After a 27-8 loss to No. 8 Arizona in Las Vegas on Saturday, Indiana couldn’t quite come back.
Four times, the Hoosiers have narrowed the gap to within five points by double-digit margins, only to find that the gap has returned to its original position.
That resilience in itself should have been an encouraging sign for Indiana fans. For too long, and right up until last season, IU basketball had a nasty side. Archie Miller has called the Indiana team “soft” or “scary” many times. It surprised him to hear him say those words, but it was not surprising that he felt that way.
It’s hard to measure or know for sure, but until this point in the 2022-23 season, Indiana appears to have washed that trait out of its program. The Rutgers loss and the Arizona loss have at least one thing in common.
The absence of starting point guard Xavier Johnson seemed to play a large role in IU’s early fall behind against Arizona.
The Hoosiers actually start two point guards when everyone is healthy. But Johnson’s quick second foul came when Mike Woodson put him out of the game with 15:55 left in the first half, as freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino was out three games in a row with a back problem. It meant IU lost both key ballhandlers.The Wildcats paid them a heavy price with an 18-for-2 run in just over four minutes while Johnson was sidelined.
Hood-Schifino’s absence is not trivial. He scored 12 of Indiana’s first 19 points against North Carolina. It was his start to that game that propelled Indiana, and his absence in IU’s two losses led to shaky play, where the Hoosiers may still be losing to Rutgers and Arizona. But it’s fair to say that the Hood-Schifino injury was a meaningful part of Indiana’s 3-2 loss.
Injuries are part of every team’s story every season, so Hood Schifino’s three-game absence is nothing to worry about at this point. Woodson said on his radio show Monday night that Pittsburgh’s product is progressing and has seen more recent basketball activity, if not five-for-five and full contact. continues to sound like a question of when, not if, he’ll be back – and perhaps it will be sooner or later.
“He’s done a lot for our ball club and I think you’ve had the chance to see it,” Woodson said of Hood Schifino on his radio show. “It’s great to finally have him back. He’s not in a rush. He’s feeling much better and that’s good for our organization.”
The bottom line is this – with wins over Xavier and North Carolina while Hoodschiffino is healthy, it’s still clear IU is in the top tier of the Big Ten. Being let down gives the Hoosiers a good chance to get healthy again.
One of the main questions about this Indiana team going into the season seems to have a new answer that Hoosier fans will love.
“Yeah, but can they shoot” was a common and reasonable refrain from both the media and fans amidst the preseason hype.
Now that we’re almost a third of the way through the season, check out these numbers from the 3-point range to 10 games.
- Miller Kop: 23 of 47 (48.9%) — 36.1% last season
- Trey Galloway: 6/13 (46.2%) — 21.4% last season
- Tamar Bates: 14/34 (41.2%) — 29.8% last season
- Xavier Johnson: 10/26 (38.5%) — last season 38.3%
Indiana’s shooting percentage as a team is 36.4%, which ranks 82nd in the nation. Indiana has not finished within the top 200 nationally based on that measurement since the 2016-17 campaign. In the last two games, IU has made it 21 of his 50 games (42%), with the opposing team putting a lot of emphasis on robbing Trace Jackson of his Davis postgame with the paint packed. I saw you there.
“We hit threes well,” Woodson said. “Once you get good looks, you have to feel good about shooting and making them. We’ve had our fair share in the last few games.”
Hood-Schifino isn’t stable from behind at 31.6%, but he certainly shows a flash. That first half 12-point blowout against UNC included a 2-for-3 effort from long range.
And after Race Thompson’s dismal 3-of-18 start to the season, Saturday’s 4-of-7 performance showed he wasn’t the cause of the loss. Thompson, or his ability to create a 3-pointer for Indiana State’s 4-playing player, seems like a key factor going forward with a lot of attention on Davis for Jackson.
The final item to consider is this — Indiana has been on the downside of a pretty significant foul-to-free-throw mismatch lately.
In the last four games, all heavy contenders, Indiana has been whistled for 75 fouls while their opponents (UNC, Rutgers, Nebraska, Arizona) have been called for just 62. IU put up just his 49 tries from the Stripes in his four games that stretch, while the opposition won his 85 freebies.
Woodson wasn’t happy with the disparity against Arizona.
“In a physical game like this, you have to hit more than nine free throws for 25,” he said. “For a game with that much contact, it’s too one-sided.”
Indiana’s aggressive defensive style can lead to fouls, and they are arguably more fundamentally sound when it comes to positioning and technique. However, it seems likely that his throw ratio between fouls and frees will balance out over time.
The Hoosiers never made it past the Big Ten unscathed.
IU is still recognized as a top 15 program nationwide and is one of the best Big Ten programs. They’re far from perfect, but compared to some recent vintage teams, it’s much harder to point out any glaring issues.
If they can stay healthy, keep making threes, and perhaps see some more lucrative whistles, everything Indiana fans have been thinking about this season seems to be within reach.
Daily Hoosier – “Where Indiana fans gather when they’re not at a rally”
Related
