Indiana responded to a disappointing home loss to Purdue with their biggest win of the season on Thursday night. The Hoosiers, behind a strong defensive effort and a balanced scoring attack, took down No. 4 Iowa 81-69 at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The victory, which provided a major boost in computer classifications, moved the Hoosiers to 9-6 overall and 4-4 in conference games. Here are five lessons from the victory over the Hawkeyes:
• Indiana prevents the country’s most powerful attack: Iowa’s offensive numbers in Thursday’s Iowa City game were staggering.
The Hawkeyes were scoring a Big Ten – better 1,203 points for possession in a conference game. His last five wins had an average margin of 15.4 points. Iowa took second place in the conference in an effective field goal percentage with 56.8 and averaged 85.7 points per game.
But Indiana made Iowa look ordinary in Thursday’s frustrating victory.
The Hawkeyes scored just 1.01 points for possession, a low of the season. Iowa made just 5 out of 23 of its 3-point attempts, its second worst performance of the season in terms of marks and percentage (21.7). In the second half, Iowa was more than 11 minutes without a field goal.
After coming close to defeats in overtime for the state of Florida and Wisconsin, the Hoosiers finally managed to overtake an elite opponent away from Bloomington. In those defeats, Indiana doubled up late and missed opportunities to close games that could be won. On Thursday in Iowa City, Indiana did not budge, as it reached the lead in the last seven minutes.
• Phinisee, Durham shine and provide secondary score boost: The consistency of Trayce Jackson-Davis has been strong for the Hoosiers this season. The second-year striker averaged more than 20 points and nine rebounds per game at the conference. In Indiana’s last six games, Jackson-Davis has scored 21 or more points five times.
What is missing is the consistency of veteran Indiana guards, Al Durham Jr. and Rob Phinisee.
In Thursday’s loss to Purdue, Phinisee and Durham added just eight points out of 3 out of 10 shots. In Iowa City, the pair took the opportunity to take some of the pressure off Jackson-Davis.
Phinisee did his best game of the season, finishing with 18 points, three assists, three rebounds, three steals and no turn in 32 minutes. He completely overcame Jordan Bohannon, who failed to score in more than 33 minutes.
Durham had only 2 of 6 field shots, but it was a bright spot on the free-throw line, where he knocked out nine of his 10 attempts. Durham scored 14 points and, like Phinisee, did not make a comeback.
• Indiana seems to have cured its churn problems: For the seventh game in a row, Indiana had a turnover percentage of 17.4 or less.
For a perspective of how significant this improvement is, the Hoosiers have had a turnover of 20.1 or more in four of their first six games this season against major competitors.
In Thursday’s win against the Hawkeyes, Indiana had a low season eight turnover to a turnover percentage of 11.7, its third lowest mark of the season. IU’s ability to take care of the ball, coupled with a hot perimeter kick performance (8 of 17), allowed Hoosiers to overcome another bad night of free throws (21 of 35).
Miller’s goal for his team in terms of turnover per game has been a moving target. After starting with a goal of 12 spins or less at the beginning of his tenure, he talked about 10 or less per game to start this season. More recently, Miller proclaimed that he would like to see seven to eight or less spins per game. On Sunday, the Hoosiers nailed it and left Iowa City with their most significant victory in Miller’s term.
• Hawkeyes’ secondary scoring options fail to deliver: In our preview for Thursday’s game, one of the keys listed was Indiana finding a way to slow Joe Wieskamp or Jordan Bohannon:
The reality with Garza is that he will fill out the stats sheet, regardless of what the defense throws at him. His season low is 16 points and he already has six games of 30 or more points. Iowa becomes unstoppable when its secondary options, like Bohannon and Wieskamp, are producing alongside Garza. The Hoosiers have had many struggles to stop Bohannon over the years, but they are going to have to find a way to slow him down or Wieskamp to find some success.
As ESPN’s John Gasaway astutely pointed out this morning on Twitter, Indiana’s work in Bohannon showed what can be accomplished when one of Iowa’s secondary options is handcuffed offensively.
Garza still delivered his average of the season with 28 points, but the Hoosiers made him make 22 attempts at field goal and nine free throws to get there.
The key was to silence Bohannon, who went 0-to-9 on the field. In the last five Iowa games, Bohannon averaged 17 points and 4.4 had 3s.
• Could this victory change the trajectory of Miller’s management? In the aftermath of Purdue’s defeat last Thursday, it was fair to wonder if Indiana would be able to turn a corner this season, Archie Miller’s fourth in Bloomington.
A win doesn’t solve everything, nor does it change the fact that Indiana still has a lot of work to do to make it to the NCAA tournament this season, but defeating one of the top five teams on the road is a big plus for the IU curriculum.
Indiana jumped 15 positions in the NET ranking this morning, a significant increase in a metric that weighs in March. It was Indiana’s first Quad 1 win of the season and immediately shifts the conversation away from Purdue’s defeat.
With a staggering program from Rutgers, which lost five games in a row, arriving in Bloomington on Sunday, Indiana now has the opportunity to gain momentum by entering the most difficult stretch of its schedule.
Filed for: Aljami Durham, Archie Miller, Iowa Hawkeyes, Robert Phinisee, Trayce Jackson-Davis