Thoughts on a 74-63 loss to Rutgers:
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have reached the low point of the season.
This was a disastrous performance by the Hoosiers tonight, a repeat of how things went against Michigan, but somehow worse. As with the Spartans, Indiana looked strong beyond the gate. The defense stopped and applied pressure. On the other hand, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Al Durham were good. Durham hit his first three attempts at 3 points, while Jackson-Davis followed in pick-and-roll.
Durham’s first three 3 put Indiana at 23-8 at the 9:42 mark. But everything changed in the wrong direction from there, another great Indiana trail was dragged away, never to return.
IU’s attack started to get tight. He missed 2s long and turned the ball around, allowing some runouts for the Scarlet Knights, where they scored against Indiana’s transition defense. Rutgers really started to warm up from the bottom, hitting seven of his last eight goals in the break after a 0-to-7 start. What used to be a 15-point lead turned into a deficit of 35-31 at the break, with Rutgers ending the break in a 27-8 streak. A defensive rebound from Jackson-Davis was stolen from his hands by Paul Mulcahy in the final seconds, who scored the ball before the bell.
Armaan Franklin’s ankle seemed to keep him off the ground for the final 20 minutes of the game, something Archie Miller confirmed after the confrontation (although he said it was an Achilles foot or problem). No matter, a second-year superhuman performance probably wouldn’t have saved the Hoosiers in the second half.
Rutgers increased the advantage to 20 points twice, as Indiana showed little defensive resistance, as well as against the state of Michigan. Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker were particularly difficult coverage for the Hoosiers tonight. Harper Jr. came out of a 3-point drop to hit 4 of 7 from the bottom on his way to 20 points on 8 of 12 shots overall. Baker hit six points of his own to help match Harper Jr. to 20 points. Rutgers pitched 39.8 percent deep into the competition and received contributions from Myles Johnson (10 points) on his way to 1.05 points for possession.
Indiana recovered after a bad 3-point mark against Michigan State to hit 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) deep. But the Hoosiers hit just 61.1 percent of the line (11 of 18) and only 32.6 percent for the game on 2-point shots. This included three mistakes by Khristian Lander on the edge, who looks almost cursed at this point. The freshman is just 1 out of 17 in 2 point shots this season. Rob Phinisee went goalless, missing all seven attempts at shooting.
What was particularly worrying in the second half was that Indiana’s spirit seemed defeated. The Hoosiers showed little fighting as Rutgers continued to increase his lead.
“It was a humiliating second half,” Miller said at his post-game press conference. “I think this is the first time that we look fractured.”
Miller also said, “When things are not going well … our response is not to run harder, to talk more, to focus more, to talk about the things we can control.”
That sums it up for this Indiana team. Since things are going badly, Hoosiers just can’t seem to straighten up and get over it – especially lately.
Filed to: Rutgers Scarlet Knights