Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Look To Move On From Opener, Look Ahead To Howard
11/11/2017 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - Sycamore leaves are falling fast these November days.
And Sycamore 3s fell at an astonishing rate Friday night inside Indiana's Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana State's Sycamores shot out of their collective mind, hitting 17 of their first 22 attempts from 3-point range – finishing 17 of 26 (.654) and just one shy of their all-time school record for makes in romping past IU's host Hoosiers, 90-69.
But sometimes that's what happens when a team takes the court completely focused, honed-in on kicking as much posterior as humanly possible and taking absolutely no prisoners.
And when the other team doesn't respond.
"We're soft," Archie Miller, making his official debut as IU's coach, said matter-of-factly afterward. "We're just a soft team. You don't have to sugarcoat it at all.
"I think, at the end of the day, (it's) the fight, the ability to resurge, the ability to grind and get back into it – regardless of what is going on, you're always going to be in the game – that's not there. That's going to take time."
Miller's teams were known for their toughness at Dayton during his six highly successful seasons there. But that characteristic wasn't much on display Friday.
Indiana State took full advantage of that throughout. Miller fully credited ISU, opening his remarks by duly praising the Sycamores.
"First, give tremendous credit to Indiana State," Miller said. "Knew coming into the game how difficult it was going to be. And I understood that they had a lot of pieces in there that were going to give us some trouble.
"I haven't seen 17 3s go in at that rate in a long time. That was an impressive performance … incredible shooting performance. So hats off to those guys. They came in and did the job. No excuses … but I'll tell you this much: (Jordan) Barnes and (Brenton) Scott, those guys are really good players. Those two guys can really play … some of their other guys I thought they got cooking because those two guys got cooking. They gave everybody confidence in this game."
Indiana never found much confidence at either end of the court. But Miller's Dayton teams were also known for the stinginess of their pack-line defense, too, and that also wasn't in evidence Friday.
IU senior guard Robert Johnson didn't think it had anything to do with the new approach to play Miller is installing.
"In that first half, a lot of those 3-point shots came from us just not playing hard enough," Johnson said. "I can't necessarily put it on a coverage of scheme we didn't do.
"We didn't have the carry-over from what we do in practice every day as far as taking things like that away. We never collectively made a decision to take that away, to guard the ball and not get spread out."
Miller concurred. "I just think in general, our resolve, the toughness (wasn't there)," he said. "You know, you're not going to give up 90 points at home in your home opener if you're playing hard as hell. You're just not. And that's where we're at.
"(It's) reality. We can't make any excuses. We played a pretty good team. And they exposed us in a lot of areas. We're going to play a lot more pretty good teams. So if the evidence of doing it the wrong way or the right way isn't absorbed, the results will stay the same."
Johnson has seen lots of results as a Hoosier, good and bad. He has 985 career points as an Indiana basketball player now. He has started 88 of 99 games. But he hadn't really seen anything quite like Friday night.
The last time Indiana lost a season-opener at Assembly Hall was before Johnson was born, with Louisville beating the Hoosiers (75-64) in 1985.
Johnson joined his coach in lauding the Sycamores while faulting himself and his team.
"You know, they hit some tough shots, and you have to give them a lot of credit," Johnson said. "But it all started when we set the tone by letting them get some open ones. And that let them get going.
"And once they punched, we never came together and punched back."
And the Hoosiers hit the canvas hard, never to fully arise.
"I think once a team starts to make a few, that's when it can get challenging to kind of get them under control," Miller said. "And after a while it just became a lack of pressure, a lack of detail. And it became almost (like we were) shell-shocked to the point where you almost thought every one of them was going to go in.
"Like I told the guys, they're not going to miss. You have to make them miss. And part of it is, I think, with our team right now it starts and stops with the ability to guard the ball."
IU didn't do enough with the ball at the other end, either. The Hoosiers got a combined 27 points from DeRon Davis and Juwan Morgan up front but their trio of starting guards combined for just 18 points on 4 of 17 shooting.
"As we learn … a new way of playing, it's an unsure team of when to pass, unsure team when to shoot and it's an unsure team of how to dribble," Miller said of his Hoosiers. "And when you have that, you are going to have wasted possessions.
"We're just a hodgepodge. And I have got to do a better job of emphasizing and teaching. That's what it will come down to: How good can we teach these guys? They're only going to get better if we teach them. That's what we have to spend our time with right now. And I think everybody knows that we're a new group, some guys out there that are learning new roles. I'm confident we'll get better."
The Hoosiers respond from a shell-shocked evening quickly, because starting with Howard's visit for an 8 p.m. tipoff Sunday, Indiana has five games in a dozen days leading up to a Nov. 29 home date with Duke.
"It's definitely disappointing," Johnson said, "but I think the main thing I take away from it is (that it was) eye-opening for how hard we have to play, how together we're going to have to be, day-in and day-out, no matter the opponent."
Miller obviously envisioned a different sort of debut, and he had all those who care about the Hoosier program in mind when he said:
"From our standpoint, obviously it's really disappointed for our fans. I'm really disappointed for all the positive things that happened around here for such a long time and it obviously wasn't the effort level that we're accustomed to. It wasn't the start that we had hoped for.
"But it's reality. And I think that's a great thing about it is you have to address, with good and bad, the things that you have to get better at. And that starts for us immediately. And we have a quick turnaround for Howard. So up off the mat, clean some things up in terms of film, go back to work and have another opportunity on Sunday."
And there is really only one direction in which the Hoosiers can now go.
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - Sycamore leaves are falling fast these November days.
And Sycamore 3s fell at an astonishing rate Friday night inside Indiana's Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana State's Sycamores shot out of their collective mind, hitting 17 of their first 22 attempts from 3-point range – finishing 17 of 26 (.654) and just one shy of their all-time school record for makes in romping past IU's host Hoosiers, 90-69.
But sometimes that's what happens when a team takes the court completely focused, honed-in on kicking as much posterior as humanly possible and taking absolutely no prisoners.
And when the other team doesn't respond.
"We're soft," Archie Miller, making his official debut as IU's coach, said matter-of-factly afterward. "We're just a soft team. You don't have to sugarcoat it at all.
"I think, at the end of the day, (it's) the fight, the ability to resurge, the ability to grind and get back into it – regardless of what is going on, you're always going to be in the game – that's not there. That's going to take time."
Miller's teams were known for their toughness at Dayton during his six highly successful seasons there. But that characteristic wasn't much on display Friday.
Indiana State took full advantage of that throughout. Miller fully credited ISU, opening his remarks by duly praising the Sycamores.
"First, give tremendous credit to Indiana State," Miller said. "Knew coming into the game how difficult it was going to be. And I understood that they had a lot of pieces in there that were going to give us some trouble.
"I haven't seen 17 3s go in at that rate in a long time. That was an impressive performance … incredible shooting performance. So hats off to those guys. They came in and did the job. No excuses … but I'll tell you this much: (Jordan) Barnes and (Brenton) Scott, those guys are really good players. Those two guys can really play … some of their other guys I thought they got cooking because those two guys got cooking. They gave everybody confidence in this game."
Indiana never found much confidence at either end of the court. But Miller's Dayton teams were also known for the stinginess of their pack-line defense, too, and that also wasn't in evidence Friday.
IU senior guard Robert Johnson didn't think it had anything to do with the new approach to play Miller is installing.
"In that first half, a lot of those 3-point shots came from us just not playing hard enough," Johnson said. "I can't necessarily put it on a coverage of scheme we didn't do.
"We didn't have the carry-over from what we do in practice every day as far as taking things like that away. We never collectively made a decision to take that away, to guard the ball and not get spread out."
Miller concurred. "I just think in general, our resolve, the toughness (wasn't there)," he said. "You know, you're not going to give up 90 points at home in your home opener if you're playing hard as hell. You're just not. And that's where we're at.
"(It's) reality. We can't make any excuses. We played a pretty good team. And they exposed us in a lot of areas. We're going to play a lot more pretty good teams. So if the evidence of doing it the wrong way or the right way isn't absorbed, the results will stay the same."
Johnson has seen lots of results as a Hoosier, good and bad. He has 985 career points as an Indiana basketball player now. He has started 88 of 99 games. But he hadn't really seen anything quite like Friday night.
The last time Indiana lost a season-opener at Assembly Hall was before Johnson was born, with Louisville beating the Hoosiers (75-64) in 1985.
Johnson joined his coach in lauding the Sycamores while faulting himself and his team.
"You know, they hit some tough shots, and you have to give them a lot of credit," Johnson said. "But it all started when we set the tone by letting them get some open ones. And that let them get going.
"And once they punched, we never came together and punched back."
And the Hoosiers hit the canvas hard, never to fully arise.
"I think once a team starts to make a few, that's when it can get challenging to kind of get them under control," Miller said. "And after a while it just became a lack of pressure, a lack of detail. And it became almost (like we were) shell-shocked to the point where you almost thought every one of them was going to go in.
"Like I told the guys, they're not going to miss. You have to make them miss. And part of it is, I think, with our team right now it starts and stops with the ability to guard the ball."
IU didn't do enough with the ball at the other end, either. The Hoosiers got a combined 27 points from DeRon Davis and Juwan Morgan up front but their trio of starting guards combined for just 18 points on 4 of 17 shooting.
"As we learn … a new way of playing, it's an unsure team of when to pass, unsure team when to shoot and it's an unsure team of how to dribble," Miller said of his Hoosiers. "And when you have that, you are going to have wasted possessions.
"We're just a hodgepodge. And I have got to do a better job of emphasizing and teaching. That's what it will come down to: How good can we teach these guys? They're only going to get better if we teach them. That's what we have to spend our time with right now. And I think everybody knows that we're a new group, some guys out there that are learning new roles. I'm confident we'll get better."
The Hoosiers respond from a shell-shocked evening quickly, because starting with Howard's visit for an 8 p.m. tipoff Sunday, Indiana has five games in a dozen days leading up to a Nov. 29 home date with Duke.
"It's definitely disappointing," Johnson said, "but I think the main thing I take away from it is (that it was) eye-opening for how hard we have to play, how together we're going to have to be, day-in and day-out, no matter the opponent."
Miller obviously envisioned a different sort of debut, and he had all those who care about the Hoosier program in mind when he said:
"From our standpoint, obviously it's really disappointed for our fans. I'm really disappointed for all the positive things that happened around here for such a long time and it obviously wasn't the effort level that we're accustomed to. It wasn't the start that we had hoped for.
"But it's reality. And I think that's a great thing about it is you have to address, with good and bad, the things that you have to get better at. And that starts for us immediately. And we have a quick turnaround for Howard. So up off the mat, clean some things up in terms of film, go back to work and have another opportunity on Sunday."
And there is really only one direction in which the Hoosiers can now go.
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