Indiana University Athletics
In-Season Growth on Display in Penn State Win
2/25/2020 11:06:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - We're still a few weeks from the arrival of Spring in Bloomington, but Archie Miller and his Hoosiers seem to have gotten a head start on the growing season.
Indiana's 68-60 win over Penn State will look comfortable on paper for the rest of time. An eight-point home win doesn't seem important when it comes to the grand scheme of things, but scores don't always tell the whole story. For the 2019-20 Hoosiers, IU's win shows how far the team has come in a short amount of time.
Just a few weeks ago, the Hoosiers were reeling. Two road losses were the meat in a four-game losing streak sandwich around home defeats to Maryland and Purdue, and Miller was preaching to his team the importance of sticking together. A win over Iowa at home seemed to steady the team a bit, but then a blowout loss to Michigan once again left IU wobbling.
But Indiana managed to regroup. After falling behind by double digits at Minnesota, the Hoosiers battled back to a 68-56 victory that gave the team some confidence. That confidence continued vs. Penn State, the No. 9-ranked team in the country, as IU built a 19-point first-half lead at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The wobble was fixed, right?
Well…
In the span of 10 minutes of game time, the Hoosiers saw a 37-18 lead with 2:16 to play in the first half turn into a 48-42 deficit with 12:17 left in the game. That span included an 18-0 run by Penn State, and it left Indiana on the brink of devastating defeat.
Then, just when the Hoosiers needed it most, redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter stepped into a 3-point attempt, dropping the shot and stopping the bleeding. Some defensive stops by Indiana, plus some hard work on the offensive glass, led to a pair of buckets from redshirt sophomore Race Thompson and a second-chance hook shot from junior Justin Smith. Then sophomore Rob Phinisee made a pair of free throws, and freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis powered his way to the rim for a dunk that shook Branch McCracken Court.
Indiana's 13-0 run put the Hoosiers back up by seven, and Penn State never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
It wasn't the easy victory the Hoosiers were hoping for, but then again, overcoming adversity, being forced to turn the tide vs. one of the better teams in the country in real-time, could end up being more beneficial than if IU scored a ho-hum win.
Indiana grew before our eyes this week.
"The fight is a full 10 rounds," said Miller after explaining his coaching staff likes to break the game into 10 four-minute segments. "At the end of the day in basketball, there are going to be swings. You have to find a way to hang in there and weather it. You have to find a way to make a couple runs.
"But keep the big picture in mind. Keep the game simple. If you don't win a four-minute round, like a fight, you've got to find a way to win as many rounds as you can. And you have to be the toughest team the longest. You have to be willing to fight it all the way until the ninth and 10th rounds. You've got to be finishers, and we finished this week. We didn't finish there a few other times, maybe last week, but we've been able to finish here the last couple of games."
In-season growth is the key to any team's success. Players have to improve from game-to-game. Trust has to be built, and chemistry has to come together. There's no magic formula, and some seasons, it doesn't happen at all.
But this season has been a roller coaster for the Hoosiers, and they seem to be a bit stronger for it.
Miller also thinks his team is focusing more on what he believes is important.
"I think for so long we played games where guys worried about playing on offense: Why can't you score? Why are you going through such a long shooting drought? Why are you this? Why are you that?" Miller said. "At the end of the day, that's irrelevant. If you're great defensively, you're going to have a chance. If you're great on the glass, you're going to have a chance. And on offense, if we can take care of the ball better, we're going to be able to be better, especially this time of year. So collectively, I think we're starting to figure out this deal's about high-level effort on defense."
Miller knows he won't get perfection from his team at all times. He acknowledges there likely will be times when his team isn't clicking the way he would like. But he also doesn't want his players focusing on losing a 19-point lead.
He wants them looking ahead to the next play and focusing on what is possible instead of worrying about the past.
"You have to have the bounce-back mentality," Miller said. "And you have to have a group that understands that we have a lot of great things in front of us if we continue to hone in and get better. It's not about what just happened; it's about what can happen."
Indiana's 68-60 win over Penn State will look comfortable on paper for the rest of time. An eight-point home win doesn't seem important when it comes to the grand scheme of things, but scores don't always tell the whole story. For the 2019-20 Hoosiers, IU's win shows how far the team has come in a short amount of time.
Just a few weeks ago, the Hoosiers were reeling. Two road losses were the meat in a four-game losing streak sandwich around home defeats to Maryland and Purdue, and Miller was preaching to his team the importance of sticking together. A win over Iowa at home seemed to steady the team a bit, but then a blowout loss to Michigan once again left IU wobbling.
But Indiana managed to regroup. After falling behind by double digits at Minnesota, the Hoosiers battled back to a 68-56 victory that gave the team some confidence. That confidence continued vs. Penn State, the No. 9-ranked team in the country, as IU built a 19-point first-half lead at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The wobble was fixed, right?
Well…
In the span of 10 minutes of game time, the Hoosiers saw a 37-18 lead with 2:16 to play in the first half turn into a 48-42 deficit with 12:17 left in the game. That span included an 18-0 run by Penn State, and it left Indiana on the brink of devastating defeat.
Then, just when the Hoosiers needed it most, redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter stepped into a 3-point attempt, dropping the shot and stopping the bleeding. Some defensive stops by Indiana, plus some hard work on the offensive glass, led to a pair of buckets from redshirt sophomore Race Thompson and a second-chance hook shot from junior Justin Smith. Then sophomore Rob Phinisee made a pair of free throws, and freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis powered his way to the rim for a dunk that shook Branch McCracken Court.
Indiana's 13-0 run put the Hoosiers back up by seven, and Penn State never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
It wasn't the easy victory the Hoosiers were hoping for, but then again, overcoming adversity, being forced to turn the tide vs. one of the better teams in the country in real-time, could end up being more beneficial than if IU scored a ho-hum win.
Indiana grew before our eyes this week.
"The fight is a full 10 rounds," said Miller after explaining his coaching staff likes to break the game into 10 four-minute segments. "At the end of the day in basketball, there are going to be swings. You have to find a way to hang in there and weather it. You have to find a way to make a couple runs.
"But keep the big picture in mind. Keep the game simple. If you don't win a four-minute round, like a fight, you've got to find a way to win as many rounds as you can. And you have to be the toughest team the longest. You have to be willing to fight it all the way until the ninth and 10th rounds. You've got to be finishers, and we finished this week. We didn't finish there a few other times, maybe last week, but we've been able to finish here the last couple of games."
In-season growth is the key to any team's success. Players have to improve from game-to-game. Trust has to be built, and chemistry has to come together. There's no magic formula, and some seasons, it doesn't happen at all.
But this season has been a roller coaster for the Hoosiers, and they seem to be a bit stronger for it.
Miller also thinks his team is focusing more on what he believes is important.
"I think for so long we played games where guys worried about playing on offense: Why can't you score? Why are you going through such a long shooting drought? Why are you this? Why are you that?" Miller said. "At the end of the day, that's irrelevant. If you're great defensively, you're going to have a chance. If you're great on the glass, you're going to have a chance. And on offense, if we can take care of the ball better, we're going to be able to be better, especially this time of year. So collectively, I think we're starting to figure out this deal's about high-level effort on defense."
Miller knows he won't get perfection from his team at all times. He acknowledges there likely will be times when his team isn't clicking the way he would like. But he also doesn't want his players focusing on losing a 19-point lead.
He wants them looking ahead to the next play and focusing on what is possible instead of worrying about the past.
"You have to have the bounce-back mentality," Miller said. "And you have to have a group that understands that we have a lot of great things in front of us if we continue to hone in and get better. It's not about what just happened; it's about what can happen."
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