My Two Cents: For Indiana, Scripts Are Different But Results are Same
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Second verse, same as the first, A little bit louder ...
... and a whole lot worse.
Indiana just can't get out of its own way right now. The Hoosiers lost to Michigan State 64-58 on Tuesday night in East Lansing and now have lost four games in a row, and five of six. They've lost to Michigan State for the second time in just 10 days.
Just a few weeks ago, they were three games over. 500 and a near-lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.
And now? Nothing.
There will be no NCAA Tournament once again for the Hoosiers, which is a shame on its own but hurts even worse because the entire tournament is being played inside the state of Indiana this year, including Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
But wait, you say, Indiana can still get in by winning the Big Ten Tournament. Yeah, OK, keep drinking. My eyes aren't the greatest, but I see absolutely nothing with this team that says they could win four games in four days in the toughest league in America.
That won't happen for the same reasons why I didn't think they'd win another game all season when I wrote two weeks ago that this Archie Miller era needed to come to an end. This team just has way too many flaws, and it's been exacerbated by another injury to Armaan Franklin (foot) that's knocked him out, and a damaged nose that's taken a bit of the fight out of Race Thompson.
The losing streak has been painful to watch, mostly because something different has gone wrong every night. That first loss to Michigan State on Feb. 20, Indiana just got completely lost in transition defense and gave up 52 second-half points.
They ran out to a 23-8 lead at Rutgers and then got outscored by 35 points the rest of the way, barely putting up a fight. They lost by 16 to Michigan even though they played hard. The talent gap, sadly, was just too overwhelming for the Hoosiers to even compete.
And then came Tuesday night at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. The Hoosiers played hard throughout, and they battled in what was the most physical game of the year. There was no rhyme or reason to this game because the officials took total control, calling 45 fouls, 24 on Indiana.
No one could get into the flow of the game, on either side. Two weeks ago, Trayce Jackson-Davis blistered them for 34 points, a career high, and he did it mostly against single coverage. That wasn't happening again, and there's a reason why Tom Izzo is a Hall of Fame coach.
He knows his team's limitations, but he also knows Indiana's issues, too. So they chose to get physical and double-team Jackson-Davis constantly. They pushed and shoved in the post, and even doubled him when he rolled away from screens or handoffs so he couldn't get a return pass.
Mugging is not too strong of a word.
They frustrated Jackson-Davis and took him out of his game. He made only one field goal, took only five (official) shots from the field and made 7-of-10 free throws. He only scored nine points, the first time all year he didn't reach double digits.
His temper boiled over too, and needed to be calmed down behind the bench after a tirade that that was caught by the Big Ten Network cameras. It's really hard to watch it over and over to pinpoint exactly who the rant was at, but you get the point. He was taken out of the game completely, by all involved, the Michigan State defense, the officials, and even his own team.
Yes, his own team. He didn't get much help, and that allowed Michigan State to keep all of their attention on him. Rob Phinisee, who's been a huge slump himself, was the only Hoosier that played well, scoring 16 points and making two of his eight three-point attempts.
No one else made a three.
Indiana was 2-for-20 from deep. Jerome Hunter, who started for Franklin with the hopes that he'd add something from the perimeter, did nothing. He was 0-for-4 from three. Al Durham, the newly minted 1,000-point scorer, missed all three long-ball attempts and was 0-for-7 from the field.
All four freshmen tried a three but missed. Anthony Leal missed two. Trey Galloway's three from the top of the key missed the rim by at least two feet.
When Indiana can't shoot, they simply can't win. And Tuesday night, they could not shoot.
I will give them credit for showing up and playing hard. They did that, and the game was theirs for the taking late. Aaron Henry just too over down the stretch and willed Michigan State to victory. He scored 12 of his 22 points in the final five minutes, and he was, without a doubt, the difference between winning and losing twice in 10 days.
An Indiana kid beating Indiana. That hurts even worse.
And now we're down to one game to go in the regular season, a Saturday matchup at Purdue against a team that Archie Miller has never beaten. Never.
The size of the Indiana fan base that thinks the Hoosiers can go to Mackey and win is very small. Oh, there's a chance, but not much of one.
What we've learned during this losing streak is there seems to be a different story to tell every night in HOW the Hoosiers lose. But the ending is always the same. They are ''fractured'' right now – Archie's word – and it's so obvious.
Right now, this reminds me of some of Bob Knight's worst teams, too, where players and coach are kind of getting sick of each other and can't wait for the season to end. Don't go yapping at me about that either, because there are several former IU players who always said they hated February and March, and just wanted it over.
Ask the 1985 guys, or the 1990 guys or the 1997 guys. It was pure misery down the stretch.
This is pure misery, too.
It's going to be very interesting to see how much of a fight they put up at Purdue. Some of the most disappointing losses in the Miller era have come against the Boilers. Without Armaan Franklin, a lot of that toughness goes away in Indiana's backcourt.
One more day.
Some regular season this has been. But let's be real. There's no one out there demanding to watch more. Y'all keep telling you've seen enough. I get that.
Two hours to go.
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- ARCHIE MILLER POSTGAME: Here is the video of Archie Miller's completely postgame news conference after the loss to Michigan State. CLICK HERE
- SPARTANS TOP HOOSIERS: Aaron Henry goes wild in the final five minutes and Michigan State beats Indiana. Here's the game story. CLICK HERE
- NIT MOVING TO TEXAS FOR 2021: The NIT Tournament will be played this year, but only with 16 teams and all in Texas. CLICK HERE
- INDIANA SCHEDULE: Here's in Indiana's complete men's basketball schedule, with links to all of the game stories and Tom Brew columns throughout the year. CLICK HERE
