Nov. 13 and is averaging 80.3 points per game, putting the Bears in the top 25 nationally.
Garner went 13 of 17 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free throw line. Anthony Borden finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, DeShone McClure scored 11 points and Robert Crawford and Jordan Harks each had 10.
The Bears shot 53.9 percent (41 of 76) from the field.
Spencer Caraway scored 23 points for Central Baptist (4-8) and Blake Hanney scored 21. The Mustangs committed 20 turnovers.
Sports, Pages 18 on 01/01/2013