Indiana Defense Looked Good On The Stat Sheet, But Mike Woodson Is Not Satisfied

Mike Woodson cited switching issues and rebounding positioning as problems Indiana has to solve with Big Ten play about to begin.

Indiana Hoosiers guard Trey Galloway (32) chases down a loose ball in front of Miami (Oh) Redhawks guard Peter Suder (5) during the first half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It’s very easy to look at a box score and let the percentages determine how you think a game went.

One look at the Indiana-Miami of Ohio box score would suggest that the Hoosiers’ defense was suffocating in Friday’s 76-57 victory at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

In the most basic ways, it was. Indiana held the RedHawks to 30.8% from the floor. It was even better after halftime as Miami made just seven shots for a 23.3% shooting half.

Miami leading scorer Pete Suder was held to nine points – eight below his average – and converted just 2 of 10. Kam Craft was 2 of 11. Eian Elmer was 4 of 13.

If you’re Indiana, you absolutely accept that lack of production from the opponent. You also accept the rebounding advantage that the Hoosiers enjoyed in the second half. After Miami crashed the offensive glass in the first half with six offensive rebounds, the Hoosiers outrebounded the RedHawks 27-13 after halftime.

It would be easy for Indiana coach Mike Woodson to look at those stats, lean into them, and take the W in terms of what Indiana’s defense did statistically.

However, Woodson didn’t do that. When asked about Indiana’s defensive identity, he cited what the Hoosiers didn’t do rather than accentuate what they did.

“We still got work to do, man. 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,” Woodson said.

That stretch Woodson referred to came in the second half when Miami missed 11 straight shots, but a fair share of those shots, and others in the game, were open shots that just failed to find the mark. During the RedHawks’ drought from the 9:25 to 3:24 mark of the second half, six of those shots were threes.

They didn’t fall, but that’s a circumstance that won’t be repeated from all of Indiana’s opponents this season.

“Our perimeter play from a defensive standpoint … even though we got them to miss shots, I look at the big picture, man, in terms of how the ball is being moved, if we're switching, are we switching correctly,” Woodson said.

It wasn’t just the switching. As pointed out, Indiana was better on the glass in the second half, but conceding 12 offensive rebounds to a mid-major team didn’t please Woodson.

“Once the ball goes up on the glass, are we in position to rebound the ball. I think we gave up (12) offensive rebounds. That's way too much. These are things we got to fix,” Woodson said.

One undeniable positive presence for Indiana was an engaged Oumar Ballo. Indiana is better defensively when he’s on the floor. Fear of Ballo clearly had an influence on Miami’s shooting.

Miami wanted no part of Ballo’s ability to alter shots near the rim. Miami had several instances where it was able to beat Indiana defenders off the dribble to get into the lane, but then what might have been open shots were passed up.

Ballo is a load who is listed at 7-foot and 265 pounds. He knows he has to use his size to the advantage he did against the RedHawks against all of Indiana’s remaining opponents.

“Whenever you play against guys you got a couple of pounds on, you have to take advantage of that,” Ballo said.

As for Woodson’s desire for better switching and attention to defense on the perimeter? Trey Galloway didn’t disagree.

“We got to learn quick. And we can't have those breakdowns. There was a lot tonight. I think it's just our attention to detail and really focusing and sticking to the game plan,” Galloway said.

“There's a lot of miscues that we had that we shouldn't have. If we clean those up, it takes away a lot of those buckets that they got,” Galloway continued. “It's little things, but we got to make sure we take care of that.”

With two Big Ten games next week – starting with Minnesota’s visit to Assembly Hall at 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday and followed by a road trip to 2024 nemesis Nebraska on Thursday – the time is now for Indiana to clean up its defense, regardless of how good the box score might say it was.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• INDIANA CONTROLS SECOND HALF TO BEAT MIAMI OF OHIO: Indiana took control of the game in the second half to take down Miami of Ohio 76-57 on Friday. CLICK HERE.

• FORMER INDIANA ASSISTANT STEELE COMES BACK: Miami of Ohio coach Travis Steele came back to Indiana where he was an assistant during the Kelvin Sampson era. CLICK HERE.

• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Mike Woodson's postgame comments to the media after the victory over Miami of Ohio. CLICK HERE.