It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Indiana followed its first win at Mackey Arena in 10 years with one of its worst losses ever on its home court.
This one was never really close. Iowa had a 10-point lead less than three minutes into the game. IU pulled to within four at 24-20, but Iowa responded with a 19-6 run. The Hoosiers got back to within single-digits once more at 47-38, but that was met with a 14-2 knockout punch by the Hawkeyes.
Let’s take a deeper look at how the Hoosiers lost 90-68 with another edition of The Report Card.
Indiana (20-10, 11-8) will next host Michigan on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
OFFENSE (C)
In the first meeting Iowa started out in a man-to-man defense and got torched by Indiana before finding success with a zone. They wasted no time going to the zone on Tuesday night, and IU never really found an offensive rhythm against it.
IU scored .98 points per possession. They’ve actually won a couple games with less, but that’s a mark that will get you beat every time against Iowa. The Hawkeyes had only held three Big Ten foes under a point per possession in a game going into Tuesday.
Where IU fell apart offensively in this one was their 2-of-11 shooting from three. It isn’t as simple as saying the Hoosiers should shoot more threes to keep up with Iowa’s torrid pace. Indiana simply doesn’t have high volume 3-point shooters. They have situationally dependent low volume shooters who can make a respectable rate if left open due to help or double teams. But 2-of-11 cannot happen if you want to keep pace against an Iowa team on fire.
Overall, Indiana’s three perimeter starters were just 8-of-26 from the field including 1-of-7 from three. IU won’t win many games with that kind of low-level production.
As has been the case often lately, IU was unable to help itself by securing offensive rebounds. They had their third straight game with a sub-18 percent offensive rebounding rate after only having one such game in the 27 prior contests.
DEFENSE (F)
Simply put, this was Indiana’s worst defensive effort of the season at home.
Trayce Jackson-Davis put it best.
“It was just a full meltdown of our defensive game plan,” Jackson-Davis said. “They exploited it and they took advantage of it and they hit shots.”
Indiana was slow in every aspect — on the ball, recovering on shooters, on the glass, and in transition.
“They had their way doing everything they wanted to do,” IU coach Mike Woodson said. “How about playing some defense? That will help, which was nonexistent tonight.”
The problems started with Iowa point guard Tony Perkins — a good player who IU made look like an All-American. Perkins got downhill on seemingly every possession and nearly produced a triple-double. He got wherever he wanted to go and put the IU defense into a scramble on repeat. Perkins’ ability to get past his man — both Jalen Hood-Schifino and Trey Galloway tried to stop him — set off a series of switches that put IU in bad mismatches all night.
“Honestly we weren’t into the ball. I feel like our nail and slot, just they weren’t there tonight,” Jackson-Davis said. “Because I’m never supposed to — I’m supposed to just be there, and I was switching a lot onto the guards, and usually that’s the nail that takes that, and then he veers out if he’s getting beat. And we just didn’t have that.”
The 13 threes IU allowed were the second most in a game this season, and Iowa’s 56.5 percent from long range the second most, both trailing only the Penn State game.
The Hawkeyes were simply running old school motion offense in the half court, and that’s something especially disheartening for IU fans to see used so effectively against their team in Bloomington.
Iowa scored 1.3 points per possession and had a 67.6 percent effective field goal rate. Both of those marks were IU’s second worst efforts of the season, also trailing only the Penn State game.
The Hawkeyes also got nine offensive rebounds they turned into 12 points, and they scored another 15 on the break. As has been the case often, IU was not disruptive on defense, creating just 10 turnovers.
Indiana compounded things by fouling too much. Iowa’s 46.5 percent free throw attempt rate (as a percentage of field goal attempts), was the fourth highest allowed by IU in a game this season.
MORE GAME COVERAGE
- Iowa extends winning streak over IU by causing defensive breakdowns
- Watch: Woodson and Jackson-Davis discuss loss to Iowa — “It’s just unacceptable”
- IU basketball: Iowa 90 Indiana 68 — Three keys | Highlights | Final stats
- Trayce Jackson-Davis becomes Indiana’s all-time leader in rebounds
- Jordan Geronimo out against Iowa, Xavier Johnson goes through vigorous warmup
- Long form highlights:
THE PLAYERS
Trayce Jackson-Davis (B) Jackson-Davis, who became the program’s all-time leader in rebounds during the game, was the only bright spot in this one. Iowa’s offense (or Indiana’s lack of defense) pulled him out of the paint and mitigated his shot blocking ability.
Race Thompson (D-) The veteran big man was no match for Iowa’s Kris Murray in this one. That led to foul trouble, and his inability to stretch the floor on the other end is limiting Indiana’s offense. Thompson just hasn’t seemed like that same player since returning from a knee injury.
Miller Kopp (D-) Kopp was exposed on the defensive end on several occasions as Iowa seemed to target him on switches — both against bigger and smaller players. And the Hawkeyes stuck to him on the perimeter — a strategy that significantly limits his offensive impact — beyond creating space for Jackson-Davis.
Jalen Hood-Schifino (D) The freshman point guard had a good brief scoring run midway through the first half to help bring IU back momentarily, but that was the extent of his impact. Hood-Schifino really struggled guarding the ball in this one.
Trey Galloway (D-) His normal high-impact, aggressive defense was nowhere to be found, and Galloway’s midrange and floater game is inefficient right now.
Tamar Bates (D-) There’s no reason to beat up on the young man. He admitted the mental side got to him as a freshman, and he seems back in that same place now.
Malik Reneau (C) Reneau didn’t foul or turn it over — so he showed promise when it came to his two main challenges. He looks like a high major center more than a power forward, so he’ll have to wait his turn and learn along the way.
Kaleb Banks (D) While you can see the glimmers of promise, in the minutes when it counted, Banks looked sped up and unsure of himself.
C.J. Gunn also appeared in the game.
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In total, Indiana had 9 scholarship players healthy and available. Jordan Geronimo and Anthony Leal were out with lower leg injuries. Logan Duncomb was out after having sinus surgery, and Xavier Johnson (foot) was in uniform and went through warmups, but remained unavailable.
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