Indiana has had several forgettable performances on the road this season. Sunday at Michigan was just the latest example as the Hoosiers lost 89-65 at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
When IU has been at their best this season offensively, they have won the rebounding battle and have gotten to the foul line. That was not the case today. Michigan won the rebounding margin 37 to 21, including a 10 to 7 edge on the offensive glass. Furthermore, Indiana attempted only 12 free throws, making six of them.
“It’s not if you lose it’s how you lose, and we got completely dominated today, especially from midway through the second half,” head coach Archie Miller said. “You look at the rebound total in the game, you look at the free throw attempts for the game.”
In what was a big game regarding Indiana’s NCAA Tournament hopes, they needed to play well on both ends of the floor for 40 minutes in order to win.
Through the first 20 minutes of action, their offense played well enough to win. Indiana scored 34 points on 15-of-30, or 50 percent, from the field including 3-of-6, or 50 percent, from three-point range.
Down just 41-34 at the break, things changed quickly.
Michigan went on a 21-6 early second half run to pull away as Indiana struggled on both ends of the floor.
Indiana managed 31 points on 13-of-31, or 41.9 percent, from the field including 0-of-6 from beyond the arc after the break.
Defensively, the Hoosiers struggled mightily to slow down anything the Wolverines were doing. Michigan scored 89 points for the game including 48 after halftime while shooting 31-of-54, or 57.4 percent, from the field including 9-of-17, or 52.9 percent, from distance. The Wolverines also managed to shoot 18-of-22, or 81.8 percent, from the charity stripe.
“We had no answer for them defensively, and couldn’t compete long enough to find a way to hang in,” Miller said. “We had a lot of things go wrong in terms of our coverages. Defensively it was just poor all the way around.”
With Indiana needing wins to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, the next contest is the most important one.
With three of their next four on the road, Indiana will have to find a way to bolster their postseason resume with wins on the road.
“We’ve got to find a way,” Miller said. “When you’re on the road you believe in yourself, you believe in what you do. That can’t just be a thing where you have it on Thursday but you don’t have it on Sunday.”
Inside The Numbers:
Two players were in double figures for Indiana. De’Ron Davis led the way with 18 points and Al Durham had 17. Davis tied Indiana’s all-time single game field goal percentage record with a perfect 9-of-9 effort. The senior forward will join Will Sheehey in the IU record books.
Jerome Hunter led Indiana with five rebounds.
IU had just five second chance points for the day.
For the game, Indiana was 28-of-61, or 45.9 percent, from the field including 3-of-12, or 25 percent, from three-point range. IU hit 3-of-5 from long range to open the game.
The Hoosiers struggled getting to the line, and they shot just 6-of-12, or 50 percent when they got there.
For the game, IU had seven assists compared to seven turnovers, while Michigan had 17 assists and eight turnovers.
Up Next:
Indiana (16-9, 6-8) travels to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a Big Ten conference matchup. The game tips off at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 19.
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