My Two Cents: Even One Game In, Indiana's Issues Needs to Get Rectified Quickly

Indiana opened its Big Ten season with a tough loss at home to Northwestern on Wednesday, despite being a nine-point favorite. Their guard play was awful, and there's no time to wallow with this difficult schedule.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – There's no doubt that the Big Ten basketball schedule is going to be brutal this year, so when you have your best opportunities for wins, you have to make sure they don't slip away. 

Indiana's loss to Northwestern on Wednesday was a definite slip. A solid chance for victory? Gone forever.

Indiana lost 74-67 to the Wildcats and looked pretty bad doing it for much of the game. They did play well for a long stretch in the second half to erase a double-digit deficit and take the lead. But they staggered down the stretch and let one slip away. 

It was a game they could have won. A game they should have won. And the biggest reason why is because there are no do-overs in the Big Ten. When you're supposed to win a game and don't, you just can't make it up. It doesn't work that way, not in this league.

And the problem with losing at home Wednesday night is that this is the quote-unquote easiest part of Indiana's Big Ten schedule. If you break the season into quarters, in this first period Indiana has three games against teams in the bottom portion of the league power rankings.

That needed – absolutely needed – to be three wins for the Hoosiers to stay engaged in league play. An NCAA tournament bid will likely be determined by finishing .500 in the league, and that means getting 10 wins somehow and some way. 

One of those 10 slipped through the cracks on Wednesday night, because this is the quarter where multiple wins are there for the taking. That can't be said of this schedule down there road.

Take a look at Indiana's Big Ten slate:

The first quarter

Here's Indiana's first quarter in the Big Ten:

• Dec. 23 – Northwestern 74, Indiana 67 in Bloomington.
• Dec. 26 – Indiana at Illinois
• Dec. 30 – Penn State at Indiana
• Jan. 4 – Maryland at Indiana
• Jan. 7 – Indiana at Wisconsin

The second quarter

Here's Indiana's second quarter in the Big Ten:

• Jan. 10 – Indiana at Nebraska
• Jan. 14 – Purdue at Indiana
• Jan. 17 – Indiana at Michigan State
• Jan. 21 – Indiana at Iowa
• Jan. 24 – Rutgers at Indiana

The third quarter

Here's Indiana's third quarter in the Big Ten:

• Jan. 30 – Indiana at Michigan
• Feb. 2 – Illinois at Indiana
• Feb. 7 – Iowa at Indiana
• Feb. 10 – Indiana at Northwestern
• Feb. 13 – Indiana at Ohio State

The fourth quarter

Here's Indiana's fourth quarter in the Big Ten:

• Feb. 17 – Minnesota at Indiana
• Feb. 20 – Michigan State at Indiana
• Feb. 24 – Indiana at Rutgers
• Feb. 27 – Michigan at Indiana
• March 6 – Indiana at Purdue 

Do you see what I mean? When you're looking to find wins, this is where we're at – right now. Indiana needed to win three games in this quarter, and hope to steal a fourth with a great effort at Illinois and/or Wisconsin.

Nothing I saw Wednesday night tells me that can happen.

Troubles at the guard spot

Al Durham is a senior and has played 104 games now in Archie Miller's system. He's been a captain and a team leader for two years now and in an important first of the conference season, he played 35 minutes – and never made a shot.

He was 0-for-4 from the field, and made 2-of-4 free throws for his only two points. He also had a huge turnover in the final minute when the Hoosiers were hoping to tie the game.

That's just not acceptable.

Rob Phinisee is a junior who has now played 67 games for Archie Miller. Wednesday night he made just 1-of-5 shots, was 0-for-3 from three-point range and made a couple of free throws to finish with four points.

That too is unacceptable.

When you're playing against an excellent zone defense, what you ALWAYS want are veteran guards who know what they're doing, who can dissect the gaps in the zone and find good shots. That didn't happen on Wednesday.

To be truthful, Durham has had a disappointing senior year thus far. Outside of the win over Providence, where he was great and scored 19 points, there really haven't been any highlights. Sure, he's dealt with an ankle injury, but still, you have to wonder.

I mean, just look at the numbers. Since that Providence game on Nov. 30, he is just 11-for-36 from the field, a measly 30.5 percent. He is just 3-for-16 from three-point range (18.7 percent). Is it the ankle? Who knows. 

Rob's situation has been a little different. He's been getting a pass because of foul trouble, but he needs to be more productive, too. 

He had a good game against Providence as well, but since then he's never made more than two shots in a game. He's just 8-for-32 from the field (25 percent) and he's just 3-for-15 (20 percent) from three in the last five games.

With Illinois up next and its talented backcourt ready to do damage, this spotlight is shining very brightly on these two right now, and they simply have to be better, and that has to start immediately.

Like Saturday, at 4 p.m.

“Al and Rob, obviously if you look at the line, they didn’t have their best days today,'' Miller said after the game. 'Those guys are much better players than they played tonight. We need them to be better and I know they will be. Both guys care and they work hard, but we've got to get them straightened out a little bit because with their experience level and the knowledge of knowing what is coming down the stretch.  they know how you have to play and at what level you have to play to be successful. 

"Both of them play a vital role in what we are doing and any team that has their two starting guards not play very well, that is going to hurt. I’m going to take full blame for our lack of improvement in the last few weeks in taking care of the ball. Today I thought we stunk on both end of the floor. There were a lot of breakdowns, a lot of sloppiness and it got us beat.”

Hanging your hat on defense

Outside of the steady hand of Trayce Jackson-Davis and Armaan Franklin's improved play, most of the success Indiana has had thus far has been predicated on playing good team defense. It was pretty solid for the first seven games, and downright excellent for long stretches.

Until Wednesday night. 

The Hoosiers gave up penetration too easily, and dribble-drives killed them. On two-point shots, Northwestern was a stunning 21-for-31, a whopping 68 percent.

I couldn't even get through my question about it Wednesday night without Miller shaking his head. He knew it was the difference in this game, too. 

"No question, the biggest point in the game was being able to guard one on one,'' he said. "They space you and they have great shooting, but at the end of the day, our team has guarded a lot of teams this year and we were able to hold our own off the dribble. Our team is built that way and we have done a pretty good job of it all season long. 

"No question about it, the single most important breakdown we had tonight, from the start of the game to the end, was we were not able to guard the bounce consistently like we have been. We were spread out and our defense was not as tight as it usually is. They had a lot of opportunities to challenge the rim. To be honest with you, we were not blocking them tonight. No question about it, we did not guard the ball.''

Where to from here?

Illinois is a national title contender in the eyes of some people, and they're going to bring a whole new set of challenges on Saturday. I never overreact to one game, and I won't here, but what we see from Indiana this weekend will tell us a lot.

When veterans struggle, you figure they can bounce back. One thing Miller said is true, that these guys work hard. But they simple need to play better, which I know sounds very simple.

Miller has been reluctant to give big minutes to freshman Khristian Lander, and part of that is trying to protect him a bit from being overwhelmed by a league full of great point guards. Lander hit a big three-pointer Wednesday night, which was a nice sign, but then he got scorched twice on the defense end, too. Even in three minutes of playing time, there were issues.

Maybe Saturday isn't the time, but if things don't get better with Durham and Phinisee soon, it might be time to just give Lander some minutes and live with his mistakes. This team will only be good when all these freshmen can start to contribute. But they have to earn that, and it hasn't come yet.

But it also takes time. Trey Galloway, for instance, has been reluctant to pull the trigger on jump shots, but on two possessions Wednesday, he was in perfect catch-and-shoot rhythm and knocked down two three-pointers. That improvement comes from experience, just eight games in. Maybe the same thing happens with Lander, and maybe even with fellow freshmen Anthony Leal and Jordan Geronimo down the road.

Miller was quick to point out that Indiana was fatigued late in Wednesday's game. That's what happens when you're basically playing seven guys. 

It's hard believe I'm even saying it, but one game in, we're already at a crossroads. Saturday can't get here soon enough.