Todd’s Take: Anatomy Of Defeat Doesn’t Reflect Well On Indiana Coaches Or Players

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – With 38 seconds left in the game against Maryland, Indiana led by four and all was right in the Indiana men’s basketball universe.

Had the Hoosiers played like a well-oiled machine against the Terrapins? Not quite, but they demonstrated gumption when it mattered most as the Hoosiers turned a 10-point deficit with 9:34 left into a seemingly unassailable late lead in the final minute.

Then the Hoosiers let it slip from their grasp as Maryland rallied for a 79-78 victory on Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in a defeat that might be a mortal blow to Indiana’s NCAA Tournament hopes.

The prelude to disaster came after Anthony Leal finished off a traditional three-point play to put Indiana up 78-74. Maryland quickly attacked the rim as Ja’Kobi Gillespie got the better of Trey Galloway and converted a layup to cut Indiana’s lead in half.

Then after Indiana broke Maryland’s pressure, Galloway was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 19 seconds left.

Both had a big impact on the final outcome, but they speak for themselves without much paralysis by analysis necessary. Indiana failed to get a stop and failed to make a free throw.

“We missed a big front end of a one-and-one that could have put us back up three or four. It was just the little things that we didn't execute coming down the homestretch,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said.

It’s the final two possessions where there’s a lot of forensic explaining to do.

Maryland called a timeout with 18 seconds left. Let’s let Woodson set the scene of what Indiana wanted to do.

“We had a foul to give, which we talked about in the timeout,” Woodson said.

Leal, who was an inspired substitution for a productive Mackenzie Mgbako before the second-last media timeout, confirmed that was indeed the case.

“We had discussed it in the huddle, yes,” Leal noted.

Maryland inbounded on the sideline near its bench and the ball came to Gillespie, who was guarded one-on-one by Galloway, who did a good job of shutting the door on a drive to the rim from the sideline.

“We had a hammer screen going into the corner and they blew it up,” Maryland’s Rodney Rice said.

Gillespie nearly traveled trying to save the play as he retreated, but he found Julian Reese near the left elbow, who quickly handed the ball off to Rodney Rice swinging off of Reese on the left wing.

Myles Rice was guarding Rodney Rice, but Indiana’s Rice got tangled up by Oumar Ballo, who was guarding Reese. Rodney Rice got a relatively clean look off, as Ballo switched a moment too late, and buried the 3-pointer to make it 79-78.

It’s a scenario that could have been avoided had Indiana fouled as instructed.

“The ball scrambled out. The initial thrust of their offense, I thought we played it well. Then when the ball kind of spurted around, we just didn't get up and take the foul like we should have,” Woodson said.

Leal admitted there was a lack of execution on the players’ part, but didn’t want to make it the focal point.

“It's on us as players to go out there and execute what's told us to do. We didn't do it right there, but that's not the reason we lost the game. There's plays and plays that add up and lead up to that,” Leal said.

Leal has a point. Even if Indiana fouls, all it does is reset Maryland’s possession. Rodney Rice mentioned that Indiana’s help defense made the Hoosiers vulnerable to 3-point shots throughout the game. Who knows how that extra possession that never was would have played out?

Still, it was a direction from the sideline that wasn’t heeded, so the players bear responsibility for not doing what they were told to do.

After Rodney Rice’s 3-pointer, Indiana successfully got the ball across mid-court and called a timeout.

The same five Indiana rode to the lead – Leal, Galloway, Ballo, Myles Rice and Malik Reneau – remained in place with the Hoosiers needing points.

Would it have been wise to have offensive-minded Mgbako or Luke Goode on the floor right out of the timeout with Indiana needing a bucket or to draw a foul? It’s a question that would soon playing a leading role in Indiana's demise.

Reneau put the ball on the floor off the inbounds pass at the baseline and was hand-checked by Maryland’s Derik Queen. The ball went out of bounds and Indiana was somewhat fortunate to keep possession.

“They went zone on our initial last timeout. Malik tried to make the play on the baseline, anything to get a foul. Derik made a good play on the ball to knock it out of bounds,” Woodson explained.

This time the inbound pass would be on the baseline with 3.9 seconds left, but confusion reigned.

As Galloway prepared to inbound the ball on the baseline, Indiana assistant coach Brian Walsh asked Woodson to put Goode in the game. Goode sprung into action, but the Hoosiers on the floor weren’t sure who was supposed to come out. Leal began making his way to the bench, but Ballo was the player who left the game.

On another Walsh suggestion, Mgabko was also put into the fray. The officials stopped the game again and Mgbako replaced Leal, much to the consternation of the crowd, as Leal had been an important part of Indiana’s comeback bid.

If you were confused watching at home, so were the participants who had to execute a winning play.

“I think we were trying to run a play, but then the substitutions kind of got everybody confused a little bit, trying to put everybody in their right spots. Then we didn't have a timeout, so we were trying to fix everything on the fly a little bit in such a heated moment,” Myles Rice said.

The final possession reflected how discombobulated the Hoosiers were.

With no timeouts, Galloway inbounded from the baseline and Myles Rice caught his pass in the left corner. He attempted a wild turnaround 3-pointer that never had a chance. It was well short and the Terrapins celebrated a huge victory – one Indiana played a large part in handing to them on a silver platter.

“The play that we had coming underneath, we just didn't execute. Myles didn't come off, and he stayed there in the corner, and we didn't get much out of it,” Woodson explained.

Fans have every right to be irritated to their core about this loss – maybe this loss even more so than some of the blowouts that came earlier in the season.

This one was on a plate. It was there for the Hoosiers. Only a profound system failure was going to change the outcome.

The lack of a killer instinct to seal the victory via free throws and the lack of a defensive stop up four, the inability to heed instructions from the coaches, and then confusion from the bench when it mattered most on something as elementary as who should be on the floor – all key ingredients in a self-inflicted collapse.

Coaches and players alike played a starring role in Indiana’s master class in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. No one comes away blameless from this defeat.It was a total team effort.

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