Indiana University Athletics
GRAHAM: The End Might Be Nigh - In A Good Way
2/2/2019 10:52:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The end is near.
No, not the Apocalypse (although some devout Indiana fans might not object to the Rapture about now.)
But the schedule stretch featuring six road assignments in eight Big Ten games finally concludes with Saturday's 6 p.m. tipoff at Michigan State.
After that, IU plays six of its final nine regular-season games back at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana is starting to finally see a few more healthy bodies at practice and will look, as February unfolds, to regain something resembling the stride that carried the Hoosiers to a 12-2 start this season.
Not that coach Tom Izzo's No. 6-ranked Spartans intend to cooperate.
They're probably a bit surly, having had almost a full week to stew over Sunday's road loss at Purdue. And MSU's Breslin Center figures to be especially juiced via Saturday's visit from EPSN's College GameDay.
Indiana (12-8 overall, 3-7 Big Ten) enters off a seventh straight loss, Wednesday's 66-58 setback at Rutgers.
"Evaluating where we're at right now and what we're doing, and we're trying to correct some things," IU coach Archie Miller said of his team's intervening practice days. "But at the same time, (we're) trying to reestablish that, No. 1, there's a lot of season left, and No. 2, we've got to get better in a couple areas that we can control, pretty quick.
"Heading to Michigan State, it's going to be an amazing environment. And it's the one you want to be in. And, for us, we've got to try like crazy to be better in certain areas. We're obviously at the halfway point of league play, so as we start up in February and you reset your batteries for the stretch run, our goal is obviously still in front of us."
Indiana, for all of its recent struggles, hasn't yet played itself out of NCAA tournament consideration. Time, and opportunities, remain to secure a bid.
But there is no sugar-coating the challenge the Hoosiers face Saturday.
MSU (18-3, 9-1) is 10-0 this season at the Breslin Center, where it has defeated foes by an average score of 90-60. (Yes, you read that right.) And the Spartans' average victory margin over Big Ten opponents there is 20 points (79-59).
The Spartans own non-conference wins over at Florida, over Texas by 10 at a neutral site and by 20 at home over UCLA.
The closest anybody has come to Michigan State in East Lansing all season? Maryland's 14-point loss, 69-55, Jan. 21. Purdue lost by 16. Iowa lost by 22. Northwestern lost by 26.
MSU is without junior Joshua Langford, who averaged 15 points per outing in the 13 games before Christmas, but the Spartans haven't slowed down.
Cassius Winston is perhaps the nation's premier college point guard. He leads the Spartan scoring at 18.5 and has 100 more assists than turnovers (153-53). The junior is shooting 46 percent from 3-point range and 79 percent at the foul line.
Nick Ward, a bruising 6-foot-9 junior frontliner, is averaging 15.6 points and 6.9 rebounds. Kenny Goins, a 6-7 senior, averages 9.4 caroms per game and 6-8 soph Xavier Tilliman is at 7.0 boards per game to help lead MSU domination of the glass. The Spartans out-rebound opponents by an average of 10.4 per game.
Losing a fine player like Langford might cripple some teams. But Michigan State isn't just any team. And the Spartans have clearly adjusted.
"You know, to be honest with you, he hasn't been in there since December, so their identity is pretty good right now," Miller said of the Spartans. "They've got unbelievable depth. They've got great role distribution. They've got guys playing extremely hard, and you know, their main cogs in the wheel, so to speak, their most experienced guys are all-conference players.
"Cassius Winston is probably as good as it gets in college basketball right now, in terms of running the team. Nick Ward is about as good as it gets in terms of commanding a presence down there (in the paint). With those two guys, that's a two-headed deal, but they're getting unbelievable production from a lot of different guys.
"Kenny Goins, Xavier Tillman are doing a great job. Obviously their presence offensively and defensively on the boards and what they're doing is a big, big reason why they're so successful.
"And they're playing a lot more of their younger players since Josh has been out, which adds (Indianapolis native Aaron) Henry and (Gage) Brown and (Kyle) Ahrens and those guys are in there and they're playing well. What you're seeing right now is who they are … and they're good."
Indiana hasn't been good lately, at least not with any consistency. The Hoosiers, among other things, have proven prone to lengthy offensive lapses.
Wednesday's loss featured one of those fatal IU scoring droughts, contributing to a 22-0 Rutgers run, carrying from the first half into the second.
The Hoosiers scored 29 points in the game's first 15 minutes, then scored 29 in the final 14 minutes. They just didn't score any points in between.
Senior standout Juwan Morgan sat down with his second foul 6:26 before halftime, Indiana ahead 23-14 at that juncture. So he watched from the sidelines as the Hoosier offense stagnated and the Rutgers run started.
"Just the whole demeanor changed," Morgan recalled. "I think we didn't become a moving team, a passing team. We were moreso moving like guys on the dribble instead of with the pass and cutting away from the ball, and I think that's just been a point of emphasis that we got away from.
"I think just going through practice each and every day, we've really echoed that and emphasized that, and I think guys are starting to see how good we can be when we're moving the ball with passes instead of trying to dribble it everywhere."
Morgan felt the Hoosiers could have done better affecting the trajectory of the game at the other end, too.
"Early on, we were winning a lot of games just by being better defensively," Morgan said. "… We're not known as knock-down shooters. We're not known for just scoring 90, 80, whatever points.
"We were known for getting it done on defense and really winning on that side of the ball, and we've really gotten away from that and tried to become an offensive team, instead of really letting our defense create our offense like we had been in the past."
Indiana is shooting just .253 from 3-point range during conference play so far. That currently stands as the worst percentage in league history.
Miller agreed with Morgan that IU needs better ball and player movement to generate better looks, and that stepping up defensively might also help galvanize the offense a bit.
"We've got to hang our hat on a couple things and focus in on those, things we can control -- defensively we've got to ratchet it back up," Miller said. "We've got to be a better defensive team. That's step one.
"Number two, poise. We have to have more poise. We have shown the ability to sort of play well at times and then all of a sudden it goes away very fast, and we can't stop the flood, so to speak. And that comes down to poise and patience and don't panic on either end of the floor. Just stick with it, stay with it, and be a little smarter.
"I think we have to do a better job offensively, right now, in continuing to try to tweak and fix ourselves so that we can become more efficient and get more ball movement. The ball sticks way too much at times, and that's been a big problem for us."
Depth has remained an issue, too. Morgan has had to constitute virtually a one-man front line much of the season for the Hoosiers, whose injuries have mounted and persisted all season.
But 6-10 junior De'Ron Davis is about ready to resume after an ankle injury robbed him of January almost in its entirety – and he was already coming off rehabilitating an Achilles tendon tear from last January.
And 6-8 redshirt-freshman Race Thompson is now practicing after missing all but one game all season in concussion protocol.
The Hoosiers are also getting back junior guard Devonte Green, who just served a three-game suspension for violation of team rules.
"Obviously the depth of our older guys mixing in with that youth was a big, key component, and we really haven't had the ability to put that together in terms of the role definition and whatnot," Miller said. "And I think hopefully here in February, you start to get a couple guys back and you can maybe recreate sort of your lineup and some things that you're trying to do, and I think that will help us.
"We look at this back 10 as sort of a restart in terms of where we're at. It's a short season, a 10-game season, and it starts one game at a time, and Michigan State is up next, and we've got to be good. We've got to try to be better than we've been."
If they manage that, the end might look more like the beginning instead of the middle.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The end is near.
No, not the Apocalypse (although some devout Indiana fans might not object to the Rapture about now.)
But the schedule stretch featuring six road assignments in eight Big Ten games finally concludes with Saturday's 6 p.m. tipoff at Michigan State.
After that, IU plays six of its final nine regular-season games back at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana is starting to finally see a few more healthy bodies at practice and will look, as February unfolds, to regain something resembling the stride that carried the Hoosiers to a 12-2 start this season.
Not that coach Tom Izzo's No. 6-ranked Spartans intend to cooperate.
They're probably a bit surly, having had almost a full week to stew over Sunday's road loss at Purdue. And MSU's Breslin Center figures to be especially juiced via Saturday's visit from EPSN's College GameDay.
Indiana (12-8 overall, 3-7 Big Ten) enters off a seventh straight loss, Wednesday's 66-58 setback at Rutgers.
"Evaluating where we're at right now and what we're doing, and we're trying to correct some things," IU coach Archie Miller said of his team's intervening practice days. "But at the same time, (we're) trying to reestablish that, No. 1, there's a lot of season left, and No. 2, we've got to get better in a couple areas that we can control, pretty quick.
"Heading to Michigan State, it's going to be an amazing environment. And it's the one you want to be in. And, for us, we've got to try like crazy to be better in certain areas. We're obviously at the halfway point of league play, so as we start up in February and you reset your batteries for the stretch run, our goal is obviously still in front of us."
Indiana, for all of its recent struggles, hasn't yet played itself out of NCAA tournament consideration. Time, and opportunities, remain to secure a bid.
But there is no sugar-coating the challenge the Hoosiers face Saturday.
MSU (18-3, 9-1) is 10-0 this season at the Breslin Center, where it has defeated foes by an average score of 90-60. (Yes, you read that right.) And the Spartans' average victory margin over Big Ten opponents there is 20 points (79-59).
The Spartans own non-conference wins over at Florida, over Texas by 10 at a neutral site and by 20 at home over UCLA.
The closest anybody has come to Michigan State in East Lansing all season? Maryland's 14-point loss, 69-55, Jan. 21. Purdue lost by 16. Iowa lost by 22. Northwestern lost by 26.
MSU is without junior Joshua Langford, who averaged 15 points per outing in the 13 games before Christmas, but the Spartans haven't slowed down.
Cassius Winston is perhaps the nation's premier college point guard. He leads the Spartan scoring at 18.5 and has 100 more assists than turnovers (153-53). The junior is shooting 46 percent from 3-point range and 79 percent at the foul line.
Nick Ward, a bruising 6-foot-9 junior frontliner, is averaging 15.6 points and 6.9 rebounds. Kenny Goins, a 6-7 senior, averages 9.4 caroms per game and 6-8 soph Xavier Tilliman is at 7.0 boards per game to help lead MSU domination of the glass. The Spartans out-rebound opponents by an average of 10.4 per game.
Losing a fine player like Langford might cripple some teams. But Michigan State isn't just any team. And the Spartans have clearly adjusted.
"You know, to be honest with you, he hasn't been in there since December, so their identity is pretty good right now," Miller said of the Spartans. "They've got unbelievable depth. They've got great role distribution. They've got guys playing extremely hard, and you know, their main cogs in the wheel, so to speak, their most experienced guys are all-conference players.
"Cassius Winston is probably as good as it gets in college basketball right now, in terms of running the team. Nick Ward is about as good as it gets in terms of commanding a presence down there (in the paint). With those two guys, that's a two-headed deal, but they're getting unbelievable production from a lot of different guys.
"Kenny Goins, Xavier Tillman are doing a great job. Obviously their presence offensively and defensively on the boards and what they're doing is a big, big reason why they're so successful.
"And they're playing a lot more of their younger players since Josh has been out, which adds (Indianapolis native Aaron) Henry and (Gage) Brown and (Kyle) Ahrens and those guys are in there and they're playing well. What you're seeing right now is who they are … and they're good."
Indiana hasn't been good lately, at least not with any consistency. The Hoosiers, among other things, have proven prone to lengthy offensive lapses.
Wednesday's loss featured one of those fatal IU scoring droughts, contributing to a 22-0 Rutgers run, carrying from the first half into the second.
The Hoosiers scored 29 points in the game's first 15 minutes, then scored 29 in the final 14 minutes. They just didn't score any points in between.
Senior standout Juwan Morgan sat down with his second foul 6:26 before halftime, Indiana ahead 23-14 at that juncture. So he watched from the sidelines as the Hoosier offense stagnated and the Rutgers run started.
"Just the whole demeanor changed," Morgan recalled. "I think we didn't become a moving team, a passing team. We were moreso moving like guys on the dribble instead of with the pass and cutting away from the ball, and I think that's just been a point of emphasis that we got away from.
"I think just going through practice each and every day, we've really echoed that and emphasized that, and I think guys are starting to see how good we can be when we're moving the ball with passes instead of trying to dribble it everywhere."
Morgan felt the Hoosiers could have done better affecting the trajectory of the game at the other end, too.
"Early on, we were winning a lot of games just by being better defensively," Morgan said. "… We're not known as knock-down shooters. We're not known for just scoring 90, 80, whatever points.
"We were known for getting it done on defense and really winning on that side of the ball, and we've really gotten away from that and tried to become an offensive team, instead of really letting our defense create our offense like we had been in the past."
Indiana is shooting just .253 from 3-point range during conference play so far. That currently stands as the worst percentage in league history.
Miller agreed with Morgan that IU needs better ball and player movement to generate better looks, and that stepping up defensively might also help galvanize the offense a bit.
"We've got to hang our hat on a couple things and focus in on those, things we can control -- defensively we've got to ratchet it back up," Miller said. "We've got to be a better defensive team. That's step one.
"Number two, poise. We have to have more poise. We have shown the ability to sort of play well at times and then all of a sudden it goes away very fast, and we can't stop the flood, so to speak. And that comes down to poise and patience and don't panic on either end of the floor. Just stick with it, stay with it, and be a little smarter.
"I think we have to do a better job offensively, right now, in continuing to try to tweak and fix ourselves so that we can become more efficient and get more ball movement. The ball sticks way too much at times, and that's been a big problem for us."
Depth has remained an issue, too. Morgan has had to constitute virtually a one-man front line much of the season for the Hoosiers, whose injuries have mounted and persisted all season.
But 6-10 junior De'Ron Davis is about ready to resume after an ankle injury robbed him of January almost in its entirety – and he was already coming off rehabilitating an Achilles tendon tear from last January.
And 6-8 redshirt-freshman Race Thompson is now practicing after missing all but one game all season in concussion protocol.
The Hoosiers are also getting back junior guard Devonte Green, who just served a three-game suspension for violation of team rules.
"Obviously the depth of our older guys mixing in with that youth was a big, key component, and we really haven't had the ability to put that together in terms of the role definition and whatnot," Miller said. "And I think hopefully here in February, you start to get a couple guys back and you can maybe recreate sort of your lineup and some things that you're trying to do, and I think that will help us.
"We look at this back 10 as sort of a restart in terms of where we're at. It's a short season, a 10-game season, and it starts one game at a time, and Michigan State is up next, and we've got to be good. We've got to try to be better than we've been."
If they manage that, the end might look more like the beginning instead of the middle.
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