Romeo Langford shines in debut, scores 19 in Hoosier romp
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Romeo Langford got the starting nod from Indiana coach Archie Miller and scored a team-high 19 points in his collegiate debut to lead the Hoosiers to a 104-55 win over Chicago State on Tuesday night.
The highly coveted McDonald’s All-American from New Albany, Indiana scored the his first career point for Indiana from the foul line to extend the Hoosiers’ lead in a game where they trailed just once, for a total of 13 seconds.
The state of Indiana’s reigning Mr. Basketball Award winner split another pair of free throws before he finally made his first field goal with about nine minutes left in the first half. Langford would go on to score the next eight points for Indiana during a four-minute span in which he scored 11 straight points for the Hoosiers.
Indiana’s lead quickly jumped to double-digits and stayed there. Indiana put together a 17-3 run to close out the end of the first half. Langford scored 17 points in the first half.
Langford finished the game shooting 7 of 12 from the floor and 5 of 11 from the foul line and added three assists and four rebounds to his debut stat line. Devonte Green scored 15 points, Evan Fitzner finished with 14 points and Justin Smith added 13 for Indiana.
The Hoosiers led by as many as 49 points. Indiana benefited from a variety of Cougars’ mistakes and shortcomings. The Hoosiers scored 25 points off of 20 Chicago State turnovers and outscored the Cougars 54-24 in the paint. Indiana’s bench scored 51 points, just four points fewer than Chicago State’s total.
BIG PICTURE
Langford and the Hoosiers will have one more contest against a mid-major opponent where they’ll be favorites to win in impressive fashion before they face their first power five programs when the Marquette Golden Eagles come to Bloomington on Nov. 14 and when Indiana travels to Arkansas on Nov. 18.
UP NEXT
Indiana: will host Montana State on Friday.
Chicago State: will visit Notre Dame on Thursday.