Indiana has a way of not making things look easy even when the final score says otherwise.
The Hoosiers jumped out to an early 14-3 lead, and they led by 12 multiple times in the first half including 33-21 with 5:15 left. But a 15-6 Miami (Ohio) run to close the half had IU fans feeling anxious. Indiana led just 55-50 with 10:09 left before a 12-0 Hoosiers run spanning five minutes put this game away.
Let’s take a deeper look at how IU won 76-57 with our latest edition of The Report Card.
Indiana (7-2) will next host Minnesota on Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
COACHING (C)
The struggle to get this team to play with elite effort continues.
And the struggle to get this team to lock in defensively continues as well.
Those seem like aspects of a team that fall squarely at the feet of the head coach. Mike Woodson has to demand more of his players, and there has to be accountability and consequences. Because a five point lead over a mid-major with 10 minutes left in the second half is not a comfortable place to be, and it doesn’t bode well for Big Ten play.
Woodson has shown he’ll use the bench in-game to sit players who aren’t performing well. But the rigor, discipline and focus has to be instilled at practice. Because we have enough data to this point to see that there are core issues with this team that go beyond talent.
Progress IU seemed to gain Tuesday defending the arc on defense, and spacing the floor on offense, seemed to fade.
OFFENSE (C)
Indiana has struggled with turnovers all season and those problems continued on Friday. Three players had three or more giveaways, and IU had 16 as a team. It was their second-highest turnover percentage of the season after the Louisville loss. So that clearly helped keep Miami in it and limited an otherwise efficient night.
Every other aspect of Indiana’s offense was good if not great. They got to the stripe, got some offensive rebounds, and shot the ball overall reasonably well. Again, good, not great. Enough to beat a mid-major, but enough to leave you feeling squeamish about conference play.
Offensively IU leaned heavily on their big men. You’d like to see them put more time and energy into backcourt production and wing scoring in a game like this, against a smaller opponent. But the margin was never comfortable, and Woodson leans into his frontcourt when the going gets tough.
DEFENSE (C)
The raw numbers look pretty good. IU held Miami to just 30.8% shooting from the floor, the lowest output by any of their opponents this season. And the .85 points per possession allowed was their second best result of the season.
Inside the arc, the Hoosiers did contest just about everything Miami tried to do and made life difficult.
But it was impossible to feel like Indiana didn’t dodge a bullet. Because the RedHawks were getting and missing a lot of open threes.
In a rare moment of candor about his team’s shortcomings, Woodson acknowledged that the perimeter defensive effort wasn’t nearly good enough.
“We still got work to do, man,” Woodson said. “I mean, even though they went six minutes without scoring the ball, they still had good looks. The looks came on our inability to not switch correctly. You know what I mean? We screwed up so many switches tonight I thought.
“Those are things that I just got to get us right. When you switch, that means you got a body on a body. Nobody’s breaking free for easy shots. We got to clean that up. That’s something that we got to continue to work on and practice to get better.”
Miami still made 11 threes, but it’s the 32 attempts they got up on the night that are more concerning.
MORE GAME COVERAGE
THE PLAYERS (*starters)
*Mackenzie Mgbako (D-) The sophomore forward had his head coach frustrated repeatedly for defensive lapses, both on and off the ball. And on the offensive end, if Mgbako hasn’t touched the ball for a while he’ll force things when he finally gets possession.
*Malik Reneau (B+) Just another workmanlike day at the office for Reneau. He missed threes and had turnovers, but 19 points and 7 rebounds is a solid evening. He impressed Miami coach Travis Steele. “We played Indiana two years ago when he was a freshman, and just his progress and developments have been impressive,” Steele said.
*Oumar Ballo (A-) Ballo was physically dominant throughout the entire game, and he seemed to have more energy in this one. While his 18 rebounds catch your eye, his six assists shouldn’t be overlooked. The only nit would be his free throw shooting, but that will probably never be a strength of his game.
*Myles Rice (B) Rice wasn’t much of a facilitator on this night and he had a few turnovers, but he was an efficient scorer and pretty good on defense.
*Trey Galloway (B+) Galloway’s improved 3-point shooting is one of the more encouraging trends on the young season. Unlike some of his teammates, he seemed to be dialed in on the defensive end as well.
Bryson Tucker (D-) This wasn’t a good night for the freshman wing. He turned it over, missed every shot, and seemed slow to close out on shooters on multiple occasions.
Luke Goode (C+) Goode hit a long three to start his night, but wasn’t able to keep the good times rolling.
Anthony Leal (C) Leal’s impact on the game wasn’t as noticeable as Tuesday. He put up no stats in 14 minutes beyond a couple fouls. If IU is going to become a high volume 3-point shooting team, he’s going to have to embrace the moments when he’s got space to get his shot off.
Langdon Hatton and Jakai Newton saw limited minutes.
Dallas James did not play, coach’s decision.
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Gabe Cupps and Kanaan Carlyle were out with injuries
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