My Two Cents: Hoosiers Struggle to Find More Shots For Miller Kopp

When asked about getting more shots for Miller Kopp, Indiana coach Mike Woodson didn't consider it a high priority. But with two starters out, Kopp needs to have a bigger role in the offense. He played 26 minutes Saturday before taking his first shot, and that just can't happen for Indiana to be at its best offensively.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Miller Kopp is the best perimeter shooter on Indiana's roster, and the starting small forward has made 45.1 percent of his three-point attempts this season. That percentage would rank No. 16 in the nation, except for one thing.

The thing? He doesn't qualify for the national rankings because he hasn't shot enough. The best shooter on Indiana's team does not shoot enough.

Doesn't make sense, does it?

Saturday was a perfect example of how little Kopp's impact on the Hoosiers' offense can be. Indiana beat No. 18 Wisconsin 63-45, but Kopp, a fifth-year senior who knows his way around a basketball court, played 26 minutes before he took his first shot, and 28 minutes before he made one. His final line: 30 minutes played, with 1-for-2 shooting, one rebound and no assists.

And that's it.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson and Kopp met with the local media on Tuesday, and that was my first question for both of them. Why doesn't Kopp get more shots? And why don't they run more actions or screens off the ball to get him better looks?

"The guys are not leaving him,'' Woodson said of opposing defenders guarding Kopp. "When he gets good looks, we just hope that he can knock them down. About utilizing him, I run a couple plays for him here and there, but my focus isn't just on Miller. Everybody has to play a role and when you have shots, you have to be ready to knock them down. For some reason, he's not getting a lot of shots, because they are not leaving him. And I wouldn't leave him, either.

"When Trayce (Jackson-Davis) is being double-teamed and rotations to (Kopp) are a lot quicker based on who we are playing, he's capable of putting down two or three dribbles, and he escape dribbles and gets shots. That's something he's capable of doing more if he gets the opportunity, but I'm just not here to create a lot of shots for just Miller. I mean, I'm not here to do that. But I think our offense flows best when everybody touches the basketball and gets an opportunity to shoot the ball.''

I'll be honest. That was not the answer I was expecting. There's a good reason why Indiana plays inside out, because Trayce Jackson-Davis attracts so much attention when the ball goes in the post. He is double-teamed often, but for several games now, it's not Kopp's defender who helps. 

Seems to me that a coach should run some actions to get his best perimeter some shots.

I am in no way comparing Miller Kopp to Steve Alford, the school's most-prolific perimeter shooter, but when you have an eidetic memory like I do, I can still see Steve in his No. 12 jersey running through all sorts of screens to get open shots back in the mid-1980s. 

Kopp, who also wears No. 12, could benefit from some of that love. This is a different time, of course, and motion offenses with off-the-ball screens are a thing of the past. Kopp said he and his coaches have put in a lot of time figuring out better options for him, and the shots will come. 

Let's hope so.

“I feel like I’m trying to do everything I can, because at the end of the day the offense revolves around Trayce and (Jalen Hood-Schifino) now with the ball screens and stuff, too,'' Kopp said. "For me, there’s nothing more I can do. I watch film with the coaches all the time about where hopefully I can get more shots in terms of my spacing or how I move or giving guys more angles for me to get open looks. I’m trying to do all I can to get open looks and shoot the ball, because that’s what I do best.

“When I get a shot 28 minutes into a game, when I get a look, it’s going up and I feel good about it. My role is not to come out and shoot 20 times a game. My role is to help my team win, accepting what’s in front of me and making the most of it.’’

Kopp also doesn't let a quiet night on the offensive end affect the rest of his game. He stays engaged, and actually has graded out well defensively most of the time this year. He knows to play hard every minute, and be a vocal leader, too. There are five guys out there, and he's there to help them all. 

"You can get lost in the game, but being vocal and being a leader and talking the whole possession, that’s how I stay in the game,'' Kopp said. “I’m just focusing on defense and being a team defender.''

Indiana coach Mike Woodson talks with Xavier Johnson (0) and Miller Kopp (12) during a game. (Rich Janzaruk/USA TODAY Sports)

Kopp is averaging 8.5 points per game, fifth on the team behind Jackson-Davis, Hood-Schifino, Xavier Johnson and Tamar Bates. He's 50-for-99 from the field in 16 games, and 32-for-71 from three. That's only 4.4 three-point shots per game, and just two makes per game.

That's not nearly enough. And even worse, in the four Big Ten games so far in January, he's taken only 10 shots total, and only six threes. The lack of production — and the lack of good looks — has something to do with senior point guard Xavier Johnson being out of the lineup. 

His absence has been felt since breaking his foot at Kansas on Dec. 17, and it's affected Kopp more than anyone. In the last six games of 2022, he took 53 shots, and an 8.9-shot per game average.

That's far more realistic that 2.5 shots per game, especially in the same amount of minutes.

That's a massive difference. Adjusting to Johnson — and senior forward Race Thompson — being out is still very much a work in progress.

‘’We’re still in that adjustment period, I can tell you that right now,'' Kopp said. "Me as a shooter, I rely on the point guard to find me. I miss X, I miss Race, too. I felt that impact pretty quickly, just as a shooter. It’s something we’re still going through. Hopefully every day we’’ll inch closer to where we need to be. There’s going to be some bumps when you are losing two main guys. It’s tough. It’s about figuring out how we can maximize the guys we have right now.’’

Indiana lost its first three games of the new year, losing at Iowa and Penn State, and at home to Northwestern. That's why beating No. 18 Wisconsin was huge on Saturday. Indiana needed to turn it around, and they need to keep it going on Thursday at Illinois, a team that's playing as well as anyone in the conference.

“The biggest thing for us was our sense of urgency,'' Kopp said of the effort against Wisconsin. "We came into the game with our backs against the wall and we needed to come out and defend. That’s our calling card. We needed to set the tone and let the rest of it fall into place. At the end of the day, it’s about the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s and not the X’s and the O’s.

‘’We’ve all got it inside of us, because we’ve had some competitive practices. We still practice hard, even though we’ve got a crazy stretch of games. It’s all gas on, no brakes for us.''

Especially with two starters out, it is incumbent on Kopp to have a bigger role in this offense. They need to find him good looks, and when he gets them, he needs to hit his shots. He's right, he's never going to be a 20-shot guy on this team, but making three or four threes a game on six or seven shots would be a huge lift.

Is Kopp a role player? Sure he is. But for the rest of this Big Ten season, Indiana needs for that role to be bigger, one way or another. 

And it needs to start right now.    

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