BLOOMINGTON — Indiana men’s basketball sported a new look on Sunday against Northwestern.
But the Fear of God uniforms were the only thing that looked different at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers looked like the same team that’s taken the court for 25 games this season. For a majority of Sunday’s game, they simply weren’t good enough. And the result was familiar: Northwestern won, 76-72.
This game featured a plethora of this IU team’s worst traits. None was perhaps as glaring as its failure to capitalize on opportunities.
The Hoosiers were in the game midway through the first half, when Northwestern standout Boo Buie picked up a second foul and checked out. Buie hadn’t done much to that point, with just four points and no made field goals, but he’s NU’s best player. Brooks Barnhizer joined Buie on the bench with foul trouble around three minutes later.
That was the moment at which Indiana needed to take control of the game. But instead, momentum swung the other way.
Barnhizer didn’t return for the rest of the half. Buie sat for over 11 minutes after the second foul, and didn’t check back in until there were 11 seconds left until halftime. The Wildcats had built a 34-26 lead by then. They outscored the Hoosiers 23-16 with Buie on the bench in the first half.
Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said after the game that he was prepared to put Buie and Barnhizer back in earlier, but he never had to. The Wildcats, already shorthanded after Ty Berry’s season-ending injury, got strong play from their reserves. IU couldn’t capitalize.
“There’s no question. That stretch of the game, you’re up one, Boo goes to the bench with two fouls, and then Brooks gets his second,” Collins said. “And I’m not a coach that sits guys the whole half. I was going to put those guys back in, if need be. But that group played so well and we kept the lead, that it enabled us to rest those guys the rest of the half.”
Defensively, Indiana — largely freshman Gabe Cupps — did a good job of limiting Buie. But IU couldn’t stop secondary options like Ryan Langborg, who scored a career-high-tying 26 points. The Hoosiers allowed too many open threes, although some came as a result of justified overhelping against Buie.
And IU, once again, performed poorly on the defensive glass. The Hoosiers allowed Northwestern to corral 14 offensive rebounds — the 15th time this season that an IU opponent grabbed 10 or more offensive rebounds. NU had the lowest offensive rebounding percentage in the Big Ten entering Sunday.
IU head coach Mike Woodson said Malik Reneau’s foul trouble impacted his team on the boards through the resulting lineup changes.
“I thought the 50-50 balls, they beat us to tonight and we played smaller. When Malik got in foul trouble early, we went small. Coming down the stretch I had Mackenzie (Mgbako) at the 4,” Woodson said. “So I mean, we have to utilize our strengths when we’re on the floor being big, but didn’t help us tonight.”
Offensively, the Hoosiers looked disconnected for much of the game. Trey Galloway had to physically direct traffic during multiple sets, instructing seemingly unaware teammates of where they were supposed to be. During a mid-February conference game, not a November buy game.
IU’s final line from 3-point range wasn’t horrendous, at 6 for 18. Northwestern shot 8 for 23, which did account for the margin of victory. But two of Indiana’s threes came during a furious late rally. IU was 4 for 15 from beyond the arc before the final minute of the contest.
And inside Assembly Hall, angst grew with every 3-point attempt that clanked off the rim. IU opened the game 1 for 7 from 3-point range, and when Cupps ended that streak, there were equal sighs of relief as there were cheers from the stands.
“You’ve got to make shots,” Woodson said. “We had some good looks and we just didn’t knock them down. Nothing scientific about it. We moved the ball well enough to get open shots. You’ve got to step up and make them. It’s that simple.”
And — supporting one of the biggest recurring themes of Indiana’s season — it struggled at the free-throw line yet again.
The Hoosiers have been one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country all year. They entered Sunday ranked 331st in the country (out of 362) with a 66.4 clip at the foul line. And this was their 14th game with a free-throw percentage under that mark. Indiana went 12 for 21 at the stripe.
57.1 percent.
Kel’el Ware went 2 for 5. Mgbako was 5 for 8. Galloway 2 for 4. Anthony Leal 0 for 1. Just two IU players went to the foul line and didn’t miss any — CJ Gunn went 2 for 2, and Reneau was 1 for 1.
Free-throw shooting has been the difference in so many games for Indiana this season, and it proved costly again on Sunday.
“We shoot a lot of free throws in practice because the coaches and we obviously see that that’s something that we can get better at,” Cupps said. “I think it just all comes down to confidence and the mentality approaching the line with. I think it’s much more mental than physical. We get the reps in all week and have been throughout the season. We’ve just got to step up and knock them down with confidence.”
Indiana’s season is circling the drain. At 14-11 overall, and with six games left in the regular season, postseason play beyond the Big Ten Tournament appears unlikely.
The Hoosiers have had some scattered positive moments throughout the campaign, and they’ve had individual development from several players.
But Indiana is struggling with the same things it has all season. On the whole, it’s been ugly — no matter what color uniforms the team wears.
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