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    Sunday, February 1

    IU basketball: Indiana at UCLA — The Report Card

    Mike SchumannBy IU Basketball No Comments
    Photo - IU Athletics

    Indiana is starting to build an NCAA Tournament resume.

    The Hoosiers trailed UCLA for most of the first half, and fell behind 36-27 with less than a minute to go until the break before Reed Bailey completed a 3-point play to give them momentum going into the locker room.  IU asserted their will in the second half, gradually overcoming the deficit and then building a 10-point lead on multiple occasions.  But they’d give that away in the final two minutes, and then go back-and-forth for two tense overtime sessions.

    Let’s take a deeper look at how Indiana won 98-97 in double overtime in Los Angeles with our latest edition of The Report Card.

    The Hoosiers (15-7, 6-5) will return to action Tuesday evening at USC.

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    OFFENSE (B+)

    Indiana got off to a miserable start offensively.  The Hoosiers only scored five points in the first eight minutes, eight points through the first 11 minutes, and made just 3 of 13 shots from the field to open the game.

    But they shot 47.1% the rest of the way.  What IU figured out over time was better ball movement.  The Hoosiers ended up assisting on 22 of their 28 makes from the field.  They routinely made the extra pass to create open looks, and found dives to the rim for points.  The Hoosiers scored 1.39 points per possession in the second half.

    The Hoosiers continue to not turn the ball over, although there were some miscues late in regulation, along with some trouble getting the ball inbounded.  Their turnover rate has been 15.6% or less in each of the last five games.  Indiana got to the free throw line at a high rate, with a free throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 57.6% — their third-highest of the year.  And they made 31 of 38 at the stripe.

    Low turnovers and a lot of free throws helped offset overall average shooting percentages and a lack of offensive rebounds.  In the end, IU scored 1.11 points per possession.  They’ve won all but one game this season at that level.

    DEFENSE (B+)

    Indiana locked UCLA down for most of the second half.  The Bruins only made five shots from the field in the first 17 minutes after halftime.  Indiana ran UCLA off the three-point arc and forced them into a lot of contested twos.  UCLA’s 44.1% effective field goal percentage was their lowest of the season.  And the Hoosiers held the Bruins to an actual full game field goal percentage of 39.5%.  That’s a solid number on the road in the Big Ten against a respectable opponent.

    The key to UCLA staying in the game was they didn’t turn it over and they made 30 of 34 free throws.   They also had 12 offensive rebounds and 22 second chance points.

    Excessive fouling was a problem for IU.  The Hoosiers committed a total of 27 fouls and saw three players foul out.

    SEE ALSO:

    THE PLAYERS (*starters)

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    *Tucker DeVries (B+) DeVries was the Swiss Army Knife of the team, doing a little bit of everything.  He is absolutely battling for rebounds despite being undersized.  He helped facilitate the offense at a high level.

    *Lamar Wilkerson (B+) He helped finally get the offense going with eight straight points in the first half.  But Wilkerson was special in overtime, when he showed his versatility and focused on getting to the rim with no other point guard available to do that.  He has shown a disturbing pattern of making mistakes in crunch time, but IU got through it.

    *Sam Alexis (B) He had some massive late rebounds, made some late free throws, and had some key blocks.

    *Conor Enright (B+) It was another smart, gritty performance by Enright.  He switched on ball screens and ended up on UCLA bigs all game.  And he battled with them like he was 6-foot-8 and 225.  Enright facilitated at a high level too.

    *Nick Dorn (A)  Dorn scored 18 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, almost single-handedly keeping IU in the game.  And while his shot-making is popping, lately he’s shown a lot more energy and effort rebounding out of his area and making an impact on the defensive end.  He had some impressive drives too.

    Reed Bailey (A) Bailey continues to look like a player who is finding another gear and excelling down the stretch.  He was elite at finding holes in the defense for dives to the rim.  He played through contact well and made an impressive 12 of 13 free throws.  Bailey also rebounded and facilitated.  This was a high end effort.

    Jasai Miles (C) Miles fouled out in nine minutes.  He did get a couple rebounds and played hard.  But excessive fouling has been a trend for quite some time.

    Trent Sisley (B+) Sisley gave elite effort cutting to the rim and crashing the offensive glass.  He struggled to finish and made just 3 of 6 at the stripe — but he made the one that counted most.

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    Aleksa Ristic and Andrej Acimovic did not play — coaches decision.

    Tayton Conerway, Jason Drake and Josh Harris were out with injuries.

    The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

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