10/28/2019 basketball Edit

Five things Archie Miller liked, disliked about IU's closed scrimmage

Taylor Lehman • TheHoosier

Staff

Indiana head coach Archie Miller was able to talk to the media about Indiana's closed scrimmage agains tMarquette for the first time since the Oct. 20 secret competition in Indianapolis.

These are five things he liked and disliked about what he saw that day.

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Indiana head coach Archie Miller hadn't spoken to the media since Big Ten Media Day in Chicago, so Monday's press availability provided the first glimpse at Miller's thoughts on how his team performed in the closed scrimmage against Marquette in Indianapolis on Oct. 20.

When asked what his takeaways were, he described two positives and three negatives that came to mind.

Positives

Depth

The first aspect of the scrimmage that Miller mentioned was the potential for depth on the roster. Miller has been positive about his team's depth all preseason, so his positivity surrounding the depth he saw on Oct. 20 isn't surprising.

Half of the team's regular backcourt starters – Rob Phinisee and Devonte Green – were sidelined with injuries. Phinisee has a lower abdominal injury, and Green is dealing with a hamstring injury. Junior guard Al Durham was also banged up during the scrimmage and didn't play the final 10 minutes. The hits to the backcourt have forced freshman guard Armaan Franklin to get more reps recently.

"In the game, you have that confidence that the next man up continues to keep us at a high level," Miller said. "That's what we've stressed with our team is the strength of the numbers. Could be anybody's night on a given night, but let's be one of those teams where there is very little drop off with regard to who is the floor."

Nine Hoosiers played in the scrimmage, and Miller said he feels comfortable playing any of 11 players at any time.

Defense

Miller didn't go into too much detail about the defense, but he mentioned size, length and depth on defense. Marquette shot 39 percent from the floor in the scrimmage, and Indiana was able to maintain a strong presence in the post.

Indiana is projected to have the No. 28 defensive efficiency in the country, according to KenPom.com.

"We have size, we have length, and we have depth," Miller said. "For a hard playing team, and we're disciplined, we could be a very good defensive team."

Negatives

Free Throw Shooting

The Hoosiers' free throw woes look to be a potential carry-over from last season, when Indiana rated outside the top-300 in free throw shooting with 65.5 percent. While free throw shooting wasn't the primary deficiency on offense last season and Indiana earned more points from free throws than teams like Kansas and Duke, a problem in free throw shooting could cost Indiana some games down the road.

In the scrimmage, Indiana shot 56 percent from the line, even though it made 43 attempts.

"We're a team that obviously aspires to get to the foul line with how we're trying to play with tempo and aggressiveness and paint touches and whatnot," Miller said. "You can get to the line as much as you want, but if you're not making them, to me, that's like a turnover."

Miller said he believes, based on seeing his team shoot in the spring and summer, that some individual performances will be better when the season begins. Some that could potentially improve are Damezi Anderson (0-for-4), Armaan Franklin (4-for-7) and Joey Brunk (5-of-8).

Turnovers

Without what will surely be its two primary ball handlers, Indiana turned the ball over 16 times to Marquette's 12 in Indianapolis. Miller said he hopes his team can take care fo the ball better when the season rolls around in the next week.

Rebounding

The lack of offensive rebounding was what Miller said concerned him the most during the scrimmage. While offensive rebounding is a metric that can be counted with offensive rebounds – Indiana had four – and second chance points – Indiana had three – it's difficult to measure exactly how well IU performed without seeing the game. The numbers themselves don't bode well for offensive rebounding, however.

While Indiana out-rebounded Marquette, 32-28, Miller felt that the Hoosiers left rebounds on the floor.

"Defensively, especially in the last eight minutes of the scrimmage, to watch us not be able to rebound the ball in crunch time was really just a downer," Miller said. "Probably the most disappointing thing of the entire thing was just the ability of our group to rebound."