No. 17 Indiana cruises against UMBC

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Derek Elston and Will Sheehey already were sidelined and Verdell Jones went down in the first half.

In their absence, Matt Roth stepped up for No. 17 Indiana.

The senior guard scored a season-high 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc to lead the depleted Hoosiers to an 89-47 win over Maryland-Baltimore County on Thursday night.

The Hoosiers heated up from long range in the second half, shooting 69 percent (9 of 13) from the 3-point line after going 2 for 14 in the first half. Indiana came in as the No. 1 team in the country in 3-point field goal percentage at 47 percent.

Roth didn’t have a long range attempt in the opening 20 minutes — he played just 6 minutes — and went into the break with only two points, but just 42 seconds into the second half, Roth knocked down a 3-pointer to end a 10-0 run by UMBC.

Christian Watford, who led Indiana with 22 points, hit another 3 and Jordan Hulls added another, but Roth provided most of the damage. With just under 12 minutes left, Roth had hit four 3-pointers in an 8-minute stretch to push the Hoosiers’ lead to 71-35.

Indiana (12-0) outscored UMBC (1-10) 52-24 in the second half.

Chase Plummer, Quentin Jones and Ryan Cook each scored 10 points for the Retrievers.

The Hoosiers will head into Big Ten play undefeated when they travel to East Lansing, Mich. to take on Michigan State in the conference opener on Wednesday.