Indiana University Athletics
Northwestern Loss has Miller Reflecting on Team's Struggles
12/24/2020 11:48:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - When a team is struggles through a loss, sometimes honesty is the best policy.
Indiana head coach Archie Miller wasn't shy in his assessment of his team's play in a 74-67 loss to Northwestern at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, pointing out the Hoosiers' struggles on the defensive end, their recent habit of turning the ball over, and suggesting that he needs to press some of the younger players into action sooner rather than later.
"Give Northwestern credit," Miller said. "They're a good team. I'm disappointed for our guys, but at the same time, we didn't play well enough to win tonight. That's on me. We have to, obviously, preparing and getting ready to play. We're making the same mistakes over and over sometimes in terms of taking care of the ball, which really hurt us tonight. And, for the first time this season, our defense did not do the job for us."
The Hoosiers turned the ball over 16 times in the loss, which led to 20 Northwestern points. The Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field overall, and they converted 21-of-31 shots from 2-point range, a number that showcased the ease at which Northwestern was converting buckets inside.
But Miller was also upset with what he saw from his team from the opening tip.
"I'm disappointed for our guys and how we played, because I don't think this team embraces playing that way," Miller said. "I think we've shown that we play hard. We play together. But tonight, for some odd reason, we were off balance. Northwestern had a little bit to do with it, but I also think we didn't do a very good job on our end."
There were some bright spots. Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, and guard Armaan Franklin continued his hot play with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting to go with five rebounds. Forward Race Thompson added 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and snagged six rebounds.
As a team, Indiana shot 48.1 percent overall and went 7-of-18 from 3-point range—numbers that aren't bad by any stretch. But allowing Northwestern to knock down 56 percent of its field goal attempts while also being sloppy with the ball isn't a recipe for success.
"I'm going to take full blame for our lack of improvement in the last few weeks taking care of the ball," Miller said. "It's getting got a level where you're not going to win in this league if you don't take care of the ball. First-half turnovers were really silly. It killed us and led to a lot of points.
"I'm going to be honest with you… even the Texas game, we didn't play well in that game, but we played hard. We stunk that day. But today, I thought we stunk on both ends of the floor, a lot of breakdowns, a lot of sloppiness, and it got us beat."
One thought about solving the turnover issue could come down to pace. Miller wants his team to be smarter in transition and keep moving the ball, but slowing down could help the team take care of the ball while also keeping guys fresher on the court.
"Maybe we have to slow it down," Miller said. "We're not playing that many guys anyway. If we keep turning the ball over in transition with numbers, we just have to slow it down a little bit and make sure we don't' turnover it over because I know the turnovers are really hard to defend on the other end.
Speaking of freshness, IU played just eight players, three of them playing at least 36 minutes. Thompson played 29 minutes. That kind of load is manageable in late December, but there could be a price to pay later in the season. As it is, Miller felt fatigue was a problem later in the game and allowed Northwestern to pull away in the closing minutes.
Going deeper into the bench will be a part of solving that problem, but it means some younger players are going to have to grow up quickly.
"I felt like fatigue played a factor," Miller said. "We're going to have to bite the bullet here. We're going to have to get a little deeper. We're going to have to play more guys to be able to sustain the depth we're going to need throughout the course of the season."
IU won't have a lot of time to worry about fixing anything. The Hoosiers next play Illinois Dec. 26 in Champaign. Still, with their coach being honest about some of the issues swirling around the Hoosiers right now, accountability is going to foremost in the players' minds in the short term.
Indiana head coach Archie Miller wasn't shy in his assessment of his team's play in a 74-67 loss to Northwestern at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, pointing out the Hoosiers' struggles on the defensive end, their recent habit of turning the ball over, and suggesting that he needs to press some of the younger players into action sooner rather than later.
"Give Northwestern credit," Miller said. "They're a good team. I'm disappointed for our guys, but at the same time, we didn't play well enough to win tonight. That's on me. We have to, obviously, preparing and getting ready to play. We're making the same mistakes over and over sometimes in terms of taking care of the ball, which really hurt us tonight. And, for the first time this season, our defense did not do the job for us."
The Hoosiers turned the ball over 16 times in the loss, which led to 20 Northwestern points. The Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field overall, and they converted 21-of-31 shots from 2-point range, a number that showcased the ease at which Northwestern was converting buckets inside.
But Miller was also upset with what he saw from his team from the opening tip.
"I'm disappointed for our guys and how we played, because I don't think this team embraces playing that way," Miller said. "I think we've shown that we play hard. We play together. But tonight, for some odd reason, we were off balance. Northwestern had a little bit to do with it, but I also think we didn't do a very good job on our end."
There were some bright spots. Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, and guard Armaan Franklin continued his hot play with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting to go with five rebounds. Forward Race Thompson added 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and snagged six rebounds.
As a team, Indiana shot 48.1 percent overall and went 7-of-18 from 3-point range—numbers that aren't bad by any stretch. But allowing Northwestern to knock down 56 percent of its field goal attempts while also being sloppy with the ball isn't a recipe for success.
"I'm going to take full blame for our lack of improvement in the last few weeks taking care of the ball," Miller said. "It's getting got a level where you're not going to win in this league if you don't take care of the ball. First-half turnovers were really silly. It killed us and led to a lot of points.
"I'm going to be honest with you… even the Texas game, we didn't play well in that game, but we played hard. We stunk that day. But today, I thought we stunk on both ends of the floor, a lot of breakdowns, a lot of sloppiness, and it got us beat."
One thought about solving the turnover issue could come down to pace. Miller wants his team to be smarter in transition and keep moving the ball, but slowing down could help the team take care of the ball while also keeping guys fresher on the court.
"Maybe we have to slow it down," Miller said. "We're not playing that many guys anyway. If we keep turning the ball over in transition with numbers, we just have to slow it down a little bit and make sure we don't' turnover it over because I know the turnovers are really hard to defend on the other end.
Speaking of freshness, IU played just eight players, three of them playing at least 36 minutes. Thompson played 29 minutes. That kind of load is manageable in late December, but there could be a price to pay later in the season. As it is, Miller felt fatigue was a problem later in the game and allowed Northwestern to pull away in the closing minutes.
Going deeper into the bench will be a part of solving that problem, but it means some younger players are going to have to grow up quickly.
"I felt like fatigue played a factor," Miller said. "We're going to have to bite the bullet here. We're going to have to get a little deeper. We're going to have to play more guys to be able to sustain the depth we're going to need throughout the course of the season."
IU won't have a lot of time to worry about fixing anything. The Hoosiers next play Illinois Dec. 26 in Champaign. Still, with their coach being honest about some of the issues swirling around the Hoosiers right now, accountability is going to foremost in the players' minds in the short term.
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