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Thoughts on a 74-63 loss to Rutgers:
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have reached the low point of the season.
It was a disastrous performance by the Hoosiers tonight, a repeat of how things turned out against Michigan State, but somehow worse. Much like he did against the Spartans, Indiana looked strong out of the gate. The defense locked themselves in and exerted pressure. On the other side, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Al Durham were hot. Durham hit his first three 3-point attempts while Jackson-Davis launched into the pick-and-roll.
Durham’s third start of 3 saw Indiana take 23-8 at 9:42. But everything changed in the wrong direction from there, another big lead for Indiana swept away, never to return.
IU’s offensive began to tighten. He missed long 2s and returned the ball, allowing the Scarlet Knights where they scored against Indiana’s transition defense. Rutgers really started to warm up from depth, hitting seven of their last eight of the half after a 0 for 7 start. What was once a 15-point lead turned into a 35-31 deficit. at the break as Rutgers closed the half on a 27-8 run. A Jackson-Davis defensive rebound was stolen from his hands by Paul Mulcahy in the dying seconds, who scored the ball just before the buzzer.
Armaan Franklin’s ankle appeared to keep him from touching the ground for the final 20 minutes of the game, which Archie Miller confirmed after the contest (although he said it was a foot or ‘Achille). Regardless, a superhuman performance in the second half probably wouldn’t have saved the Hoosiers in the second half.
Rutgers extended the lead to 20 points twice as Indiana showed little defensive stamina, just as it did against Michigan State. Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker were a particularly tough cover for the Hoosiers tonight. Harper Jr. came out of a 3-point shooting crisis to hit 4 of 7 deep on his way to 20 points on 8 of 12 shots total. Baker splashed six points at three to help tie Harper Jr. at 20 points. Rutgers shot 39.8% deep for the contest and got inside contributions from Myles Johnson (10 points) on the way to 1.05 points per possession.
Indiana rebounded from a poor 3-point shot mark against Michigan State to hit 8 of 18 (44.4%) deep. But the Hoosiers shot just 61.1% from the line (11 of 18) and just 32.6% for the game on 2-pointers. This included three misfires from Khristian Lander at the edge, who looks almost cursed at this point. The rookie is just 1 in 17 on 2-pointers this season. Rob Phinisee went scoreless, missing all seven of his shooting attempts.
What was particularly concerning in the second half was that Indiana’s spirit seemed defeated. The Hoosiers showed little fighting as Rutgers continued to climb to the top.
“It was a humiliating second half,” Miller said in his post-game press conference. “I think this is the first time we’ve looked fractured.”
Miller also came up with this, “When things aren’t going well … our response is not to run harder, to talk more, to focus more, to talk about the things we can control.”
That pretty much sums it up for this team from Indiana. Once things go wrong, the Hoosiers just don’t seem to be able to straighten out and rise above – especially lately.
Filed at: Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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