Indiana responded to a disappointing loss at home to Purdue with its biggest win of the season Thursday night. The Hoosiers, behind a strong defensive effort and a balanced offense, defeated No. 4 Iowa 81-69 in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The victory, which gave a big boost in the computer rankings, moved the Hoosiers to 9-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play. Here are five takeaways from the Hawkeyes victory:
• Indiana shuts down the country’s strongest offense: The offensive numbers of Iowa who entered Thursday’s game in Iowa City were staggering.
The Hawkeyes scored a Big Ten best 1,203 points per possession in conference. Their last five wins came with 15.4 points. Iowa was second at the conference in an effective field goal percentage at 56.8 and averaged 85.7 points per game.
But Indiana made Iowa look like in the upset victory Thursday.
The Hawkeyes scored just 1.01 points per possession, a lowest season. Iowa put up only 5-of-23 of its three-point efforts, its second-worst performance of the season in terms of make-up and percentage (21.7). In the second half, Iowa passed more than 11 minutes without a field goal.
After coming close to overcoming losses to Florida State and Wisconsin, the Hoosiers finally broke through against an elite opponent away from Bloomington. In those losses, Indiana sat down late and missed opportunities to close winning games. Thursday in Iowa City, Indiana did not concede as soon as he grabbed a lead in the final seven minutes.
• Phinisee, Durham sparkle and offer a boost for secondary points: The consistency of Trayce Jackson-Davis has been a stalwart for the Hoosiers this season. The second forward averages more than 20 points and nine rebounds per game in the conference. Over the past six games of Indiana, Jackson-Davis has scored 21 points or more five times.
What is missing is the consistency of Indiana’s premier class guards, Al Durham Jr. and Rob Phinisee.
In the loss to Purdue on Thursday, Phinisee and Durham combined just eight points on the 3 to 10 shooting. In Iowa City, the duo had the opportunity to take some of the pressure off Jackson-Davis.
Phinisee delivered his best game of the season and finished with 18 points, three assists, three rebounds, three steals and no turnover within 32 minutes. He thoroughly outscored Jordan Bohannon, who failed to score in more than 33 minutes.
Durham was just 2-out-6 from the field, but was a bright spot at the free-throw line where he knocked down nine of his ten attempts. Durham had 14 points and, like Phinisee, did not make a turnover.
• Indiana seems to have healed its turnover problems: For the seventh consecutive game, Indiana had a turnover percentage of 17.4 or less.
The Hoosiers had a turnover percentage of 20.1 or higher in four of their first six games this season against a major competition, for a perspective of how important it is.
In Thursday’s win over the Hawkeyes, Indiana had eight turnover seasons with a turnover percentage of 11.7, the third lowest point of the season. The IU’s ability to take care of the ball, coupled with a warm shooting performance from the perimeter (8-of-17), enabled the Hoosiers to have another bad free-throwing night (21-of-35) overcome.
Miller’s goal for his team in terms of turnover per game was a gripping target. Having started earlier in his tenure with a goal of 12 turnovers, he talked about ten or fewer per game to start this season. Miller recently announced he wants to see seven to eight or fewer turnovers per game. The Hoosiers hit the mark Sunday, leaving Iowa City with their most important victory in Miller’s tenure.
• Hawkeyes’ secondary scoring options could not deliver: In our preview for Thursday’s game, Indiana was a way to slow down Joe Wieskamp or Jordan Bohannon:
The reality with Garza is that he is going to fill the state no matter what the defense throws at him. His season low is 16 points and he has all six games of 30 or more points. Iowa becomes unstoppable as it produces secondary options such as Bohannon and Wieskamp alongside Garza. The Hoosiers have struggled a lot over the years to stop Bohannon, but they will have to find a way to slow him or Wieskamp to success.
As John Gasaway of ESPN sharply remarked on Twitter this morning, Indiana’s work on Bohannon has shown what can be achieved if one of Iowa’s secondary options is offensively captivated.
Garza still delivered on his season average with 28 points, but the Hoosiers let him take 22 field goal attempts and nine free throws to get there.
The key was to silence Bohannon, who is 0-for-9 off the field. Over Iowa’s previous five games, Bohannon averaged 17 points and 4.4 scored 3s.
• Could this victory change the course of Miller’s tenure? In the aftermath of last Thursday’s loss to Purdue, it was fair to wonder if Indiana could turn a fourth in Archie Miller this season in Bloomington.
One win does not fix everything, nor does it change the fact that Indiana still has a lot of work to do to reach the NCAA Tournament this season, but beating a top five team on the road is a great blessing for the IU’s CV.
Indiana jumped 15 points in the NET rating this morning, a significant boost in March that carries weight. It was Indiana’s first Quad 1 win of the season and moved the conversation immediately away from the Purdue loss.
With a winding Rutgers program, losing five straight games coming to Bloomington on Sunday, Indiana now has the opportunity to gain some momentum to enter the toughest part of its schedule.
Submitted to: Aljami Durham, Archie Miller, Iowa Hawkeyes, Robert Phinisee, Trayce Jackson-Davis