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 went against Michigan State, but somehow worse. Just like against the Spartans, Indiana looks strong at the gate. The defense locked up and applied pressure. On the other hand, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Al Durham were hot. Durham struck out his first three three-point attempts while Jackson-Davis set off.
Durham’s third early 3 series put Indiana ahead 23-8 with 9:42 left. But from there it changed in the wrong direction, another early, great lead from Indiana washed away to never return.
The transgression of the IU began to increase. It missed long 2s and turned the ball around, allowing the Scarlet Knights a few runs, where they scored against Indiana’s passing defense. Rutgers really started to warm up from deep and hit 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 halftime, when Rutgers closed the half on a 27-8 run. A defensive rebound from Jackson-Davis was stolen from his hands in the final seconds by Paul Mulcahy, who scored the ball in front of the buzzer.
Poor Franklin’s ankle kept 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 foot or Achilles problem). It does not matter, a superhuman performance of the second year would probably not have saved the Hoosiers in the second half.
Rutgers twice extended the lead to 20 points as Indiana showed little defensive resistance, just like against Michigan. Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker was a particularly tough cover for the Hoosiers tonight. Harper Jr. breaks out of a 3-point shooting slump to hit 4-of-7 from deep on the road to 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting overall. Baker splashed in his own six three-pointers to beat Harper Jr. at 20 points to help. Rutgers shot 39.8 percent from depth for the game and got contributions from Myles Johnson (10 points) en route to 1.05 points per possession.
Indiana bounced back from a weak 3-point shooting point against Michigan State to hit 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from deep. But the Hoosiers shot just 61.1 percent off the line (11-of-18) and only 32.6 percent for the game on two-point shots. It included three fouls from Khristian Lander at the edge, which at this point looked almost cursed. The rookie is only 1-of-17 on 2-points this season. Rob Phinisee went pointless and missed all seven of his shot attempts.
What was particularly troubling about the second half was that Indiana’s spirit defeated. After a short tussle with the defender, Rutgers finally tucked the ball home.
“It was a humble second half,” Miller said during his press conference. “I think this is the first time we look broken.”
Miller also offered it: “If it’s not going well … our answer is not to run harder, to talk more, to concentrate more, to talk about the things we can control.”
That’s exactly what it sums up for this Indiana team. Once things go awry, it may not seem like the Hoosiers are straightening themselves out – especially from late on.
Filed to: Rutgers Scarlet Knights