BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (Ticker) -- Freshman Bracey Wright scored 17 points to lead a balanced attack as 18th-ranked Indiana tuned up for Big Ten Conference play with an 80-70 victory over Charlotte.
Wright, who scored 31 points in 76-62 Tuesday's victory at Ball State, made 5-of-13 shots as Indiana shot 46 percent (22-of-48) from the field. Tom Coverdale and Kyle Hornsby each added 13 points for the Hoosiers (10-2), who begin conference play Wednesday against Penn State.
Indiana coach Mike Davis returned to the bench after serving a one-game suspension for his outburst in a loss to Kentucky on December 21.
"Right now, it's 0-0 going ito the Big Ten," Davis said. "It will be a tough time if we don't clean our approach up. We came out with no drive, no fight. We just kind of came out and played."
Demon Brown scored 16 points and Chris Sager added 14 off the bench for Charlotte (5-6), which lost its third straight game. The 49ers shot a school record-low 26 percent from the floor in Monday's 68-47 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette and were only slightly better in the first half as they made just 8-of-26 (29 percent) shots.
Wright scored 11 points in the first half, when Indiana built a 36-22 lead. The Hoosiers maintained a double-digit margin thereafter.
Hoosiers forward Jeff Newton made just 1-of-7 shots and center George Leach,a Charlotte native, was 0-of-2, but each grabbed six rebounds. The starting guards - Coverdale, Wright and Hornsby - combined to make 14-of-27 shots. Reserve A.J. Moye contributed 11 points and eight points in 23 minutes.
"I thought we played well from a guard standpoint," Davis said. "I thought Moye came in and did a great job with his intensity, his effort. Coverdale and Hornsby are really playing well, they're back. We shot (48) percent today and we've been averaging 41 percent, so that's better."
Charlotte held an early 5-3 lead on a pair of free throws by Kevin Johnson 2:18 into the game. But Wright answered with a jumper 33 seconds later to trigger a 15-6 run. Sean Kline capped the runs with a pair of free throws - his only points of the game - to make it 18-9 with 11:57 left.
Donald Perry made a 3-pointer to give Indiana its biggest lead, 32-13, with 6:21 left in the first half.