Indiana’s five game winning streak came to an uninspiring end. The hot Hoosiers were ground to a halt on Maryland on Tuesday evening.
IU had a good first ten minutes and took a 22-15 lead at the Xfinity Center. But Maryland outscored the Hoosiers 22-7 over the remainder of the first half to take an eight point lead into the break. The Hoosiers pulled back to within two just a few minutes into the second half, but a 6-0 Maryland response reset the eight point advantage, and Indiana never got closer than five.
Let’s take a deeper look at how the Hoosiers lost 66-55 with another edition of The Report Card.
Indiana (15-7, 6-5) will next host Purdue on Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern (ESPN).
OFFENSE (F)
A gameplan is emerging that seems to have Indiana’s number. Maryland picked up with full court pressure throughout the game and dropped into a zone defense for much of the night. IU has seen that at Rutgers, Iowa and Minnesota and struggled against it each time.
Rather than break the press aggressively and put Maryland into a scramble, Indiana was content to simply get the ball across the half court timeline. That meant the Hoosiers had just over 20 seconds to decipher Maryland’s changing defense, organize its offense, and attack. The results weren’t good.
Instead, the Hoosiers seemed to pass the ball around the perimeter aimlessly for much of the night. IU only got up 11 3-point attempts (and made just three) as Maryland was intent on running the Hoosiers off the arc. That left challenged twos as the best alternative, and IU made just 18-of-45 (40 percent) from inside the arc. Only 13 of those attempts came from Trayce Jackson-Davis, with the rest of the team making just 11-of-32 (34 percent) from two.
Indiana has had games where it scored more than 50 points in the paint alone, but they barely got over the 50 point mark from everywhere.
“We couldn’t make shots,” Mike Woodson said after the game. “You have to give them credit too. I thought the 2-2-1 didn’t hurt us but it didn’t allow us to freelance and play. We got the ball up the court and became lackluster.”
The lackluster attack seemed to start from the moment IU inbounded against the press, but to be fair, IU didn’t have optimal personnel to get aggressive against a press without starting point guard Xavier Johnson. Still, Woodson had two guards trying to break the full court defense for most of the night, rather than a three guard lineup.
Indiana’s .89 points per possession were their least since the loss at Kansas, and third-lowest of the season. Their 40.2 effective field goal percentage was their second-lowest of the season.
DEFENSE (C)
Yes Maryland only shot 34 percent from the field, but this was by no means a solid defensive effort.
The Terps are a poor perimeter shooting team and missed several open looks. Indiana also forced just five turnovers on the night including none in the first half. Maryland also got 10 offensive rebounds that they turned into 15 points. And the Hoosiers fouled way too much. 20 IU fouls led to 29 Maryland free throws. The seemingly never-ending parade to the stripe was the difference in the game, as Maryland outscored Indiana by 15 at the line at had 17 more attempts.
It seems fair to say that IU is not fundamentally sound when it comes to guarding technique, but also that Maryland got a favorable whistle.
“The bottom line is this team shoots a lot of free throws at home, and it was obvious again tonight,” Woodson said. “You look at the stat sheet, and I see 29 (free throw attempts) to 12. C’mon man, it’s two physical teams. It can’t be that lopsided.”
Maryland’s 54.7 percent free throw attempt rate (as a percentage of field goal attempts) was the highest IU has allowed all season. It’s something to monitor, as it also became a problem that plagued the Hoosiers last February when they lost five straight.
The lack of turnovers, to go with free throws and second chance opportunities and a slow pace meant Maryland scored 1.06 points per possession. That’s typically enough to win most games.
MORE GAME COVERAGE
- IU has a lot to clean up after its performance at Maryland
- Watch: Mike Woodson and Trayce Jackson-Davis discuss loss to Maryland
- IU basketball: Maryland 66 Indiana 55 — Three keys | Highlights | Final stats
- IU basketball forward Jordan Geronimo to miss second straight game with lower leg injury
- Long form highlights:
THE PLAYERS
Trayce Jackson-Davis (B) Maryland’s approach limited his touches, and they rarely tried to score over him which limited his shot blocking opportunities and transition the other way. Jackson-Davis continues to be a force on the glass. He produced his third career 20 or more rebound effort — and all three have come in 2023. He set the building record for rebounds in a game and went over 1,000 for his career. He’s just the fourth IU player to hit that mark.
Race Thompson (D) Thompson didn’t go up strong with the ball, was erratic with some passes, and on defense he was getting picked on at times. He did have a nice start to the second half with five quick points that helped give IU a spark.
Miller Kopp (D) Kopp helped IU get off to a good start, but he completely faded out of the picture as the game wore on, and he was a defensive liability against the drive.
Jalen Hood-Schifino (D) While this was an extreme case, Hood-Schifino has been inconsistent throughout much of the season on the offensive end. Maryland’s defense was a lot to put entirely on a true freshman to decipher, and he struggled. He held his own for the most part on defense.
Trey Galloway (C) Galloway was solid for much of the game, but he couldn’t stay on the floor because of foul trouble. Although most of the calls appeared to be of the variety that don’t get called in the Big Ten, he’ll have to learn to clean that part of his game up to stay on the floor.
Tamar Bates (D) Bates has potential, but he is proving to not be a reliable scorer off the bench, especially on the road. His flagrant foul, while a questionable call, changed the direction of the second half. IU was down just two at the time but the Terps got four points out of it.
Malik Reneau (C) Reneau has the same problem as Galloway. He’s bringing some positives but can’t stay on the floor.
Kaleb Banks also appeared in the game briefly.
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In total, Indiana had 10 scholarship players healthy and available. Jordan Geronimo has a lower leg injury, Logan Duncomb was out due to an illness, and Xavier Johnson (foot) was unavailable.
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