DES MOINES, Iowa - The Mocs were good on Thursday.
Indiana was just a lot better.
The Hoosiers, seeded fifth in the East Regional, shot 65 percent from the floor and pulled away from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a 99-74 win in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. Indiana will face Kentucky on Saturday.
Yogi Ferrell had a game-high 20 points and 10 assists for the Hoosiers, who had five players in double figures. OG Anunoby scored 14 points, while Thomas Bryant had 13, Troy Williams 12 and Max Bielfeldt 10. Robert Johnson, in his first game back in a month, had six assists for the Hoosiers.
The Mocs were led by Duke Ethridge's 14 points. Justin Tuoyo added 12 while Dee Oldham had 10.
"We didn't play bad ball. We just dug ourselves a hole off of some possessions in our defense and we started trading baskets, and when you have a deficit you have to get stops and we couldn't string together enough to get over the hump," Oldham said.
"Throughout the course of the game, no matter the score, we stayed together and that was important. I think we played confident. It's easy to come in here and be on eggshells, especially when you haven't been here before. We came in with the right mentality. We dug ourselves a hole and we knew it was going to be a fight."
Ethridge, Oldham, Eric Robertson and Alex Bran played their final game for the Mocs.
The Hoosiers attacked inside early, using the play of guards Ferrell and Johnson to score in the paint. When they weren't doing that, they were hitting 3s at a 63 percent clip for the game (10-of-16). The Mocs didn't play bad defense; Indiana was just that dominant.
"We just ran into, by far, hands down, the best team that we've played all year," UTC coach Matt McCall said. "No question the most talented team we've played all year, and all the credit goes to Coach (Tom) Crean and Indiana on how well they played tonight."
The Mocs (29-6) played well in the first half despite some foul trouble, trailing only 46-37 after a 3-pointer by Tre' McLean right before the buzzer. The Hoosiers responded with a 14-4 run to start the second half, pushing their lead to 17.
UTC then put one final dent in the Hoosiers' lead, cutting it to 74-61 on a dunk by Tuoyo with 7:40 remaining, but Indiana answered again, this time with a 19-6 spurt over a span of 4:23 that blew the game open.
The Hoosiers set Wells Fargo Arena record for shooting percentage (.649), and their 37 field goals made also set an arena record. They also shot 69 percent from the field in the second half, which sets a new standard.
"I thought our guys have done a tremendous job focusing all week on the task at hand, which was a very good Chattanooga team," Crean said. "They are exactly what we thought they would be. They're aggressive. They can shoot it. They can play inside-out. They have great pressure and our guys played with tremendous urgency.
"It was a great team victory because it was played offensively and defensively and in situation basketball, and that's exactly what you've got to have, and we're, you know, anxiously looking forward to seeing who we're going to play on Saturday."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.