IU basketball: Indiana at Kansas — The Report Card

Indiana lost for the third time in four games after an 84-62 dismantling at the hands of Kansas at the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.

It was the Arizona game on repeat as the Hoosiers fell into a big hole 42-20 in the first half, and could never recover. Indiana pulled to within 48-38 with 16:11 left in the game, but they’d never get any closer.

Let’s take a deeper look at how the Hoosiers lost with another edition of The Report Card.

Current No. 14 Indiana (8-3, 1-1) will next host Elon on Tuesday evening.

COACHING/INTANGIBLES (F)

It didn’t feel like a complete report card with adding this section for this game. So we’ll skip piling on the players for this one and take a look at the guys in the suits.

Despite a week to get ready, Kansas was better prepared and had more energy from the opening tip. It’s just that simple. And after the same thing happened against Arizona, that’s on the IU staff. Indiana never really matched the Kansas energy, and they never found adjustments to meaningfully impact the game.

“We just didn’t compete. That’s all I can say,” IU coach Mike Woodson said, “and that’s just kind of upsetting because I mean, this team — we were matched up from a statistical standpoint going into this game. We were a dead-even team, pretty much. And they came out and took it right to us and we didn’t respond.”

When two teams look even on paper, and Woodson is right — Kansas and Indiana did, and one blows out the other, it’s time for a reality check.

The Jayhawks wanted it more, and they were better prepared. And the Hoosiers aren’t who we thought they were.

There is enough talent on this Indiana team to compete at a high level. So it is incumbent on the staff to adapt and find answers — fast.

OFFENSE (F)

There is nowhere else to start but Indiana’s seemingly never ending wave of bad passes and other miscues.

“On the road, you won’t beat anybody with 23 turnovers,” Woodson said. “That was the difference.”

Indiana struggled to initiate their offense at times as Kansas was more aggressive than what IU anticipated. This goes into that “better prepared” category.

“They cut the passing lanes,” Woodson said. “They got up and pressed up. That’s something I hadn’t seen them do a lot of on film.”

And don’t allow yourself to make an excuse that Indiana was sloppy because they lost Xavier Johnson to injury. The Hoosiers had 8 turnovers in the first 10:48 of the game before he left — so they were on pace for far more with him.

In addition to the pressure, Kansas doubled on every post touch. That part wasn’t a surprise.

“If I’m coaching against this team I’m gonna double too,” Woodson said. “He’s (Trayce Jackson-Davis) not going to get a lot of touches when they’re taking the ball out of his hand. Guys around him have just got to step up and be able to make shots and make plays around him.”

But they didn’t. An indication of how effective this approach is against Indiana, the Hoosiers shot just 41.2 percent from 2-point range. They’ve been well under 50 percent from two in all three of their losses. And Indiana shot 14 3-pointers in the first half — a clear indicator Kansas was successful with limiting looks in the paint where IU wants them.

When it was 5-on-5 in the half court, Indiana got very little going against Kansas’ pressure. Some of IU’s best looks came in transition off of Trayce Jackson-Davis’ nine blocks. But even numbers on the break didn’t always turn out well for the Hoosiers.

The Hoosiers scored just .817 points per possession, their second lowest output of the season, trailing only the Rutgers game. Their 30.3 turnover percentage was their highest of the season and highest since a game in January at Iowa.

DEFENSE (D)

With 28 Kansas points off turnovers, and 22 fast break points, it is clear the Jayhawks did a lot of damage without having to deal with Indiana’s half court defense.

The Jayhawks often got the ball where they wanted to via dribble penetration, they moved the ball well, and they were able to get out and run. Indiana seemed a step slow to stop any of it. At times the only saving grace for IU was elite rim protection from Jackson-Davis.

Kansas didn’t quite carve-up Indiana’s defense as much as Arizona, but they still managed 1.1 points per possession. And the Jayhawks’ 56.6 effective field goal percentage was the second highest IU has allowed this year.

“You’re just not going to win on the road giving up 80 (points), because you got to score damn near 90 and a lot of college teams are not built that way.”

If you want to find something positive to say, Kansas didn’t get to the stripe much in this game. In fact, they only attempted two free throws in the last nearly 34 minutes.

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