Reflections on the 69-60 defeat by the Illini:
The day after Christmas, the hangover was in full swing this afternoon at the State Farm Center. Both teams started out cold in the field, shots rang out from the perimeter and into the paint. In the first media break, the offensive results were not pretty. The combined teams shot just 2 out of 14 field shots, with the two marks coming from the Hoosiers. They led 5-1. Illinois did not hit his first field goal until a Giorgi Bezhanishvili scored at 14:40.
While Illinois’ normally dynamic attack ends the missed shots, Indiana’s defense was also more united and connected in midfield. He didn’t allow the kind of easy bucket Northwestern received earlier in the week, except for a few brands from Ayo Dosunmu, where he worked alone in defense of Indiana. Still, Dosunmu, along with Kofi Cockburn, were not dominating the Hoosiers. And the fifth best 3-point shooting team in the country continued to hit 3 points.
With both teams struggling to make baskets, Indiana did itself a favor by taking care of the ball (15 TO%), generating more chances to score. In the middle, with a drop of just two points at 29-27, things looked quite balanced. Indiana was in a position to steal a road game against a top ranked opponent.
Indiana held up so well in the second half, but Dosunmu, as he has done so many times in his career, raised his game in the final 20 and Indiana just didn’t have enough firepower to counterattack. Junior scored 20 after the break, which included a 4 out of 4 in the 3-point range. Dosunmu helped in a 14-0 run in Illinois that saw Indiana’s 49-44 lead evaporate to Illini’s 58-49 lead. But Indiana would not go silent. An 8-2 run brought it back to 60-57 with 4:10. But two free throws by Da’monte Williams and a 3-point Dosunmu put Illinois back in eight with 1:46 left. A 3-point Armaan Franklin pulled him back with five, but that was as close as Indiana could get to the rest of the game.
Speaking of Franklin, he remains the dynamite in the attack on the Hoosiers. His 3-point shot remains hot (5 of 6) and he scored 23 points, the team’s best score, on 8 out of 12 shots. Indiana made moves for him in the second half to free him beyond the bow and he delivered. Trey Galloway started in Rob Phinisee’s place today, perhaps a sign by Archie Miller that Phinisee needs to start catching him. Junior, together with senior Al Durham, agreed to hit just 0 in 4 in the first half. But they showed more life in the second half. Durham was aggressive and scored nine points out of 4 out of 9 shots. Phinisee scored 2 of 4 (four points) in nine minutes of action.
It was necessary, as Trayce Jackson-Davis had problems for part of the second half, scoring just three points in the final 20 minutes and only 11 for the game in 3 of 13 shots. Jordan Geronimo and Anthony Leal also gained some time in this with Geronimo hitting a 3-point basket in the second half. Indiana hit 7 out of 18 (38.9 percent) with a 3-point streak in this, her fourth game followed by a strong shot from outside. (However, Hoosiers not named Franklin won only 2 out of 12.)
Miller has been preaching 10 turnovers or less and the Hoosiers finally hit it this afternoon with eight. It was the second lowest percentage of turnover (12) of the season. Illinois becomes the second team this season (and the second Big Ten team) to post more than one point for possession (1.04) in Indiana. But this is lower than Illini’s season average for an attack that is among the top five in the country, according to KenPom’s offensive efficiency metric.
In the end, yes, it is another loss. And 0-2 doesn’t look great to start the conference season. But there are still good enough things on this list to get back to the Big Ten ledger with Penn State and Maryland approaching.
(Photo: IU Athletics)
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