PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – One of the ugliest Indiana performances in recent memory marked an inauspicious opening to the Hoosiers‘ first appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday, in an 89-61 loss to Louisville.
Here’s how the game got so badly away from No. 15 Indiana:
An ugly, hectic first half
Nothing about Indiana’s performance in the opening 20 minutes suggested the Hoosiers (4-1) were ready for the way Louisville speeds up games. Pat Kelsey’s team leans into pressure defense and risks mistakes in exchange for forcing enough to make up the difference. IU was too willing to step into the Cardinals’ trap in the first half.
Indiana committed 11 first-half turnovers, to just five assists. The Hoosiers were a shocking 2-of-10 on layups, against a team whose size should not have been such an issue around the rim. That made it impossible to counterweigh a minus-12 number in points off 3s, as Louisville made more (7) than the Hoosiers attempted (6).
As the half wore on, chopped up by fouls and mistakes at both ends, Indiana players started forcing the action to their team’s detriment. Opportunities to claw back into the game weren’t taken. Long scoring droughts weighed IU down. In many ways, the Hoosiers were lucky to be down just eight, 37-29, at halftime.
Backcourt issues
The heart of Indiana’s remade roster was meant to be its strengthened backcourt. Between returners Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal and Gabe Cupps, and additions Kanaan Carlyle and Myles Rice, the Hoosiers figured to lean on one of the deepest and most experienced guard rotations in the Big Ten.
No group struggled so badly Wednesday as that one.
Guards that saw action against Louisville (4-1) finished with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and 10 turnovers. Galloway, Rice and Carlyle combined for zero points in the first half, two assists and six turnovers, and their collective performance did not improve substantially in the minutes after halftime when Louisville pushed an eight-point lead comfortably into double digits.
Outworked, outhustled, outcoached, outplayed
It’s where the gap belonged based on the energy, effort and intensity imbalance between the two teams. The more lopsided the score became Wednesday, the more that gap grew, until it was a canyon.
All teams lose games. Neutral sites can lead to funny results sometimes. Everybody’s allowed a bad day.
But a team this experienced, this talented, cannot be forgiven the surrender it showed Wednesday in The Bahamas. Too often, these showcase events have been the site of IU’s worst performances under Mike Woodson, not just from a shooting or a rebounding perspective, but in effort, preparation, adjustment and poise.
That shouldn’t be happening in Year 4. But it is. And that’s a larger problem than just one bad 40-minute performance on the day before Thanksgiving.
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