In an Indiana men’s basketball season defined by fleeting positives and more frequent negatives, Saturday brought one of the lowest points yet.
In fact, IU’s 85-71 loss to Penn State at Simon Skjodt Assembly may not be only the worst loss of its season so far; it’s one of the worst losses of Mike Woodson’s tenure as head coach.
Penn State (11-11, 5-6 Big Ten) came to Bloomington with a losing record. Its program is in transition, after Micah Shrewsberry departed following last season and Mike Rhoades took over. Its roster is even more transfer-laden than Indiana’s. At this point, the Nittany Lions are mainly playing for Rhoades, to help him get momentum going into next season. They’d need a big run in February for any postseason basketball to be realistic, and if that happened, it would just be an added bonus.
That team entered Assembly Hall and completely controlled the game. Yes, Indiana (13-9, 5-6) didn’t have Xavier Johnson, and perhaps his speed could’ve given IU the jolt it needed in the second half. But the Hoosiers — as Woodson has often pointed out — have dealt with injuries for most of the season. The sixth-year guard missed seven games in December with a foot injury, and he wasn’t the same player for several weeks upon returning in January. Indiana should know how to win without Johnson by this point.
But the Hoosiers, after holding a 41-37 lead at halftime, looked as disconnected and disjointed as ever in the second half. Stagnant offensive possessions turned into poor defense on the other end.
“We had a four-point lead going into the half and we weren’t playing well at all. And then we come out in the second half and it’s the same thing,” senior guard Trey Galloway said after the game. “We are just not playing hard enough and smart enough on the defensive end. We had a lot of unnecessary fouling and then just a bunch of miscues that’s really just on us that we can’t have this late in the season.”
The 3-point line was a problem, yet again, for IU. Penn State got a lot of clean looks from beyond the arc in the first half — some by design, and some because of defensive breakdowns. And it continued into the second half, as PSU finished 12 for 22 from 3-point range.
Entering Saturday’s game, the median number of 3-point attempts per game across Division I was 21.8. In seven of Indiana’s nine losses, opponents have attempted 21 or more threes. Its only other losses came against Kansas and Purdue, two of the best teams in the country. IU has won nine games when the other team has taken 21 or more 3-pointers, but seven of those wins came in non-conference “buy games.”
The Hoosiers’ offensive struggles from beyond the arc are well-documented — they shot 5 for 19 Saturday. So opponents are clearly aware of this formula for beating them. Shoot a high enough volume of 3-pointers, and IU likely won’t be able to keep up, even if that opponent isn’t hitting them at high percentage.
“They got a lot of open shots,” Galloway said. “That just goes back to our miscues and the things we weren’t doing, talking enough, and there’s all those little things that went into the preparation that we didn’t do.”
IU’s lack of hustle and energy in the second half is an even bigger concern than any X’s and O’s.
One of the Hoosiers’ strongest traits this season, through all their flaws, has been continuing to fight. Plenty of opponents have gone on big runs to break games open, but IU has often been able to respond with a run of its own at some point to close the gap. But that never happened Saturday. Indiana’s largest run in the second half was 6-0, and it came in the final minutes, when the result was already settled.
The IU team that showed up in the second half looked rudderless.
“I want more fire. I mean, come on. Yes, I want more fire to my guys. They didn’t fight tonight in the second half and that’s kind of disappointing,” Woodson said. “They didn’t just perform the second half. They didn’t. They didn’t. They were flat as hell.”
This loss is damaging for Indiana’s postseason hopes. And that’s not just March Madness. The NCAA Tournament is far out of the picture by now — IU could win its final nine regular season games and still have work to do to secure an at-large bid. But failing to convert a game like this into a win hurts IU’s NIT hopes, as well.
Last season, Florida had the worst overall record of any NIT team, at 16-16. The Gators defeated four NCAA Tournament teams during the season. Santa Clara, finishing at No. 85, is the lowest-rated team in KenPom to receive an at-large bid to the NIT last season. The Broncos finished 23-9 before losing in the first round of the NIT; they, too, had four wins over NCAA Tournament teams. The Big Ten sent three teams to the NIT last year: Wisconsin (17-14), Michigan (17-15), and Rutgers (19-14). Among those three, Michigan had the fewest wins over NCAA Tournament teams, with six.
Against teams currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament, per BracketMatrix.com, the Hoosiers currently have one win (Morehead State) — and they were fortunate to escape that night.
A step back, in some form, should’ve been expected for IU after losing an all-time great like Trayce Jackson-Davis. But missing postseason play entirely would be more than a step back. It would signal a failure to convert the Jackson-Davis era into any tangible momentum for the program.
And that, more than any short-term ramifications of losing to Penn State, is extremely damaging for the future of Indiana men’s basketball.
For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
