My Two Cents: Horrible on the Road, But It's Not the End of the Road

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Here's the one most obvious thing that we've learned so far about Indiana's effort this season. It has a ZIP code.

That, of course, would be 47408, because the Indiana Jekkyl & Hydes don't even look like the same team away from home. That was obvious — blatantly obvious — again on Saturday afternoon, when they traveled here to Columbus and got spanked by Ohio State, 68-59.

That's 1-5 on the road now for Indiana in the Big Ten, an ugly number in and of itself, but what's even worse is the eye test in those five losses. The final scores don't tell the truth about what really they did in these road games, including Saturday when Ohio State was comfortably ahead by 14-to-19 points most of the second half.

For instance, here's the real road story so far:

Feb. 1 at Ohio State: Lost 68-59 but trailed by 19 with 3:51 to go.
Jan. 29 at Penn State: Lost 64-49 but trailed by 20 with 3:01 to go.
Jan. 15 at Rutgers: Lost 59-50 but trailed by 17 midway through the second half.
Jan. 4 at Maryland: Lost 75-59 but trailed 30 with 3:44 to go.
Dec. 7 at Wisconsin: Lost 84-64 but trailed by 30 midway through the second half.

The average margin of victory in those five losses was 13.8 points, but the real beatdown number is actually 23.2 points per game. That's disgusting. Those little flurries at the end, often against the bench guys, don't really mean a thing.

To say that Indiana has been horrible on the road is not an understatement. It's the truth. The damn truth.

Plenty of blame all around

It's fair — and probably a little too obvious — to say that Indiana hasn't been competitive yet in a road game. There's plenty of blame to go around, of course. There have been games where the guards were to blame for poor shooting and zero on-ball defensive pressure. That's happened too often.

There have been games where the bench contributed nothing. Bench play has been erratic at best, from the beginning.

And then, really for the first time, there was this game on Saturday where Indiana's front-line guys, especially the fan favorites Trayce Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk, were completely embarrassed by Ohio State's big guys. Indiana gave up 11 offensive rebounds and got almost no good looks themselves on offense, as if they were just coasting through this one, going through the motions.

Effort is an issue — and that should NEVER be the case.

But it is, and Archie Miller sees it.

"We could not rebound the ball, and it was the difference in the game, especially early. It was the first time all season long where I could recall our team just getting housed on the glass like that,'' Miller said. "The physicality of our team has taken a real drop, and it's shown here in these past few games, in particular on the road, but against Maryland at home, too.

"Our interior defense, offense, ability on the glass, those things have to be intact for us to be successful, and they're not right now. It's just an odd thing. Teams go through highs and lows, and this team sort of has hit a pothole, so to speak.''

For all the good Jackson-Davis and Brunk have done all year, there are moments where you just shake your head, and Saturday was one of those days. Brunk played 22 minutes and had one basket and two rebounds. That was it.

Jackson-Davis, the team's leading scorer and rebounder this season, didn't even TAKE a shot in the first 15 minutes of the game. In about an 8-second segment, he had a great blocked shot and then a dunk on the other end, but that was it for an entire half.

You can blame the guards for not doing a good job of getting him the ball, but Jackson-Davis gets some of the blame too for not imposing his will more. Throw forward Justin Smith into the mix too — 27 minutes, one basket, two rebounds — and that's a frontline meltdown.

When you go through an entire game with ZERO second-chance points, that says a lot about effort. So does only four offensive rebounds, and just one in the first half.

"Telling. Very telling,'' Miller said when asked about those numbers. "We're going to have to change paths here and change course for how we're playing. The only group that can get out of this is us. Every team goes through it, and we need to find our tough guys and break through at the moment of truth.''

Where does the leadership come from?

Toughness. That's the key word. That's the strange thing about the dynamic of this team. Where is that going to come from? Who's the guy who says enough of this crap? Who's the voice?

We really don't know, do we?

Leadership is a tender thing when your seniors — Devonte Green and De'Ron Davis — aren't really vocal leaders or key 30-minutes-a-game contributors.

Factor in that your best player, Trayce Jackson-Davis, is a freshman, and that's an issue, too. The kid is going to be a great player — he's already really, really good — but it's a big ask to have a freshman take over the locker room when the going gets tough.

Let's not forget either that losing a few games on the road is not the end of the world. Indiana scored 59 points and lost Saturday. Michigan State, with the great Tom Izzo, scored 63 and lost at unranked Wisconsin. You think anyone in East Lansing thinks Tom Izzo should be fired?

Nope, it is what it is in the Big Ten. Now the Hoosiers come home to Bloomington, for a week of practices and then home games against Purdue and Iowa.

"Our next opportunity is Purdue at home, and nothing is going to mean more than that day,'' Miller said.

That's for sure. Indiana is 15-7 overall and still, more than likely, an NCAA Tournament team. Really good at home and really bad on the road is a real thing. That's the Hoosiers. Hell, it's half of the Big Ten, maybe more.

Heading down the HOME stretch

Call me crazy, but I have a pretty good idea about what's going to happen to this team in these last five weeks of the regular season. Indiana has home games remaining against Purdue (Feb. 8), Iowa (Feb. 13), Penn State (Feb. 24), Minnesota (March 4) and Wisconsin (March 7).

I say they'll win them all.

Crazy? Maybe, but there's logic to it, too. First off, Indiana is a much better team at home. They have beaten a Florida State team at Assembly Hall that's currently ranked No. 5 in the country. They have beaten Michigan State, the previous No. 1 team, in Bloomington, as well as this same Ohio State team that was once No. 3 in the country.

All three of those teams are better than the five teams remaining on the schedule.

Indiana at home is a different kind of good, especially now that their effort is being questioned. They will respond to that.

And how are these five opponents on the road? Well, they're like Indiana.

Horrible.

Purdue, as of Saturday afternoon, is 0-5 on the road in the Big Ten this year. Iowa is 1-3, Penn State is 1-3, Minnesota is 1-5 and Wisconsin is 2-4.

That's a combined 5-20 record on the road.

Does that scare you? It certainly doesn't scare me.

And since we don't live in 1976 anymore, it should always be a goal to make the NCAA Tournament. Not the only goal, but a goal. Indiana's close to getting there.

I'd say 19 wins is enough before the Big Ten Tournament, but the five home games would get you to 20. Those four road games (Michigan, Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois) are just other challenges, like Saturday, and we've covered that enough. Presume 0-4 until they show us otherwise.

To me, here's what this past week has told me. If Indiana doesn't play with maximum effort, they can't win on the road. It will tell a lot about these players — and this coaching staff — to see how they respond from it.

The best thing? Welcome home.

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