Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Not Far Off Despite Ohio State Loss
2/15/2021 10:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball
If there was a theme to the Hoosiers' 78-59 loss at Ohio State Saturday, it would be two words.
Not enough.
Indiana didn't have enough offense early vs. the Buckeyes, falling behind 21-6 in the first nine-plus minutes of the game.
Indiana didn't have enough focus when it came to taking care of the ball, turning it over 15 times vs. one of the better teams in the country.
Indiana didn't have enough outside shooting to get back into the game, making just 5-of-15 shots from 3-point range, limiting IU's ability to make a run.
Even when the Hoosiers did make a push, cutting the deficit to five points with just over 14 minutes to play, it just wasn't enough. A dunk by forward Trayce Jackson-Davis pulled IU within 45-40, but nine straight Ohio State points pushed the lead back to 14, and the Hoosiers never threatened again.
Indiana's physicality vs. Ohio State? Also, not enough.
"Ohio State's terrific," head coach Archie Miller said. "There wasn't anything that we could do today, to really stem them from being able to physically overwhelm us. Ohio State deserves all the credit today. They imposed, physically, just a different way for us to feel in the game. And they got to make us better from this. We have to learn from it and move on."
The Hoosiers have struggled to string together victories this season, but they haven't suffered through long losing streaks, either. Sitting at 11-9 overall and 6-7 in Big Ten play, they have played five overtime games and have lost only two conference games by double figures.
In other words, IU has been battling, but there just hasn't been enough consistency.
So, the question as the calendar hits Valentine's Day is: What can be done to find the kind of consistency that is needed to be successful through the rest of the season?
Cutting down on turnovers would be a good start. Miller sets a goal for his team of fewer than 10 turnovers a game. The closer to zero the better. But IU turned the ball over eight times in the first half alone, and Miller knows that makes for a tough recipe for success.
"You look at the turnovers—15—we're not going to be able to play with 15 turnovers," Miller said. "Some of the turnovers that we had really had to do with their defense. I thought they did a good job defensively, at times, being able to create (turnovers). But we didn't have our best game."
Another step would be to get out of the gate a bit quicker. The Hoosiers have falling into a habit of digging themselves a double-digit hole on the scoreboard early in the game. Avoiding slow starts is critical. Rallying from a big deficit is draining, and for a team that already sees its starters logging big minutes while relying mostly on freshmen (save for Jerome Hunter) off the bench, just getting started quicker would make a huge difference.
"It's something that we're mindful of," Miller said. "Our starts have been slow. But if you look at our starts, it really comes down at the end of the day making a couple layups, making a couple free throws. We got down 17-4, whatever it is, and we have a couple point-blank shots that we have to knock in, easy ones to be able to stay in there and help the help the confidence level of our team. But we definitely have a major starting problem in terms of how we start. We've been down big here recently in terms of our starts. It has been hard."
Limiting turnovers. Getting off to a better start by taking advantage of easy opportunities when they present themselves. It's not an impossible task to fix in-season. Which is why Miller doesn't seem to be frustrated with his ballclub.
"Minnesota is the biggest game on the schedule," said Miller, referring to IU's next game, which will be Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. "Our approach can't be any different than we've been. Today was not our day, and Ohio State had everything to do with it. Next thing up is us to head toward getting back home. We played back-to-back road games here in the league. It's tough. We escaped one (IU's win over Northwestern last Thursday), didn't the other. Now, we have Minnesota. That's what matters."
Not enough.
Indiana didn't have enough offense early vs. the Buckeyes, falling behind 21-6 in the first nine-plus minutes of the game.
Indiana didn't have enough focus when it came to taking care of the ball, turning it over 15 times vs. one of the better teams in the country.
Indiana didn't have enough outside shooting to get back into the game, making just 5-of-15 shots from 3-point range, limiting IU's ability to make a run.
Even when the Hoosiers did make a push, cutting the deficit to five points with just over 14 minutes to play, it just wasn't enough. A dunk by forward Trayce Jackson-Davis pulled IU within 45-40, but nine straight Ohio State points pushed the lead back to 14, and the Hoosiers never threatened again.
Indiana's physicality vs. Ohio State? Also, not enough.
"Ohio State's terrific," head coach Archie Miller said. "There wasn't anything that we could do today, to really stem them from being able to physically overwhelm us. Ohio State deserves all the credit today. They imposed, physically, just a different way for us to feel in the game. And they got to make us better from this. We have to learn from it and move on."
The Hoosiers have struggled to string together victories this season, but they haven't suffered through long losing streaks, either. Sitting at 11-9 overall and 6-7 in Big Ten play, they have played five overtime games and have lost only two conference games by double figures.
In other words, IU has been battling, but there just hasn't been enough consistency.
So, the question as the calendar hits Valentine's Day is: What can be done to find the kind of consistency that is needed to be successful through the rest of the season?
Cutting down on turnovers would be a good start. Miller sets a goal for his team of fewer than 10 turnovers a game. The closer to zero the better. But IU turned the ball over eight times in the first half alone, and Miller knows that makes for a tough recipe for success.
"You look at the turnovers—15—we're not going to be able to play with 15 turnovers," Miller said. "Some of the turnovers that we had really had to do with their defense. I thought they did a good job defensively, at times, being able to create (turnovers). But we didn't have our best game."
Another step would be to get out of the gate a bit quicker. The Hoosiers have falling into a habit of digging themselves a double-digit hole on the scoreboard early in the game. Avoiding slow starts is critical. Rallying from a big deficit is draining, and for a team that already sees its starters logging big minutes while relying mostly on freshmen (save for Jerome Hunter) off the bench, just getting started quicker would make a huge difference.
"It's something that we're mindful of," Miller said. "Our starts have been slow. But if you look at our starts, it really comes down at the end of the day making a couple layups, making a couple free throws. We got down 17-4, whatever it is, and we have a couple point-blank shots that we have to knock in, easy ones to be able to stay in there and help the help the confidence level of our team. But we definitely have a major starting problem in terms of how we start. We've been down big here recently in terms of our starts. It has been hard."
Limiting turnovers. Getting off to a better start by taking advantage of easy opportunities when they present themselves. It's not an impossible task to fix in-season. Which is why Miller doesn't seem to be frustrated with his ballclub.
"Minnesota is the biggest game on the schedule," said Miller, referring to IU's next game, which will be Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. "Our approach can't be any different than we've been. Today was not our day, and Ohio State had everything to do with it. Next thing up is us to head toward getting back home. We played back-to-back road games here in the league. It's tough. We escaped one (IU's win over Northwestern last Thursday), didn't the other. Now, we have Minnesota. That's what matters."
Players Mentioned
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