My Two Cents: Indiana's Offense Was Brutal, But It's Just One Game

You had to go back almost 11 years to find an Indiana basketball game that was this ugly offensively for the Hoosiers. The 66-44 loss to Texas was tough, but it's also just one game in early December.

Tom Brew | Dec 1, 2020

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The worst thing about bad games is that you have to dig through the media guide to find equally putrid performances. That was Tuesday's mental exercise after Indiana laid an egg against No. 17 Texas, falling 66-44 — yes, that's a 44 — in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

The 44 points were the lowest total in the 101-game Archie Miller era, surpassing some memorable clunkers like the 49 they scored in a loss at Penn State last year and the 46-point night they had in an ugly defeat to Purdue in 2019.

It was the lowest total going all the way back to Jan. 24, 2010, when the Hoosiers lost 58-43 at home to Iowa in Tom Crean's second year. That almost shouldn't count, but it does.

And what this does say is that Indiana was historically bad on Tuesday. They never led, not once. And here's an amazing statistical anomaly: Indiana scored baskets on consecutive possessions only twice all day long.

That's pathetic. And Archie Miller knows it.

"I think that Texas stunned our guys a little bit in the first four to five minutes of the game,'' Miller said "There was an inability to reverse the ball, an inability to connect on the screen, an inability to do what we wanted to do.

"They imposed their will early on how physical and how tough they were going to play, and I thought that played a role in knocking us on our heels. I think defensively they're very good in and around the basket. They have great length and they did a really good job of, to be honest with you, making things difficult.''

Indiana coach Archie Miller said Texas' defense took them out of everything they wanted to do. (Photos courtesy of IU Athletics)

Here's how bad it was. The Hoosiers were 11-for-46 from the field, good – or bad, I guess — for 23.9 percent shooting on the night. They had more turnovers (14) than field goals, and had only 6 offensive rebounds after grabbing 15 on Monday in the win over Providence.

There were literally no positives, other than the fact that it was a wonderful learning experience. You can't replicate that Texas defense in practice. You can't replicate playing two quality opponents in two days and trying to adjust on the fly. You can't, in 2020, be expected to play at a high level every day this early in the season.

And, let's be honest, it's just one game. It's December the first, for Pete's sake.

"To me, this is a game you're going to have to learn from, and this is why you play in these events with this type of competition because it speeds you up in terms of learning what you can't have happen,'' Miller said. "But for us, to give up easy baskets, to give up second shots, and to turn it over, it's the only thing we talk about. We did all three in the first half.

"We had nine turnovers in the first half, and gave them at least 11 (points) in transition off ones that we could control. We got beat up on the glass (47-29) and couldn't run offense consistently in transition, especially early when we were getting stops. We didn't get it done. They beat us in every one of those phases and, at the end of the day, we were dominated in those little things. You combine the fact that our offense couldn't get anything going, and to me, over the long course of the game, they just wore us down.''

There's such a quick turnaround here too, with another game on Wednesday against a very good Stanford team that lost to North Carolina 67-63 Tuesday afternoon. But then there's a week off before playing Florida State in Tallahassee in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

That will be back-to-the-drawing board time for a week. And the Hoosiers will need it.

"This is what you need to do. You need to see this, because this is the evidence that you need. This is the real-time evidence,'' Miller said. "You don't have scrimmages. You don't have exhibitions. You have three games in three days against a great field. This is going to teach you exactly what you need to do to be more, to do more, to be better as a player, as a coach, and as a team.

"Our team, in general right now, learned a good lesson today. I think as well as we played, as hard as we played (on Monday), they played harder today, more physical and imposed more will on us today. We've got to find a way to respond.''

Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis (right) fights for a loose ball in the loss to Texas. (Photos courtesy of IU Athletics)

There's also no reason to panic, not right now. In two days, they've had a really nice win, and an ugly loss. They've done both with their best player, Trayce Jackson-Davis, not really doing much. At least not much by potential All-American standards.

He's just 10-for-27 shooting here in Asheville, and a lot of those misses were right at the rim on Tuesday against Texas. Jackson-Davis was frustrated after the loss, but he also knows what he needs to do better.

That's the best thing about that kid. It's just one game to him, too. He knows what needs to be fixed, and he knows how to do it. There's no panic in him. And there's another game on Wednesday.

"Texas really punched us in the mouth,'' Jackson-Davis said. "Coach really talked about going backdoor and making basketball plays, but we never really adjusted very well. That wasn't our offense that you saw today. We let their pressure get to us.''

And his own game?

"It's just me rushing my shots, honestly,'' the sophomore from Greenwood, Ind. said. "I've just got to keep my confidence up and keep going at them. We were getting it inside and getting them in foul trouble. We just weren't finishing. It's all about just doing what we do. That's not us.''

Early holiday tournaments like this are tough because as much as you'd like to play well every night, it's not always possible. A good example is that Indiana really misses Joey Brunk in the front court. The 6-foot-10 senior has a sore back, so Miller and the Hoosiers' medical staff have held him out. They need him, but they need him in March a lot more than they need him on the first day of December.

He could have helped, especially since the bench was just 1-for-11 shooting and didn't provide anything at all when the Hoosiers could have used a spark. Jerome Hunter made the only shot, a three-pointer, and the four Indiana freshmen — Trey Galloway, Khristian Lander, Jordan Geronimo and Anthony Leal — are still learning their way in he college game.

"Realistically, there's one player coming off the bench right now (Jerome) that's played in college,'' Miller said. 'We need Jerome to play better, Jerome's a much better player than he's played. He's had a hard time getting going down here and that would really help us with more minutes on the floor where he's playing better. We need that from him.

"Clearly, Joey's absence really shows in the lack of depth in terms of being able to establish continued size and a rim presence when things aren't going well. But he's not available, so these other guys got to step up. Our young guys, they're just going to get better from this type of experience right here. When you play in this event, you get a lot of information on what you're going to need to do to be successful, and I just think as we keep going here, it's going to be really, really imperative to develop our bench and to keep counting on them to give us minutes.''

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