GRAHAM: There Is Still Hope For the Hare
1/12/2019 12:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Tortoise beat the Hare again.
Maryland's Terrapins saw Indiana's Hoosiers hurry out to a 28-14 lead but then gained inexorable momentum to win the race, 78-75, Friday night.
But before IU fans get overly disappointed about a second straight league road loss following the Hoosiers' 3-0 start, they should remember that this 20-game Big Ten season is not a sprint.
It will require steady progress over a long period of time to maintain challenging position in the conference. Two-game windows, good or bad, are not necessarily revelatory.
And it must be reiterated that Indiana has dealt with a dizzying rash of injuries that precluded much in the way of normal team development since November.
Even amid defeat Friday, there were certainly signs of development, but these Hoosiers are not yet whole.
Freshman point guard Rob Phinisee returned Friday after missing almost a month in concussion protocol, it wasn't like having him fully up to form.
And crucially for this particular contest, 6-foot-10 junior De'Ron Davis, plagued by a bad ankle, was limited to four minutes in a game when his big body and experience absolutely could have helped.
Maryland, the Big Ten's best rebounding team, out-boarded the Hoosiers by a decisive 42-25 bulge – garnering 18 offensive rebounds to IU's 3.
"The whole key to the ballgame was their offensive rebounding capability," Indiana coach Archie Miller noted via the radio post-game. "We could not get a rebound. We knew coming in how difficult it was going to be. They're going to get it sometimes. They're gifted. They're talented at it.
"But there were also some 50/50 opportunities where we just didn't come down with it, and we needed to."
Then there was the devastating 16-0 Maryland run (after IU had scored the first two points of the second half to go up 37-27) that shifted the game for good. The Hoosiers fought hard down the stretch, led by freshman Romeo Langford, but never quite recovered.
A factor in that was foul trouble. There wasn't a lot of it for either team, but IU sophomore Justin Smith's considerable capacity to contribute on the defensive end was limited by it.
Smith was especially effective in doubling-down on massive Maryland sophomore Bruno Fernando early.
Fernando only missed one shot in the first half, but got just five attempts, largely due to the extra defensive ministrations by 6-7 Smith helping out 6-8 Juwan Morgan down low.
"A big key for us in this game that really, really hurt us – and it might not stand out in the stats – was Justin Smith's unfortunate fouls," Miller said. "When he was on the floor, we were plus 22 in the game.
"His inability to stay in the game for long stretches (hurt). He played 22 minutes, and we're up 22 in those minutes. Those fouls really hurt us. We needed him to be in the game."
The truth of that was hammered home after halftime, when Smith re-entered only to last all of two possessions before picking up his fourth foul with 14:10 to play.
Fernando finished 11 of 12 from the field and claimed 13 boards (five offensive) while leading Maryland with 25 points. The Terps (13-4 overall, 5-1 in Big Ten play) also got 24 from superb junior point guard Anthony Cowan.
There were a slew of NBA scouts in the Xfinity Center who got an eyeful of Fernando, to be sure.
But here is guessing they were every bit as impressed by Langford.
When the Hoosiers desperately needed him to step up, Langford did in about every way humanly possible.
Langford scored 20 of IU's 24 points from the 9:14 mark (when IU trailed 54-46) to 0:25.9, when his 3 brought the Hoosiers within 74-70. It wasn't quite enough, but it was a magnificent effort by the freshman.
"He's been very good," Miller said of Langford, who has posted double-figure scoring in all 16 games this season." I thought he did a nice job, leading into this week. Played very hard. Shot the ball very well and got to the line, as he normally does. He was good."
Langford was 8 of 14 from the field (including 3 of 6 from 3-point range) and 9 of 9 at the foul line good Friday night.
And Miller even switched Langford onto the Cowan defensively down the stretch. The 6-foot-6 freshman showed he could handle perhaps the quickest 6-0 guard in the league reasonably well.
But Cowan had already done too much damage, with 16 points after halftime, and seven assists against just two turnovers for the game. He, like the rest of the Terps, hit all the crucial free throws down the stretch to stave the Hoosiers off.
Maryland (14-3 overall, 5-1 in Big Ten play) finished 18 of 22 at the foul line (.818).
But the Hoosiers (12-4, 3-2) were even more accurate, hitting all 16 free throws they got.
That was just one of the many positives Hoosier partisans could take away from the game, even amid the ultimate disappointment.
"I thought, all in all, most of the guys did some really nice things on the floor for us," Miller said. "We had different guys step up and play … we made our free throws. We just didn't rebound.
"It comes down to simple things. Rebound the ball, don't turn it over, play good defense – and we had some of those things in check much of the night, but the one thing we just couldn't get a grip on was the glass."
Indiana shot a solid .491 from the field (and a very acceptable .412 from 3-point range) and had just seven turnovers.
But Maryland made just one of its nine turnovers after intermission, when the Terps attained the magic level on offense at times. They hit a few off-balance jumpers and bank shots.
When Fernando – who had tried just four 3-pointers and hit just one on the season coming in – hoisted and banked in a 3 from the top of the key with 3:34 to play, there was just a sense it wasn't the Hoosiers' night.
It was part of a 51-point second half for Maryland.
"Very disappointed," Miller said of the final result. "Our guys did some really good things in the first half. Played a really, really good half, especially on the road. Guys worked hard to put themselves in a situation, on both ends of the floor, where we were playing the right way.
"Things got out-of-kilter in the second half, obviously. The first four minutes, whatever it may have been, it was 16-2 (Terps). It started with our offense – we had some tough, challenged plays that led to transition."
Indeed, Indiana missed nine straight shots, not all of them advisable and several of them challenged, to help fuel Maryland's big burst. Some of that came down to decision-making.
"The tough plays offensively – get blocked shots or challenged twos when you have the chance to run good offense – we'll keep getting better at (avoiding) that," Miller vowed.
At least Miller has a couple more healthy bodies with which to work right now. That should make for better practices. And ultimately better, steadier performances down the road.
"Our team is going to have to have great resolve as we come back," Miller said. "This league can really overwhelm you, if you get caught up in things.
"For us, we have Nebraska on Monday (a 6:30 p.m. tip at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall). That's our focus. We're looking forward to playing at home."
The Hoosiers now need to go 1-0 Monday. It won't be easy. No Big Ten game will be. All through January. And February. And into mid-March.
That is a long way to go.
Friday saw a lost opportunity for a very valuable road win. It hurt.
But more opportunities await. Indiana is just one-fourth of the way into conference play.
And a steady pace – step by step – still wins the race.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Tortoise beat the Hare again.
Maryland's Terrapins saw Indiana's Hoosiers hurry out to a 28-14 lead but then gained inexorable momentum to win the race, 78-75, Friday night.
But before IU fans get overly disappointed about a second straight league road loss following the Hoosiers' 3-0 start, they should remember that this 20-game Big Ten season is not a sprint.
It will require steady progress over a long period of time to maintain challenging position in the conference. Two-game windows, good or bad, are not necessarily revelatory.
And it must be reiterated that Indiana has dealt with a dizzying rash of injuries that precluded much in the way of normal team development since November.
Even amid defeat Friday, there were certainly signs of development, but these Hoosiers are not yet whole.
Freshman point guard Rob Phinisee returned Friday after missing almost a month in concussion protocol, it wasn't like having him fully up to form.
And crucially for this particular contest, 6-foot-10 junior De'Ron Davis, plagued by a bad ankle, was limited to four minutes in a game when his big body and experience absolutely could have helped.
Maryland, the Big Ten's best rebounding team, out-boarded the Hoosiers by a decisive 42-25 bulge – garnering 18 offensive rebounds to IU's 3.
"The whole key to the ballgame was their offensive rebounding capability," Indiana coach Archie Miller noted via the radio post-game. "We could not get a rebound. We knew coming in how difficult it was going to be. They're going to get it sometimes. They're gifted. They're talented at it.
"But there were also some 50/50 opportunities where we just didn't come down with it, and we needed to."
Then there was the devastating 16-0 Maryland run (after IU had scored the first two points of the second half to go up 37-27) that shifted the game for good. The Hoosiers fought hard down the stretch, led by freshman Romeo Langford, but never quite recovered.
A factor in that was foul trouble. There wasn't a lot of it for either team, but IU sophomore Justin Smith's considerable capacity to contribute on the defensive end was limited by it.
Smith was especially effective in doubling-down on massive Maryland sophomore Bruno Fernando early.
Fernando only missed one shot in the first half, but got just five attempts, largely due to the extra defensive ministrations by 6-7 Smith helping out 6-8 Juwan Morgan down low.
"A big key for us in this game that really, really hurt us – and it might not stand out in the stats – was Justin Smith's unfortunate fouls," Miller said. "When he was on the floor, we were plus 22 in the game.
"His inability to stay in the game for long stretches (hurt). He played 22 minutes, and we're up 22 in those minutes. Those fouls really hurt us. We needed him to be in the game."
The truth of that was hammered home after halftime, when Smith re-entered only to last all of two possessions before picking up his fourth foul with 14:10 to play.
Fernando finished 11 of 12 from the field and claimed 13 boards (five offensive) while leading Maryland with 25 points. The Terps (13-4 overall, 5-1 in Big Ten play) also got 24 from superb junior point guard Anthony Cowan.
There were a slew of NBA scouts in the Xfinity Center who got an eyeful of Fernando, to be sure.
But here is guessing they were every bit as impressed by Langford.
When the Hoosiers desperately needed him to step up, Langford did in about every way humanly possible.
Langford scored 20 of IU's 24 points from the 9:14 mark (when IU trailed 54-46) to 0:25.9, when his 3 brought the Hoosiers within 74-70. It wasn't quite enough, but it was a magnificent effort by the freshman.
"He's been very good," Miller said of Langford, who has posted double-figure scoring in all 16 games this season." I thought he did a nice job, leading into this week. Played very hard. Shot the ball very well and got to the line, as he normally does. He was good."
Langford was 8 of 14 from the field (including 3 of 6 from 3-point range) and 9 of 9 at the foul line good Friday night.
And Miller even switched Langford onto the Cowan defensively down the stretch. The 6-foot-6 freshman showed he could handle perhaps the quickest 6-0 guard in the league reasonably well.
But Cowan had already done too much damage, with 16 points after halftime, and seven assists against just two turnovers for the game. He, like the rest of the Terps, hit all the crucial free throws down the stretch to stave the Hoosiers off.
Maryland (14-3 overall, 5-1 in Big Ten play) finished 18 of 22 at the foul line (.818).
But the Hoosiers (12-4, 3-2) were even more accurate, hitting all 16 free throws they got.
That was just one of the many positives Hoosier partisans could take away from the game, even amid the ultimate disappointment.
"I thought, all in all, most of the guys did some really nice things on the floor for us," Miller said. "We had different guys step up and play … we made our free throws. We just didn't rebound.
"It comes down to simple things. Rebound the ball, don't turn it over, play good defense – and we had some of those things in check much of the night, but the one thing we just couldn't get a grip on was the glass."
Indiana shot a solid .491 from the field (and a very acceptable .412 from 3-point range) and had just seven turnovers.
But Maryland made just one of its nine turnovers after intermission, when the Terps attained the magic level on offense at times. They hit a few off-balance jumpers and bank shots.
When Fernando – who had tried just four 3-pointers and hit just one on the season coming in – hoisted and banked in a 3 from the top of the key with 3:34 to play, there was just a sense it wasn't the Hoosiers' night.
It was part of a 51-point second half for Maryland.
"Very disappointed," Miller said of the final result. "Our guys did some really good things in the first half. Played a really, really good half, especially on the road. Guys worked hard to put themselves in a situation, on both ends of the floor, where we were playing the right way.
"Things got out-of-kilter in the second half, obviously. The first four minutes, whatever it may have been, it was 16-2 (Terps). It started with our offense – we had some tough, challenged plays that led to transition."
Indeed, Indiana missed nine straight shots, not all of them advisable and several of them challenged, to help fuel Maryland's big burst. Some of that came down to decision-making.
"The tough plays offensively – get blocked shots or challenged twos when you have the chance to run good offense – we'll keep getting better at (avoiding) that," Miller vowed.
At least Miller has a couple more healthy bodies with which to work right now. That should make for better practices. And ultimately better, steadier performances down the road.
"Our team is going to have to have great resolve as we come back," Miller said. "This league can really overwhelm you, if you get caught up in things.
"For us, we have Nebraska on Monday (a 6:30 p.m. tip at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall). That's our focus. We're looking forward to playing at home."
The Hoosiers now need to go 1-0 Monday. It won't be easy. No Big Ten game will be. All through January. And February. And into mid-March.
That is a long way to go.
Friday saw a lost opportunity for a very valuable road win. It hurt.
But more opportunities await. Indiana is just one-fourth of the way into conference play.
And a steady pace – step by step – still wins the race.
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