Indiana Answers Challenge, Finishes Strong to Knock Out Maryland, 63-55
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana has struggled to finish every Big Ten game it has played all year, and Archie Miller challenged his players all week to change that in Monday night's game with Maryland.
Challenge made. Challenge accepted.
Indiana held Maryland scoreless for more than six minutes down the stretch and pulled away for a critical 63-55 victory at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. With the win, the Hoosiers are now 2-2 in the Big Ten, and 7-4 overall. Maryland is 1-4 in the league, and 6-5 overall.
"Any win in this league, regardless of how you get it, is a big win,'' Miller said. "And that was a big win. Tonight wasn't our night, but we found a way to win.''
The Hoosiers were horrible for the first 25 minutes of the game, and trailed by eight, barely scoring a point a minute. But then Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was part of the horrible early, got hot and carried his teammates back into the lead. And when it got to the 8-minute mark with Indiana nursing a 47-45 lead, all eyes were on the Hoosiers, who have collapsed at that point in all three previous Big Ten games.
This time, they zeroed in, with zero being the operative word. They held Maryland scoreless for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, going 0-for-7 with three turnovers over a period of nine possessions.
"We've talked about that, about getting to the 12-, 10- 8-minute mark and getting locked in, because that's where we've lost it lately,'' Miller said. "We had to be locked in, and we did that. Our pressure on the ball was much better, and we got a lot of big rebounds. We haven't had a rebounding edge (43-33) like that in a while.''
During that shutdown, Indiana was scoring on the other end, too, and pulling away. Jackson-Davis scored eight straight points for the Hoosiers as they built a 12-point lead.
"He was much more himself in the second half,'' Miller said of Jackson-Davis. "He was 2-for-9 and missed some easy ones around the rim, but he was a different player in the second half. He's a guy that really thinks about the game coming in. He was worried about the double and finished awkwardly a few times. He thought the double was coming and it didn't
"But at halftime he looked me in the eye and told me he was ready to go. He has the ability to respond, because he cares a lot."
Indiana's two big men carried the load Monday. Jackson-Davis had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Race Thompson had 13 and 11, with most of his damage coming early. He had nine first-half points and everyone else was struggling. The Hoosiers shot just 30 percent in the first half and missed all nine three-point attempts.
"When you go 0-for-9 from three in the first half, they get down on themselves, and it can be frustrating," Miller said. "But guys stepped up and kept shooting, and that was big. We worked hard coming in against the zone and once we got Trayce moving, I thought we were much better.
"It was a tale of two halves really. We were abysmal in the first half.''
Getting the lead and then keeping it was big, because they had let second-half leads slip away in losses to Northwestern and Illinois, and they blew a 12-point against Penn State before scrambling to win in overtime.
Making the stops on the defensive end was big. And they did it with a veteran lineup, inserting Jerome Hunter at the small forward spot down the stretch. Because of a lack of depth inside, Hunter, Thomas and Jackson-Davis haven't really played together all year.
But it worked Monday, and it made the difference. Finish was the operative word, and that's exactly what they did.
"Putting our older group out there together really helped,'' Miller said. "They've been together through a lot of this. Having Jerome out there with them really helped us. Jerome played on the perimeter a lot this season for the first time. That's who he is. The more he plays, the better he is. We needed some added firepower.''
There was some bad new that came out of Monday, though. Starting guard Armaan Franklin, Indiana's second-leading scorer and best defender, rolled an ankle early in the game and did not return.
"Armaan was out early with a rolled ankle. He tested it and said he couldn't go,'' Miller said. "It was an opportunity for other guys to step in and play. At one point we had three freshmen out there at the same, and that's going to be needed.''
Durham finished with 13 points.
Next up for Indiana is a road trip to Wisconsin on Thursday. Two games against Nebraska and Purdue follow, but those two teams were supposed to play each other Tuesday night and the game had to be postponed because of COVID-19 concerns.
Related Stories on Indiana Basketball:
- HOW TO WATCH INDIANA VERSUS MARYLAND: All the info you need to know to see the game Monday night. CLICK HERE
- TOM BREW COLUMN: Archie Miller's tight seven-man rotation hasn't been working late in games for the Hoosiers, and it's time to change this with more playing time for the Indiana freshmen. CLICK HERE
- INDIANA SCHEDULE: Here is the complete Indiana men's basketball schedule, with game times and TV information when available, and links to all the game stories and Tom Brew columns this far through 10 games. CLICK HERE
- EARLY SUCCESS: Indiana freshman Trey Galloway has even surprised himself a little bit with his early contributions, and he's thrilled to be in the starting lineup already. CLICK HERE
