Thoughts on a 74-63 loss to Rutgers:
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we’ve hit the low point of the season.
This was a disastrous performance for the Hoosiers tonight, a reiteration of how things went against Michigan State, but somehow worse. As against the Spartans, Indiana looked strong out of the gate. The defense joined in and applied pressure. On the other hand, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Al Durham were hot. Durham hit his first three three-point tries while Jackson-Davis went to work in the pick and roll.
Durham’s third early 3 put Indiana on 8/23 at 9:42 AM. But from there it all turned in the wrong direction, another early, big lead from Indiana washed away, never to return.
IU’s violation started to get tight. It missed a long 2 seconds and flipped the ball, giving the Scarlet Knights some runouts that scored against Indiana’s transition defense. Rutgers really started to warm up from deep, hitting seven of their last eight in the half on a 0-for-7 start. What was once a 15-point lead turned into a 35-31 deficit at half time when Rutgers ended the half with a run of 27-8. A defensive rebound from Jackson-Davis was stolen from his hands in the closing seconds by Paul Mulcahy, who scored the ball just before the buzzer.
Armaan Franklin’s ankle seemed to keep him off the floor for the last 20 minutes of the game, something Archie Miller confirmed after the game (although he said it was a problem with his foot or Achilles). It doesn’t matter, a superhuman performance by the sophomore probably wouldn’t have saved the Hoosiers in the second half.
Rutgers extended the lead to 20 points twice, as Indiana, like against Michigan State, showed little defensive resistance. Especially Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker tonight were a tough cover for the Hoosiers. Harper Jr. broke out of a 3-point shooting, hitting 4-of-7 from deep towards 20 points on 8-of-12 shots overall. Baker himself threw in six 3-pointers to get Harper Jr. help match with 20 points. Rutgers shot 39.8 percent deep for the game and received contributions from Myles Johnson (10 points) on the way to 1.05 points per possession.
Indiana bounced back after a poor 3-point shooting against Michigan State, hitting 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) from deep. But the Hoosiers only shot 61.1 percent of the line (11-of-18) and only 32.6 percent for the game on 2-point shots. That included three misses from Khristian Lander on the edge, who seems almost cursed at this point. The freshman is only 1-of-17 on 2-point shots this season. Rob Phinisee was scoreless and missed all seven shot attempts.
What was especially concerning in the second half is that Indiana’s mind seemed defeated. The Hoosiers showed little struggle while Rutgers continued to increase their lead.
“It was a humble second half,” Miller said in his post-game press conference. “I think this is the first time we look broken.”
Miller also offered this: “When things aren’t going well … our response is not to run faster, talk more, concentrate more, talk about the things we can control.”
That pretty much sums it up there for this Indiana team. Once things go bad, the Hoosiers just can’t straighten themselves out and rise above it – especially lately.
Filed with: Rutgers Scarlet Knights