Pieces Fall into Place to Show the Hoosiers' Potential

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - It was an afternoon when everything came together.

The Hoosiers faced Ohio State, one of the top teams in the Big Ten, Saturday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, looking to find some consistency. Winners of their last outing vs. Northwestern earlier in the week, the Hoosiers stood at 12-3, but head coach Archie Miller wasn't happy with this team.

He wanted to see better effort, especially on the defensive end. He wanted his guys to value the ball a little more, to play with a higher basketball IQ, to both understand and execute what he wanted from his players on the floor.

"We've got to punch through this wall right now," Miller said after the Northwestern win. "We're struggling in a little bit of a rut, and we've got to punch through that wall a little bit. I'll say if you're not ready to go on Saturday, that's a problem."

Against the Buckeyes, IU scored the first five points of the game and built a nine-point lead in the first 10 minutes of the half. Sophomore Rob Phinisee trained a trio of 3-pointers in the first couple of minutes, and the energy on both ends of the court was completely different for the Hoosiers.

They led 25-16 with 9:57 to play in the half following a lay-up by senior Devonte Green. That was the good news. The bad news is IU suffered through an offensive brown out over the next 10 minutes, failing to make a field goal the rest of the half.

But here's the good news. Although Indiana saw its lead transition from a nine-point advantage to a three-point deficit, it didn't balloon out of control. Unlike in recent games that saw the same kinds of offensive struggles—the deficit at Maryland grew to 30, and the skid vs. Northwestern turned into a double-digit issue before IU rallied—Indiana relied on its defense to at least slow the Buckeyes.

Ohio State led 34-31 at halftime, but IU wasn't hanging its collective head as it came off the court. Yeah, things had gotten shaky, but what had once worked could work again.

During halftime, a host of former IU basketball players gathered at midcourt as Indiana hosted an alumni weekend. Former star Alan Henderson—a little grayer than fans might remember but still a commanding presence—talked to the crowd about how much winning meant to players, and that supporting this year's team was as important as fan support for anyone else.

The crowd showed its appreciation, and it kept the energy high when the 2019-20 Hoosiers returned to the floor.

The players made it easy to cheer. IU opened the half on an 8-0 run, building a 39-34 lead after junior Joey Brunk scored in the paint. Ohio State would bounce back, to take the lead, but the edge never grew to more than a basket, and Indiana used a relentless march to the rim to get to the foul line and wear down the Buckeyes.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, IU walked off with a 66-54 win. The Hoosiers allowed just 20 points in the second half, shot 36 free throws, and committed just 11 turnovers. They limited their 3-point attempts to just 12, and IU's offense was efficient working through the post, which opened the perimeter to a variety of options.

"Our guys gave (the fans) something to cheer about," Miller said. "They played hard. Played very together. I thought we got our head out of the mud after Wednesday. We were fortunate to win Wednesday, but we got our attitude, we got our heads together, and guys were ready to go today. We had probably as good of a defensive game as we've played overall if you look at the numbers. We did some really good things there."

Ohio State shot just 21.4 percent in the second half, including just 2-of-14 from 3-point range. For the game, the Buckeyes went 17-of-52 (.327), and half of their field-goal attempts came from beyond the arc. Indiana forced 16 turnovers which led to 14 Hoosier points.

Senior Devonte Green scored 19 points off the bench, including 15 in the second half. He made all four of his shots from the field, including an acrobatic, slicing lay-up in traffic that brought the crowd to its feet.

Green may not have started, but Miller praised him for having the right mindset.

"I thought he got recommitted to doing things the right way every day," Miller said. "It's not about game day. I thought for a competitive guy, for a guy that has a lot of pride in being a good player, I thought he'd taken a notch down on his daily approach to how competitive he is, and his game in general, just playing more freely but also having a real concerted effort to be unselfish and pass and get guys going.

"He did a really good job today, and then we just wake up tomorrow and hopefully we're going to see him do a good job tomorrow because it is what it is. Because I'll tell you, when he plays well, we're a different team."

Solid offense. Good defense. Getting to the line. Scoring a win over a ranked team. A packed Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The past meeting the present.

Everything came together vs. Ohio State for at least one afternoon. Now, the challenge is finding the consistency that has been difficult to find so far this season, but Saturday's win was a good step in the right direction.

"We've just got to keep raising our level of intensity and we've got to stay with it," Miller said. "I think this team has a chance. We've got a great group, and I'm happy for them to be able to win today, but we've got to keep progressing."

Indiana University Athletics

Pieces Fall into Place to Show the Hoosiers' Potential

Players Mentioned

Joey Brunk

Devonte Green

Rob Phinisee

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