Thoughts on an 81-69 victory over the Hawkeyes:
It’s been a long week for basketball in Indiana.
The home loss to Purdue last Thursday upset fans, and some have taken to apathy for this season … and the program. The vacuum created Sunday against Michigan State just gave Michigan State more time to sink into everything.
But the season is not over yet. There are still games to be played. Nobody seems to be giving up on the court. And tonight was a reminder that for all the paperwork of Big Ten basketball, once the ball tilts, you never really know what’s going to happen.
And what happened tonight was that the country’s most effective offense got cold during the last 30 minutes of the game. Ice cold in the second half. How icy cold in the second half? Try a field goal drought of more than 11 minutes and a point of 1 from distance, the only one that comes after the game is properly wrapped. Iowa has made just nine baskets on 34 attempts (26.5 percent) over the last 20 minutes. Jordan Bohannon, a killer in Indiana in the recent game, missed all nine of his shots tonight. Eight of them come from afar. (It also hurt that CJ Fredrick did not play the entire second half due to injury.)
But also honor to Indiana’s defensive performance. It was sloppy early on, which could have made Iowa easily look from a 3-point distance. And his decision to let Luka Garza go one-on-one to start the match really got him going. As the game progressed, Indiana stopped allowing Iowa all the space on the perimeter. And Race Thompson and Jordan Geronimo gave absolutely everything they had on Garza. Put the effort together with Indiana’s guards who excel the suspected national player of the year time and time again and you can see that he is bothered. Could see that he really had to work for everything he got. Garza shot just 4-of-11 in the second half. His 28 points were about his season average. The Hoosiers did not let Garza whine, for they were defending the hell out of him.
Speaking of Geronimo, it was his best play as a Hoosier. Geronimo was undoubtedly the best individual defender Indiana threw at Garza all night because he had to pick up more playing time due to Trayce Jackson-Davis and Thompson. He also made his presence felt in the attack, scoring seven points and making all three of his field goal attempts.
It was another sub-free throw-shooting performance for the Hoosiers (21-of-35, 60 percent). And the Hawkeyes absolutely cleared on the offensive boards and bounced back 43 percent of their missions, helping them to 17 second chances. But Indiana was strong in other areas, which contributed to the two factors not causing ruin, while another away win against one of the best teams in the country was within reach. The Hoosiers transferred just 11.7 percent of their possessions tonight, their third best performance in the category all season. It included just one deception in the second half before having it relayed twice after Iowa pushed into full court to try and turn the game around again. Indiana also scored 47.1 percent (8-out-17) from the three-point series. This is a best season. Low turnover and strong shooting from three points on offense was great in this one.
Because the conference is so good this year, the Hoosiers have ample opportunities to record victories against some of the best teams in the country, which helps improve their NCAA tournament considerations. Against Wisconsin, Indiana shot too short in double overtime, and missed a shot at the end of regulation to win it.
But tonight against Iowa, the Hoosiers closed it relatively comfortably, and who would do that?
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
Filed to: Iowa Hawkeyes