WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Indiana men’s basketball is finding ways to lose games.
The root causes and the culprits are rarely consistent from game to game. But this is a team that breaks down and loses composure in critical moments, and a group that can’t stay out of its own way.
IU’s 81-76 loss to No. 10 Purdue at Mackey Arena on Friday is one of this season’s biggest examples of that crutch. The Hoosiers did a lot of things right in a hostile atmosphere, and put themselves in position for a season-changing win. But they fell apart in the final seconds, and they couldn’t overcome the carelessness they displayed throughout the night.
“It’s very frustrating, because we’re right there,” fifth-year Trey Galloway said after the game. “We got to keep fighting. There’s a lot of games left. But to know that we’re right there and that close to being able to find ways to win those close games like this is definitely frustrating for all of us. Cause we want to win in the worst way possible.”
Indiana (14-8, 5-6 Big Ten) entered Friday with its 3-point defense in shambles, as opponents sunk at least 10 threes in four of its last five games. And Purdue (17-5, 9-2) came into the contest shooting 38.4 percent from beyond the arc, which ranked second in the Big Ten and 16th in the country.
IU got back on track in that facet on Friday, as the Boilermakers went just 2 for 13 from 3-point range.
But whenever the Hoosiers take a step forward, they seem to regress in another area. And this time, it was turnovers. Indiana committed 20 turnovers, its second-most of the season, and Purdue converted them into 26 points.
That was the biggest difference between a comfortable Indiana win and another missed opportunity.
“I think if you look at what was our biggest strength is, was being able to force them into 20 turnovers. I think that’s what they got to look at and want back,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “If they just have 15 turnovers, they have five more possessions, the game changes.”
Indiana’s veteran backcourt duo accounted for half of the damage. Galloway tied a career-high with six turnovers, and Anthony Leal committed four. Myles Rice’s ineffectiveness prompted IU head coach Mike Woodson to rely on the fifth-years, and they provided consistent effort and playmaking.
And they weren’t the only ones with turnover problems. Malik Reneau managed to rack up three in his eight minutes on the court. Oumar Ballo also finished with three.
The Boilers forced 13 turnovers per game entering Friday, ranking seventh in the conference and 95th in the nation. And their stingy defense made things difficult for Indiana. But it’s just the latest example of Woodson’s team being unable to stay out of its own way.
“The difference in the game was the 20 turnovers that we had. I thought that was huge,” Woodson said. “On the road, you can’t turn it over like that, and they made us pay for it – they had 26 points off our turnovers.”
But even with that high turnover count, the Hoosiers were right in the game at the end. They snatched a 76-75 lead with 29 seconds remaining as Galloway drilled a big shot.
The Boilermakers, after a timeout, went back in front with 11 seconds left on a tough shot by Trey Kaufman-Renn. Ballo may not have defended it flawlessly, but he forced the Purdue junior to knock down a difficult, contested look.
That put Indiana back in a decisive offensive possession with time winding down for the second game in a row.
Last weekend, against Maryland, Woodson called timeout before that crucial moment to set something up. But an initial attempt to get Reneau a look on the baseline didn’t work, and then chaotic late substitutions caused confusion on IU’s failed final play.
On Friday, Woodson didn’t have a realistic opportunity to call timeout. The officials were all on Purdue’s half of the court as Kaufman-Renn’s shot went in, with the crowd roaring deafeningly, and none approached Woodson’s earshot until Luke Goode had already passed the ball in to Rice.
But while the setup of Indiana’s critical late-game possession at Purdue was different than the Maryland game, the result was the same. The Hoosiers were completely out of sorts when it mattered most.
Rice, who struggled to get any sort of rhythm all night and was 0 for 3, went into hero mode. He tried to blow past Purdue’s Gicarri Harris, and when the freshman narrowed his path to the basket and Kaufman-Renn slid over to protect the rim, he settled for an off-balance, contested mid-range jumper. Harris blocked it, and Purdue put the game away at the foul line. IU’s bench thought Harris fouled Rice, but the call never came.
Woodson acknowledged that many of the Hoosiers’ best offensive moments on Friday came in high pick-and-rolls with Galloway and Ballo — which the Culver, Ind. native rode to 13 second-half points on 6-of-8 shooting — but they couldn’t get him the ball in that important situation.
“We were just fortunate there at the end (that) Trey Galloway doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Let’s just be frank about it. Cause he was making plays,” Painter said. “And so now, he doesn’t have the ball there at the end, and we were able to get a stop right there, and that was huge.”
Those sort of mistakes just can’t happen for a team trying to turn its season around.
If IU finished out this game and pulled off the upset, this would’ve been its biggest win of the year by a wide margin. The Hoosiers are 2-8 in Quad I games — only three Big Ten teams have a worse record.
The conference is full of résumé-building opportunities, but that also means most games will be difficult. Indiana’s margin for error is getting thinner as the calendar turns to February.
While Woodson’s squad has stopped its disconcerting trend of blowout losses, this is now three straight games in which IU has wasted chances at a meaningful victory. The more of those opportunities the Hoosiers let slip away, the more ground they have to make up to recover from those setbacks.
This season is getting older, and Woodson’s seat can’t get any hotter. IU is running out of time to revive its season — if it isn’t already too late.
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