Indiana has pieced together consecutive road performances that have lived up to Archie Miller's standards, in terms of effort and attitude, but on the court Sunday, Indiana also proved at Illinois that, despite the 67-66 loss, it has found ways to play competently on the road before the postseason begins.
Indiana came up short Sunday in Champaign. Trayce Jackson-Davis missed two free throws while trailing by two points with half a minute remaining, and Indiana surrendered the lead and a 9-0 run midway through the second half to bury itself in a deep hole. When it made an attempt to come back, Kofi Cockburn and some questionable officiating stood in the Hoosiers’ way.
But, on Sunday, the result of the game was dwarfed by the fact that Indiana was contending with Illinois when the 10-minute mark of the second half passed, lost that contention and then gave itself a chance to win at the end of the game.
For Indiana, that’s the expectation, but, after the way some of Indiana’s road contests have played out this season, pushing a team gunning for a Big Ten Championship to the final buzzer on its own court is an encouraging sign with the postseason – and several neutral site games – on the other side of two games in Bloomington.
“I give our guys credit, being able to play through and then having an opportunity in the last couple minutes to win the game,” Indiana head coach Archie Miller said. “Had some guys step up and play on our end, which I was proud of. In general, though, our effort and our attitude is good. We finish this week off with two disappointing losses, but we were better today than we were on (Thursday at Purdue).”
For Indiana to have a chance, Trayce Jackson-Davis needed to deposit production and have a presence inside against Cockburn. Through the first half, Indiana was able to find opportunity with Jackson-Davis at the five, and by halftime, the freshman had posted 10 points and five rebounds, while Cockburn had three points and two rebounds.
Paired with Jackson-Davis, Indiana was getting balanced games from its backcourt contributors that hadn’t logged for a majority of its road play. Devonte Green hit a couple threes, Rob Phinisee drove for a score and connected on a shot as the play clock ticked down. Al Durham was perfect at halftime, two-for-two from the floor and three-for-three from the free throw line.
For all of the criticism the backcourt received for its woeful shooting performance at Purdue on Thursday, it responded by scoring 17 of Indiana’s 36 first half points.
“We were just reading everything they gave us,” Durham said about the backcourt. “Dropping it off to the curl. We were dropping it off to the big if he stepped up. If he didn't, we were looking for other shots, driving and kicking. I feel like we played very well offensively, very fluid.”
Illinois responded, Jackson-Davis said, by using its four to push Jackson-Davis out of the lane and sitting Cockburn inside, discouraging drives from the guards and resulting in four massive blocks by Cockburn. The change in spacing forced Justin Smith to force up some shots and gave Jerome Hunter corner-three opportunities, but otherwise, Indiana was log-jammed offensively.
Even with Cockburn dominating the post in the second half for 12 points and Indiana struggling on dribble-drives against Illinois’ dynamic backcourt – Ayo Dosunmo (17 points) , Andres Feliz (15 points) and Da’Monte Williams (seven first half points) – Indiana weathered the punches in ways it might have in Bloomington but hadn’t often done anywhere else.
And with zero true road games left this season and hopes for a postseason run ahead, that’s a position in which Indiana wants to be during early-March.
“You have to have an attitude that, quite frankly, you just don't give a shit about nothing,” Miller said about playing on the road. “When you go into the game, it is about competing and it is about playing as hard as you possibly can and finding a way to get into the last 12, eight and four (minutes) and then find a way to win. We're not good enough to go and just knock somebody on their back in the first 10 minutes of a road game and find a way. But we are good enough that if we play hard for long stretches, hang around and find a way to get one, which is what we have done in three of our last four road games.”
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