Indiana Basketball "Out-Toughed" at Rutgers, Looking To Respond Against Nebraska
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For coach Mike Woodson, Indiana's first loss was simple.
Rutgers was the tougher team, and Indiana "couldn't throw it in the ocean."
This was reflected by Indiana's 30.4 shooting percentage as a team. Hoosiers not named Miller Kopp or Trayce Jackson-Davis were a dreadful 4 for 33, 12.1 percent, and Woodson thought Indiana missed a lot of open looks.
Rutgers held a 47-to-33 rebounding advantage, which included 12 offensive rebounds. Woodson said rebounding is about guts, effort and putting a body on a body when the shot goes up. He's continually emphasized rebounding as a major factor in winning, which contributed to Indiana's top-ranked defensive efficiency last season, but that rebounding effort went missing against Rutgers.
"It started right from the start," Woodson said. "We haven't been smacked in the face like that from a rebounding standpoint."
A 63-48 beatdown was the result, moving Indiana to 7-1 on the season. The Hoosiers now have a chance to bounce back from their first dud of the season with a home game against Nebraska, a 6-3 squad with wins over Florida State, Boston College and No. 21 Creighton in its last three contests.
Indiana senior forward Miller Kopp believes the Hoosiers have what it takes to respond from the Rutgers game with a better performance on Wednesday.
"We have it in us, that's the thing," Kopp said. "We wouldn't be here right now, and we wouldn't be in the position that we're in right now if we didn't have toughness. The fact that we got out-toughed in one game doesn't mean it's not there, it just means that they did a better job of it than us. Moving forward it's about fixing it and making sure that everybody knows that that's really our identity."
Indiana Hoosiers forward Race Thompson (25) battles for a rebound against Rutgers Scarlet Knights forward Mawot Mag (3) and guard Caleb McConnell (22) during the second half at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
For Woodson, there's no magical solution to improve a team's toughness. He's seen it from this group before, recently as last week.
"You just got to work and display it on the floor," Woodson said. "Display it like we did in the Carolina game. If you look at the game and you say, 'Well, who was the toughest in that game?' You're going to say Indiana was the toughest team. They got 50-50 balls, they defended the shit out of Carolina."
It wasn't that way against Rutgers, who out-toughed Indiana from Woodson's perspective. And moving forward, the only way to display growth with an intangible quality like toughness is by proving it on game day.
"I can roll a ball out and say loose ball drills like Coach Knight used to do and make you get on the floor and knock the shit out of somebody and get the loose ball," Woodson said. "I can do all those things, but that don't mean shit to me. You got to do it in the damn game when it counts. That's when it counts, not in practice knocking the shit out of each other, which we do. We beat up each other for almost four months before we actually got an opponent. Well, we have some pretty good games going forward, but it wasn't too good for us in Rutgers and I don't like the fact that we got out toughed."
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- HOW TO WATCH INDIANA-NEBRASKA: Indiana basketball (7-1) battles the Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-3) on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. Here's how to watch, with game time and TV information, three leading storylines, the latest on the point spread, the coaching matchup, series history and more. CLICK HERE
- OPENING LINE: Indiana has played well at home so far this season, and the Hoosiers are back at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday night in a Big Ten game with Nebraska. Here's the latest on the point spread, with history against the number for both teams. CLICK HERE
- INDIANA SCHEDULE: The 2022-2023 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball schedule is set. Here is the full schedule, with dates, gametimes and TV information, plus links to the stories on the games already played. CLICK HERE
- JACKSON-DAVIS MOVES UP SCORING LIST: Trayce Jackson-Davis was already No. 15 on Indiana's all-time scoring list before he decided to come back for his senior year. Now he's on the move up the scoring list again in 2022-23, and we'll update the scoring list after every game. CLICK HERE
- WOODSON SAYS JOHNSON 'TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH': Jalen Hood-Schifino and Xavier Johnson played their best game together in Indiana's win over North Carolina. But with Hood-Schifino out with a back injury against Rutgers, Xavier Johnson and the Indiana offense struggled, revealing how valuable Hood-Schifino is to Indiana's future. CLICK HERE
- WOODSON RADIO SHOW: Indiana coach Mike Woodson had his weekly radio show 'Inside Indiana Basketball' on Monday at Southern Stone restaurant in Bloomington, Ind. He reviewed Indiana's win over North Carolina and loss at Rutgers while looking ahead to Wednesday's game against Nebraska. Here are the highlights. CLICK HERE
- RED FLAGS FOR INDIANA AT RUTGERS: Poor shooting and a lack of toughness did in Indiana at Rutgers on Saturday, and it raised some red flags as to how good this team can be. Even the Rutgers players knew they could be more physical than Indiana, and they were. For Indiana, were those lessons learned? CLICK HERE
