Mike Woodson’s Indiana defense has been regressing since year one.
Whether it’s the personnel on the floor, or opposing coaches knowing the soft spots, IU has gone from a national top-25 ranking in defensive efficiency for the 2021-22 season according to KenPom, to trending towards back-to-back seasons outside the top-70.
Lately, Indiana’s defense has been abysmal, and the central theme of four losses over the last five games.
In his first season at IU, Woodson often leaned on a closing trio of Xavier Johnson, Trey Galloway and Rob Phinisee to lock down the perimeter, while Trayce Jackson-Davis cleaned up the rim runs.
This year the Hoosiers don’t have nearly the same level of athleticism when it comes to rim protection, and they aren’t effective staying in front of the basketball on the perimeter. And it shows in IU’s two-point defense. Opponents are shooting 49.7% from two, the worst percentage of the Woodson era by more than two percentage points. IU’s KenPom ranking in two-point defense has slipped each of the last four seasons, from 10th, 20th, 51st, and now 137th.
Early on this season it looked like Indiana might have improved guarding the 3-point arc year-over-year after a miserable 2023-24 campaign that saw teams hunt threes (41.2% 3-point attempt percentage, No. 307) and make them at a high rate (34.3%, No. 211).
But the last five games have provided the reality check.
Northwestern and Maryland combined to make a staggering 25-of-51 (49%) from three. IU has lost four of five games, and over that span teams have made 55-of-130 (42.3%) from beyond the arc.
Whether Indiana was better guarding the arc early in the year or just fortunate can be debated. But there is no question poor defense is sinking this season, and likely submerging the Woodson era along the way.
If more traditional stats are your thing, try this: IU has allowed 82.6 points per game over their last five contests. Good luck winning in the Big Ten like that.
“This year we haven’t been the defensive team that I thought we should be,” Woodson said on his Monday evening radio show. “It’s never too late. Every day we work in that area to try to get better because practice puts you in a position to feel good about what you do in the ballgame.”
Woodson seemed to suggest the players are being taught effective defensive schemes, and they have been properly prepared for games.
“A lot of it’s miscues, communication, being late on switches,” he said.
“It’s just learning to execute. How quickly can you execute, how quickly can you pick it up and take it from the practice floor to the game? When you really get good at it, you see all the things you’ve worked on come to light.”
But a poor plan properly executed will yield poor results.
How sound are Indiana’s help principles in an era of high three-point volume? How much are the micro details of defense being drilled, such as footwork, hand placement and close-out technique? How effective is Indiana’s game planning, where they seem to choose each game to leave elite shooters to help on dribble drives? How appropriate are their personnel groupings, with multiple players seemingly playing out of their optimal defensive position?
And over the last couple years, how much has defense been emphasized in recruiting?
Woodson seems to want to point to the execution of his defense as the main issue.
But with all of the trends working against him, both this year and over his four years as head coach, it’s reasonable to question whether some — maybe most — of the blame points to the man in charge.
And there are no breaks ahead on the schedule, with four of the Big Ten’s five most efficient offenses coming up next.
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