My Two Cents: One Simple Stat Summarizes Indiana's Month-Long Collapse
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — When Indiana fans flipped the calendar from November to December, they did it with a broad smile on their collective faces. They folded the white shirts they wore to the North Carolina game for the ''White-Out,'' and reveled in Indiana's 7-0 record and top-10 national ranking.
This was the year. Finally.
Players and coaches thought that, too. But since then, the Hoosiers have gone just 3-6 and they have lost four Big Ten games already — and looked really bad along the way. The preseason favorites to win the Big Ten are near the bottom of the standings now.
Of all those losses, though, nothing comes close to Wednesday night's embarrassing loss at Penn State. Their defense was brutal, unable to keep up with the Nittany Lions' quick-pass offense. Penn State made 18 threes, tying a school record, in the 85-66 win. It was Indiana's third straight loss, a rough patch where they have given up 91, 84 and 85 points. No one could remember the last time Indiana gave up 18 threes.
We do know this: It's the first time since 1998 that Indiana has given up 80-plus in three straight Big Ten games. They gave up 112, 82 and 84 then to Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. They were coached by a guy named Bob Knight, and apparently he must not have known much about coaching defense, either. (It's a joke, jack-wagons.)
There are many, many reasons behind this collapse, and we'll get to a lot of them. But there is still one stat that best explains what is going wrong.
During these nine games since the end of November, point guards Xavier Johnson and Jalen Hood-Schifino have played together for a grand total of 6 minutes and 9 seconds. That's it.
One simple stat: Six stinkin' minutes and nine lousy seconds.
And yes, without question, it does matter.
Indiana's Miller Kopp (12) fails to close out on Penn State shooter Andrew Funk, who hit one of his seven three-pointers here. It was a problem all night.
© Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
The negative nellies and internet jack-wagons will say that it shouldn't matter, that it should be next man up, come hell or high water.. And there's some truth to that. But my point is that this struggling mid-January team is nothing like the November team we saw win at Xavier on the road and beat North Carolina at Assembly Hall in one of the most enjoyable nights in a long while.
Johnson and Hood-Schifino on the floor together was special. Johnson is, without question, Indiana's best perimeter defender, and it's not even close. He was really excited to play alongside Hood-Schifino, and when they are out there together, they cover a lot of ground.
Don't take this as me making excuses, because I'm not. I am stating a fact, that Indiana is a very good defensive team with Johnson and Hood-Schifino playing together, and they are below average without him. Last night, they were FAR below average.
This issue on Wednesday night was that Indiana never really threatened Penn State's veteran shooters, the most experienced team in the country that has five 1,000-point scorers on it. (Seth Lundy became the fifth last night.) Indiana's defenders didn't stay engaged, they drifted off shooters into never never land far too much, and helped off of shooters when they didn't have to.
The two critical points though was that they didn't follow the game plan, and they didn't play hard enough.
We all saw it. So did the players and the coaches.
It happened, and it's totally unacceptable.
Neither should ever happen. Indiana needs to be prepared and they ALWAYS need to play hard. There is no excuse for that not happening.
"My thing is we just are not competing. At all. And that's on me,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after the 19-point beatdown, the worst-ever in the 56-game rivalry. "I've got to get us competing harder and stronger and we're not doing that. We were awful at guarding. We had a good game plan going in and we just ... half of the threes we're right there with a hand and hoping that they miss instead of just getting into the ball and making them put it down.
"I just think when we get smacked around a little bit, we shrink and go away — and we can't do that. When we played Penn State last year at home, the first half of that game was just tremendous in terms of how we got up, we touched everybody. Tonight it was just the opposite. If it was one rotation, we didn't make the next rotation. We're a little lost and again, that's on me. We practice it and we've got to bring it to the ball game.''
Lost in the blowout loss was the terrific job that Trey Galloway did on Jalen Pickett, Penn State's leading scorer. He came into the game averaging 17.9 points per game, and Galloway made him work for everything, holding him to just 12 points.
But guards Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk knocked down wide-open threes all night. Both made seven three-pointers, career highs for each. Lundy had 25 points and Funk had 23.
No one could guard them. There were breakdowns galore, but even worse, there was also a real lack of effort. Guys got lost constantly. Tamar Bates, Miller Kopp and Jordan Geronimo all missed multiple assignments — and that just can't happen. Trayce Jackson-Davis even got caught up in some bad switches and couldn't close out quick enough.
Penn State guard Seth Lundy (1) shoots the ball as Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (23) is slow to close out on him. (Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports)
Again, I am not using the Johnson injury as an excuse. It is fact that this team is different without him because no other guards or forwards can match what he brings defensively. He's a dog, their best on-ball defender for sure.
Does Indiana protect that 21-point lead at Iowa if he's there, on the floor instead of on his scooter? Of course they do.
Does Northwestern's Boo Buie go off for 26 against him instead or Bates or the others? No way. That two-point loss to Iowa and one-point loss to Northwewstern might have turned out different.
Wednesday night was an embarrassment defensively. Race Thompson being out certainly hurts too, because his replacements — Jordan Geronimo and Malik Reneau — have been defensive liabilities as well. No one is really stepping up despite getting this golden opportunity with Johnson and Thompson out.
Even though large portions of this fan base have already bailed on this team, I'm not ready to go there yet. Johnson and Thompson will both be back eventually. That will help. With those two on the floor, this is November Indiana, not January Indiana.
And maybe these lapses — in both effort and execution — finally sink in a little bit. This is, sadly, a fragile group that gets frustrated easily. They do make runs — and have looked good through long stretches of all three of these losses, early against Iowa, and late against Northwestern. At Penn State, they led half way through the first half and took the lead from 13 to five early in the second half, but then self-destructed again.
Jackson-Davis and Hood-Schifino both had huge numbers in the Iowa and Northwestern losses, but they couldn't do it all themselves. They were both pedestrian on Wednesday night, and that hurt, too.
I really expected better at Penn State, and it didn't happen. They looked lost. And I tell you what, they need to find themselves quickly, starting with Saturday's home game against Wisconsin. It's their first home game with the students back, and Assembly Hall needs to be rocking.
Indiana needs to feed off that and play with some energy, not that fog they were in on Wednesday. A must-win game? It sure as hell is. It's on national TV — the game is on CBS at 1 p.m. ET — against a rival who's had the Hoosiers' number lately. There is no love lost between these two teams, so Indiana needs to show some fire.
They need to win.
It's on the players and coaches now, because there are no guarantee this fragile fan base that gets its feelings hurt easily will be there to support them through thick and thin. Social media is a foolish place most times, but at least you can see that the bottom of the pond fans are ready to move on.
A win Saturday would certainly help ease the crying and whining. Like Woodson said, Johnson and Thompson ''aren't walking through that door any time soon.'' It's on the others, to step up, to play hard, to represent.
And is it really asking too much to play hard? It sure shouldn't be. Max effort on Saturday should be a given.
Let's hope we see that.
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- GAME STORY: Indiana allowed Penn State to make a school-record 18 three-pointers and it all added up to an ugly 85-66 loss in State College. It was the largest margin of victory ever for Penn State in the 56-game series. CLICK HERE
- WHAT MIKE WOODSON SAID: Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media via Zoom on Wednesday night after the Hoosiers lost 85-66 to Penn State, dropping to 1-4 in the Big Ten and 10-6 overall.Here is the full transcript of his postgame press conference. CLICK HERE
- WHAT TREY GALLOWAY SAID: Indiana junior guard Trey Galloway met with the media via Zoom following Indiana's 85-66 loss to Penn State on Wednesday night. Here's the full transcript of his interview, plus the full video. CLICK HERE
- PHOTO GALLERY: The Indiana Hoosiers traveled to Penn State on Wednesday for an important Big Ten game. The Hoosiers struggled though, losing 85-66, allowing 18 made three-pointers for the Nittany Lions. Here are the best photos from the game. CLICK HERE
- WATCH GERONIMO'S BLOCK: Indiana junior forward Jordan Geronimo leapt above the rim to reject Kebba Njie's dunk attempt. CLICK HERE
- WATCH HOOD-SCHIFINO'S JUMPER: Indiana freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino's hot shooting streak continued on Wednesday with an early jump shot in transition. CLICK HERE
- WATCH JACKSON-DAVIS DEAL: Indiana went on and 8-0 run early in the second half, including this spin move from Trayce Jackson-Davis. CLICK HERE
