Senior guard Devonte Green's 27 points propelled Indiana to victory over No. 21 Iowa on Thursday. The win snapped a four-game losing streak while the Hoosiers — like Green — got back to what made them successful.
Against No. 21 Iowa on Thursday night in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, after a routine check-in following the game’s first media timeout, Devonte Green was about to take over.
The senior guard is an impactful player for Indiana basketball — both good and bad. When his shots are falling, Green looks like one of the most dangerous shooting threats in the Big Ten conference. But when he’s off, it can get ugly.
The Hoosiers needed his 27-point jolt to snap a four-game losing streak, and 18 of those points came in the first half.
“We knew we had to bounce back, we had to get through the slump,” Green said after the game. “And all it takes is one win to get that feel-good back in your system, in the locker room.”
Green is a microcosm of the team’s successes and failures this season. He is a player with the capability of scoring more than 20 points on any given night, yet has tallied single-digits in nine games on the year. He looks dominant when everything goes right.
Green said he’s learning to find shots within the offense rather than trying to create them for himself. Five of his career-high seven 3-pointers were assisted by Indiana teammates.
But when bad shots are being taken and bad passes lead to turnovers, it evokes frustration. As a result, you get games such as Jan. 15 against Rutgers, when Green scored a season-low zero points.
“When he's engaged, he's really good,” Miller said. “When he gets lethargic, down on himself or starts to look around, funny, I think you can see a different player out there.”
Like Green, Indiana looks like a different team when it fails to execute its biggest strengths. When the team isn’t getting to the free-throw line at one of the highest rates in the country or taking command of the rebounding margin, it looks like the No. 12 team in the Big Ten.
Indiana secured 11 more rebounds than Iowa on Thursday, the most since Jan. 18 against Nebraska. It attempted 32 free throws, the most since Jan. 11 against Ohio State. Both of those games resulted in victories.
During its losing skid, the team lacked energy. Miller said a performance like Green’s is like a shot in the arm because not only does it help the team win, but it gets the players and the fans excited.
“It's just a good feeling when you see one and two and three and four go in,” Green said. “It's like, I'm going to shoot it again. I'm going to shoot it until I miss it. And then I'm going to shoot it again.”
When Indiana plays its game — defense turning into offense, rebounding and free throws — there’s not a team in the Big Ten it can’t beat. Wins against Michigan State, Ohio State and now Iowa are proof of that.
“When we're mentally right and we play as a unit and we're doing the things that we're supposed to do, I think that we have a chance to be a good team," Miller said. "We've shown that.”
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