Indiana Shows Defensive Improvement, Holds Iowa, Illinois Well Below Scoring Averages

After allowing 87 and 91 points in losses to Purdue and Wisconsin, respectively, an eight-day break helped Indiana polish up its defensive miscues and hold Illinois and Iowa to 70 and 68 points, respectively, in the last two games. If Indiana is going to make a late push, defense is the path.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After Indiana allowed 91 points in a loss at Wisconsin and scored 52 of its own in the second half, coach Mike Woodson knew his defense was all out of sorts. In fairness, Wisconsin's was, too.

"Who's playing defense? Nobody," Woodson quipped on Jan. 19.

Woodson said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard told him after the game that the late legend Bob Knight would have been disappointed that neither team played defense that night. 

That loss came just three days after the Hoosiers let arch rival Purdue score 87 points and cruise to a win at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana's defense was on a downward trajectory, having allowed roughly eight more points per game than Woodson's first season and six more, on average, than his second.

An eight-day layoff between games at Wisconsin and at Illinois offered Indiana not only a chance to do some "soul searching," as Woodson called it, but also to fix its struggling defense. After a narrow loss at No. 10 Illinois and a 74-68 win over Iowa on Tuesday, the Hoosiers appear to have made significant improvements on the defensive end. 

Indiana held Illinois to 70 points, or 12.1 points below its season average. The Illini shot 37.1% from the field, their fourth-worst shooting night of the season from a percentage standpoint. The week to prepare did wonders for Indiana's defense. Woodson said the Hoosiers followed the game plan, made the correct switches and played with strong effort. That put Indiana in a position to pull off the upset, but falling short of that was no fault to its defense.

Indiana continued to ramp up the defense Tuesday against Iowa, as the Hawkeyes scored just 28 points and shot 27.3% in the first half. That's Iowa's third-fewest points in any half this season, as well as the 11th-lowest scoring half since the start of the 2022-23 season. Iowa point guard Tony Perkins said Indiana's on-ball pressure got the Hawkeyes out of their defensive sets in the first half.

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Tony Perkins (11) dribbles the ball while Indiana Hoosiers guard Trey Galloway (32) defends in the second half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa gave Indiana a run in the second half, scoring 40 points, but finishing with 68 points made for its fourth-lowest scoring game of the season and 10th-lowest since the start of last season. The Hawkeyes entered the game averaging a Big Ten-high 85.3 points, but they were 17.3 points shy of that on Tuesday.

Getting starting center Kel'el Ware back from an ankle injury certainly helped Indiana, too. 

"We needed him back in the worst way," Woodson said. "Games like this, man, it's huge for our ball club. He gets 23 and 10 and three blocks. We were missing his length and ability to block shots. We just didn't have it. It was nice having him back. He was huge tonight for our ball club."

Ware's performance was especially important, given Iowa's leading scorers entering the game. Forwards Ben Krikke and Owen Freeman each average double-digit points, but they finished with six combined points on 3-for-12 shooting. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery was especially disappointed in their production on the glass, as Indiana outrebounded Iowa, 45-32.

"It's not so much that [Krikke and Freeman] didn't have great games, they didn't rebound," McCaffery said. "Those two guys have to rebound. If you give this team second and third shot opportunities, they're going to be really tough to beat."

Along with Ware's three blocks, Anthony Walker finished with two, and Malik Reneau, Anthony Leal and Payton Sparks each swatted away one. Trey Galloway poked away two steals and Xavier Johnson had one, each of which led to Indiana points on the following possession.

Woodson said postgame that he still has to help freshman Mackenzie Mgbako improve on the defensive end, though he has come a long way from the start of the season. The team polished up its defense during that long break, but it must continue as the second half of Big Ten play begins Saturday against Penn State.

"I've got to help everybody more, because it's going to be our defense that carries us the rest of the way and rebounding the ball," Woodson said. "And I thought tonight it was a beautiful carry-over from the Illinois game, because we were pretty good defensively."

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