Indiana Takes Another Beating, Loses Big at No. 8 Kansas, 84-62

Indiana wanted to beef up its schedule to see where it stands against Final Four-caliber teams, but the Hoosiers got thumped for the second straight Saturday, losing at Kansas 84-62 in an ugly game with 23 turnovers and several defensive lapses.

LAWRENCE, Kan. — It was simple, and it was succinct. Indiana coach Mike Woodson didn't need a lot of words to sum up the Hoosiers' 84-62 loss at Kansas on Saturday. It was that bad.

Kansas was simply more ready to play, leading from start to finish and never really threatened. 

"No, I wasn't happy (with the Indiana energy level), not at all. That team came to compete and we didn't,'' Woodson said. "We did not show up tonight, and that bothers me.''

It should, and it bothers everybody in Hoosier Nation. The Hoosiers wanted to challenge themselves more this year, but what we've learned in back-to-back Saturday losses to top-10 teams is that Indiana — the 14th-ranked team in the country that's 8-3 now — is a long way off from elite.

The Hoosiers were never in this game. Kansas was up by 22 points late in the first half, and never led by less than 10 despite a couple of Indiana runs. The Jayhawks, who are now 10-1 with a lone loss to No. 6 Tennessee, benefited for a season-high 23 Indiana turnovers and 18 easy baskets right at the rim.

Sure, playing at Allen Fieldhouse is tough, but the Hoosiers weren't even close to competing with the Jayhawks. That's their third double-digit loss away from home in the past three Saturdays.

"The three teams we lost to with Rutgers and Arizona and the early game today, we just weren't in the game,'' Woodson said. "That ain't how I want to play, and somehow I've got to get this team to understand that when we're playing top-notch teams, you've got to give yourself a chance. You can't come in here and throw the ball away 23 times and beat this team because they're a hell of of a team. 

"You can't turn the ball over. I mean 23 times against a good team, that's 23 times you don't get the opportunity to score the ball. And they came in bunches. That's something we need to clean up because we're not a big turnover team. We came into the game averaging I think about 12 turnovers a game, which is comfortable. We've just got to regroup. We've got two games coming up that we've got to prepare for, and then we start into the Big Ten. I'm telling the guys now that we can win at home, but we've got to figure out a way to win on the road if we want to be a great team.''

Indiana got some good news early when freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino was able to start. He had missed three games with a back injury, but started Saturday. He played 30 minutes and scored 11 points with six rebounds and four assists, but he also was just 2-for-11 shooting and had five of Indiana's 23 turnovers.

He also had to play extra minutes because starting point guard Xavier Johnson went down with a foot injury late in the first half. He only played nine minutes and didn't score, and came back out on crutches at halftime with a boot on his right foot. Woodson didn't know the severity of the injury and said Johnson would be evaluated when they get back to Bloomington.

"We don't know yet, but he couldn't play the second half so it doesn't look good,'' Woodson said. "We've got to go back and get him evaluated and see how we are.''

Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson went down with a foot injury in the first half. (USA TODAY Sports) / Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Johnson's absence wasn't the sole reason Indiana had 23 turnovers, the most since last Jan. 13 when they had 23 in a loss at Iowa. This year, they've been much better with the ball, averaging just 11.5 per game before Saturday. 

Indiana's defense wasn't very good either. Kansas shot 51.5 percent from the field and made 7-of-16 threes, plus all seven of their free throws. Gradey Dick had a big game for the Jayhawks, scoring 20 points. He made 4-of-5 threes and was 8-for-12 overall from the floor. Five other Jayhawks were in double figures, too.  

Senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers with 13 points despite not scoring at all in the first 18 minutes of the game, taking just two shots against double teams. He now has 1,752 career points, passing Indiana legends Kent Benson and Damon Bailey on Saturday to move to No. 8 all-time on the IU scoring list. 

He also had nine blocks, the second-most in school history. (Steve Downing had 10 in 1971.) It was the most blocks ever by a Kansas opponent in their 125-year history.

Kansas chose to double-team him on every catch in the paint, and he had to rely on others to hit shots. They didn't. Kansas was up 12-2 in the first four minutes, with Indiana making just 1-of-5 shots — including several wide-open looks — and committing four turnovers right out of the gate.

Kansas just kept piling on.  They were up 14 at the 8-minute mark and up 22 with 2:32 to go in the first half. Indiana went on a 9-2 run to end the half — Jackson-Davis had his first six points in that stretch, but they still went to the locker room trailing 44-29. 

Indiana cut the lead to 10 at 48-38 at the 16:11 mark in the second half, but it quickly went back up to 18 when Indiana missed five straight shots and had a turnover. They never got closer than 14 from there, and trailed by 24 at one point and lost by 22.

"Listen guys, you're not going to win on the road when you give up 84 points, or whatever we gave up. You've got to have a defensive mentality,'' Woodson said. "You're just not going to win on the road giving up that many points because you've got to score damn near 90 points to beat teams, and a lot of college teams aren't built that way. 

"It starts on the defensive and offensively you can't gift buckets, and that's what we did tonight.''

Indiana has two more home games before the end of the year, nonconference matchups with Elon on Tuesday and then Kennesaw State on Friday. Then they have 13 days off before re-starting the Big Ten season on the road at Iowa on Jan. 5.

Between now and then, they'll need to figure out a way to be better on the road. It's been blatantly obvious that they've got issues away from home. And that needs to be fixed.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• WHAT MIKE WOODSON SAID: Indiana got blown out by a top-10 team for the second weekend in a row, and Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson wasn't happy about it. He was especially upset about their 23 turnovers and effort. Here's the video of his postgame press conference, and the full transcript as well. CLICK HERE
• KANSAS DEFENSE 'BEST IT'S BEEN: Kansas turned 23 Indiana turnovers into 28 points and held the Hoosiers to 37.7 percent shooting. Coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks' defense was the best it's been this season, leading to an 84-62 win over No. 14 Indiana on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. CLICK HERE
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• HOOD-SCHIFINO STARTS: Freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino started for the first time in four games in Indiana's matchup against No. 8 Kansas on Saturday at Noon ET at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. CLICK HERE