Indiana University Athletics
Getting Past Second-Half Struggles at PSU Critical for Hoosiers
1/30/2020 1:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana headed to the halftime break at Penn State not necessarily feeling good about its first 20 minutes of action but knowing that it had weathered a storm.
The Hoosiers shot just 10-of-29 from the floor in the first half and 1-of-6 from 3-point range, but they out-rebounded Penn State 25-17 and committed just six turnovers. The result was a 28-28 tie thanks to a shaky first half from the Nittany Lions, and the Hoosiers needed to regroup and turn up the intensity after the break.
It didn't quite work out that way.
Indiana was outscored 36-21 in the second half, shot the ball poorly, and committed 12 second-half turnovers in a 64-49 loss to Penn State. The defeat dropped IU to 15-6 overall and 5-5 in Big Ten play, and head coach Archie Miller was not pleased after the game.
"There's not a whole lot to talk about other than the second half," Miller said. "We just played terrible. In the second half, the turnovers just mounted, and we could never just get a grip. For a long time, the game was a reasonable, manageable deal—5, 6, 4 (points), whatever. But the turnovers, the inability to score the ball at some point in time a was going to cave us in, and it did."
Indiana's guards struggled all night. Starters Aljami Durham and Rob Phinisee combined to go 1-of-13 overall and 1-of-4 from 3-point range while handing out five assists vs. four turnovers. The two guards off the bench, Armaan Franklin and Devonte Green, combined to go 2-of-13 overall, 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, and couple three assists with three turnovers.
It's always difficult to win on the road in the Big Ten. But it's near impossible to win when your guards combine to go 3-of-26 from the field with eight assists and seven turnovers. The Hoosiers racked up 18 total miscues with the ball, which led to 21 PSU points.
The early second-half turnovers may have made the biggest impact.
"Early in the first four minutes of the second half, that first four-minute segment, I think we had three turnovers," Miller said. "Three turnovers right out of halftime really set the tone, so it hurt us."
Indiana was solid defensively as a team for the first 30 minutes of the game, but the pressure of having to string together stops while not converting on the offensive end left the Hoosiers frustrated. They started reaching defensively, and that led to a Penn State parade to the foul line.
PSU went 11-of-23 from the line on the night, and 15 of those attempts came in the second half. As the lead built—it got as large as 20 with just over three minutes to play—Penn State managed to break down the Hoosiers' defense by moving the ball and making the extra pass to find a good shot. In the second half alone, the Nittany Lions recorded nine assists on 13 made field goals.
"When your offense lets you down like it did tonight, it's tough," Miller said. "I mean, it's hard on the road as it is, but you can't shut a team out for 40 minutes."
Penn State made life tough for IU, too, especially in the paint. The Nittany Lions took advantage of the Hoosiers' poor perimeter shooting to pack the paint and make IU's inside-out game ineffective. Miller said the ball just didn't move, and when the Hoosiers did have good looks at the rim, they didn't always put the ball in the basket.
But Miller kept coming back to the turnovers.
"Our backcourt has been doing a really good job the last few games of not turning it over," Miller said. "I thought tonight we just had way too many (turnovers). The second half is where we needed our offense to kind of hang in there and keep hanging in there because our defense was doing
okay for a while. We didn't get much on the break, either. Our break has been good to us, and I thought Penn State either did a really good job or we made some poor decisions in not being able to get the ball ahead and get it inside as we're accustomed to doing."
There's no changing what has already happened, obviously. Indiana has suffered some tough losses on the road already this season, but the Hoosiers also have knocked off some top teams (see Michigan State), and the challenge will be for Indiana to regroup quickly, put the PSU loss behind it, and go back to the way the team played in wins over MSU, Ohio State, and Florida State earlier this season.
It's all about moving on to the next opportunity.
After all, Ohio State is coming up in Columbus this Saturday.
"We didn't play well," Miller said. "That's on me. We didn't play well tonight, and we're going to have to play a lot better moving forward."
The Hoosiers shot just 10-of-29 from the floor in the first half and 1-of-6 from 3-point range, but they out-rebounded Penn State 25-17 and committed just six turnovers. The result was a 28-28 tie thanks to a shaky first half from the Nittany Lions, and the Hoosiers needed to regroup and turn up the intensity after the break.
It didn't quite work out that way.
Indiana was outscored 36-21 in the second half, shot the ball poorly, and committed 12 second-half turnovers in a 64-49 loss to Penn State. The defeat dropped IU to 15-6 overall and 5-5 in Big Ten play, and head coach Archie Miller was not pleased after the game.
"There's not a whole lot to talk about other than the second half," Miller said. "We just played terrible. In the second half, the turnovers just mounted, and we could never just get a grip. For a long time, the game was a reasonable, manageable deal—5, 6, 4 (points), whatever. But the turnovers, the inability to score the ball at some point in time a was going to cave us in, and it did."
Indiana's guards struggled all night. Starters Aljami Durham and Rob Phinisee combined to go 1-of-13 overall and 1-of-4 from 3-point range while handing out five assists vs. four turnovers. The two guards off the bench, Armaan Franklin and Devonte Green, combined to go 2-of-13 overall, 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, and couple three assists with three turnovers.
It's always difficult to win on the road in the Big Ten. But it's near impossible to win when your guards combine to go 3-of-26 from the field with eight assists and seven turnovers. The Hoosiers racked up 18 total miscues with the ball, which led to 21 PSU points.
The early second-half turnovers may have made the biggest impact.
"Early in the first four minutes of the second half, that first four-minute segment, I think we had three turnovers," Miller said. "Three turnovers right out of halftime really set the tone, so it hurt us."
Indiana was solid defensively as a team for the first 30 minutes of the game, but the pressure of having to string together stops while not converting on the offensive end left the Hoosiers frustrated. They started reaching defensively, and that led to a Penn State parade to the foul line.
PSU went 11-of-23 from the line on the night, and 15 of those attempts came in the second half. As the lead built—it got as large as 20 with just over three minutes to play—Penn State managed to break down the Hoosiers' defense by moving the ball and making the extra pass to find a good shot. In the second half alone, the Nittany Lions recorded nine assists on 13 made field goals.
"When your offense lets you down like it did tonight, it's tough," Miller said. "I mean, it's hard on the road as it is, but you can't shut a team out for 40 minutes."
Penn State made life tough for IU, too, especially in the paint. The Nittany Lions took advantage of the Hoosiers' poor perimeter shooting to pack the paint and make IU's inside-out game ineffective. Miller said the ball just didn't move, and when the Hoosiers did have good looks at the rim, they didn't always put the ball in the basket.
But Miller kept coming back to the turnovers.
"Our backcourt has been doing a really good job the last few games of not turning it over," Miller said. "I thought tonight we just had way too many (turnovers). The second half is where we needed our offense to kind of hang in there and keep hanging in there because our defense was doing
okay for a while. We didn't get much on the break, either. Our break has been good to us, and I thought Penn State either did a really good job or we made some poor decisions in not being able to get the ball ahead and get it inside as we're accustomed to doing."
There's no changing what has already happened, obviously. Indiana has suffered some tough losses on the road already this season, but the Hoosiers also have knocked off some top teams (see Michigan State), and the challenge will be for Indiana to regroup quickly, put the PSU loss behind it, and go back to the way the team played in wins over MSU, Ohio State, and Florida State earlier this season.
It's all about moving on to the next opportunity.
After all, Ohio State is coming up in Columbus this Saturday.
"We didn't play well," Miller said. "That's on me. We didn't play well tonight, and we're going to have to play a lot better moving forward."
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