Thoughts about a 64-58 defeat for the Spartans:
The Hoosiers fought a lot in this game. They fought in a heavy, ugly and offensively challenging competition.
But in the end, in a game, they absolutely had to hold on to any hope of an NCAA tournament, it just didn’t happen.
The Spartans, and specifically Aaron Henry again, were better off in the final stretch. It proved to be the difference, and the Hoosiers are now below 0.500.
Henry wished Michigan State to win this one. As the two teams struggled hard to score and the whistles seemed to never end, Henry got 12 points in the final 4:34 of the dispute, leading to any defense that Indiana launched against him. He scored 18 of his 22 points, the best high in the game, in the second half. Indiana scored just eight points in the final 4:34.
Unlike the Spartans, who managed to mount their best scorer in the final stretch, Indiana did not have that option tonight. Trayce Jackson-Davis scored just nine points in this, a low point of the season. Against Michigan State last time, Jackson-Davis had his career record of 34 points, tied with the most points an opponent scored against the Spartans in the Tom Izzo era.
But although they opted for a single Jackson-Davis cover on this one again, the results were much better for the Spartans tonight. Defenders of the post were able to deny him the ball over and over again, while defenders of the Michigan State perimeter sank to make it even more difficult to insert the ball into it. And when Jackson-Davis managed to catch the ball, the results were not good. Marcus Bingham Jr.’s size disturbed Indiana’s second year. Other pictures he took were just plain bad. It didn’t help that he was in trouble on this one. The sophomore finished just 1 of 5 on the field and can be seen angry and screaming during a huddle in the second half.
The Hoosiers were above the season average on the line (20 out of 29, 69 percent), but hit only 2 out of 20 in the 3-point range and kicked just 32.7 percent off the field. They scored just 0.89 points for possession.
In a season in which he was criticized for inconsistent play and not showing up, Rob Phinisee played with an aggression rarely seen this season. While he only had 6 of 16 field shots, Phinisee scored the team’s highest score with 16 points and hit the only two 3 points of the night. He came ready to play. But Al Durham finished 0 out of 7, hitting a 3-point ball at the end of the competition, when Indiana tried to keep pace in the final stretch.
This is now Indiana’s fourth consecutive loss. And discovering a great race in the Big Ten tournament, it is unlikely that the Hoosiers will go to the NCAA tournament this season. To make matters worse, the Hoosiers close the Big Ten season against Purdue at West Lafayette, a team that Indiana did not defeat in the Archie Miller era.
The mood is already low in the Hoosier nation. A loss to Purdue at the end of the regular season seems particularly cruel.
(Photo: IU Athletics)
Filed for: Michigan State Spartans