Indiana men\u2019s basketball\u2019s trip to Lima, Peru, to\u00a0participate\u00a0in the FISU America Games\u00a0started off with a dominant victory over the host nation. A 12-0 scoring run\u00a0for the team\u00a0representing\u00a0the United States\u00a0to open the game helped\u00a0keep Peru out of\u00a0reach throughout\u00a0four-quarter game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By halftime, the Hoosiers were leading 59-22.\u00a0Even though most of the first half was\u00a0unwatchable<\/a>\u00a0due to the YouTube livestream showing weightlifting and\u00a0handball, the full second half was shown with the stream lagging every couple of seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Indiana dominated the third quarter, outscoring Peru 31-6.\u00a0Playing time was divided\u00a0mostly\u00a0among\u00a0walk-ons,\u00a0freshmen\u00a0and players further down the bench in the latter two quarters.\u00a0However, they\u00a0didn’t\u00a0let the 62-point lead slip away at any point, as\u00a0Team USA cruised to a 115-36 win.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u00a0are\u00a0two takeaways from the game:\u00a0<\/p>\n A size advantage helped Indiana on both ends\u00a0<\/p>\n It was an aspect of the game that plagued the Hoosiers last season, as former senior forward Reed Bailey was the tallest player on the squad who consistently saw playing time. Yet he only stood at\u00a06-foot-10.\u00a0<\/p>\n This season, Indiana head coach Darian DeVries has corrected this mistake by bringing in University of Alabama transfer forward Aiden Sherrell and Southern Methodist University transfer center\u00a0Samet\u00a0Yigitoglu. Sherrell and\u00a0Yigitoglu\u00a0stand at 6-foot-11 and\u00a07-foot-2, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n However,\u00a0Yigitoglu\u00a0is not eligible to compete\u00a0in the FISU America Games due to his Turkish heritage.\u00a0\u00a0With incoming\u00a07-foot-tall\u00a0freshman\u00a0forward Clemens Sokolov\u00a0not with the Hoosiers\u00a0\u2014 due to him still in Germany \u2014\u00a0it was up to Sherrell to control the post area for Indiana.\u00a0<\/p>\n And Sherrell did just that.\u00a0<\/p>\n The junior finished the contest with a team-high 19 points.\u00a0Compared to the tall and dominant frames that many Big Ten teams\u00a0possess, Peru\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0stack up to that level. Based on the broadcast angles, Sherrell seemed to tower over many of the\u00a0Peruvian players, as their tallest players appeared to be around 6\u2013foot\u20138.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if teams during the actual season try to play smaller, faster lineups, Sherrell can also kick\u00a0out to\u00a0the 3-point line. In the\u00a0exhibition contest<\/a>\u00a0against\u00a0Canada on July 16, he was\u00a0two\u00a0for\u00a0five\u00a0from behind the arc.\u00a0In his last season\u00a0spent\u00a0at Alabama, Sherrell shot 33.8% on 2.4 3-point attempts per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Ben Winker also\u00a0provided quality minutes in the late third quarter and entire fourth quarter. The transfer from California State Fullerton\u00a0is a walk-on, but he\u00a0played in\u00a0eight games last season for the Titans.\u00a0Although he only scored\u00a0three\u00a0points, Winkler showed active movement on both ends of the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0freshmen\u00a0trio looks wise\u00a0beyond\u00a0their years\u00a0<\/p>\n