No. 14 Indiana was thoroughly dismantled by Louisville, losing 89-61 in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
After an ugly half from both teams, Louisville look off after halftime, while Indiana played even more undisciplined basketball.
IU couldn't get anything going on offense due to poor shooting and turnovers, while on defense, lack of effort was seen throughout the game.
All this led to Indiana losing, and losing big, as Louisville looked like the better team for the vast majority of the game, thanks to solid performances from several Cardinals, particularity Chucky Hepburn with 16 points and Noah Waterman with 14 points.
Malik Reneau put together a solid showing offensively for IU, scoring 21, but the team as a whole looked lost in this Battle 4 Atlantis opener.
This really was an eye-opening loss for IU, one that many may have not seen coming, especially in the fashion that it came. There's a lot to unpack here, so here's how it happened from Imperial Arena in The Bahamas:
INDIANA OUT OF SORTS IN POOR FIRST HALF
It was just an ugly first half of basketball, particularly from the Hoosiers, as 9-of-29 shooting and 11 turnovers highlighted what was a sloppy opening half.
Early on, both teams were playing undisciplined, although IU was playing with less of an edge compared to Louisville. In the first eight minutes, the Hoosiers turned it over seven times, allowing Louisville to grab a solid lead that it would have throughout the half.
Turnovers weren't the only issue, though, as poor shooting was seen throughout the half, especially in the early going. IU shot just 3-from-10 from the field in the first part of the half, en route to a subpar shooting half.
It was pretty much just the Malik Reneau show on offense for IU, as the forward having 15 of the 29 points IU has in the half, with Oumar Ballo and Mackenzie Mgbako combining for the other 14 points. This meant that the guards for IU scored exactly zero points, going 0-for-13 from the field.
While IU couldn't get any shooting rhythm going, Louisville was solid in the first half,as the Cardinals shot it 15-of-32 from the field and 7-for-17 from beyond the arc. Noah Waterman and Reyne Smith were key from 3-point range, both making 3-of-5 shots from deep.
Both teams got it going a bit later in the half, as there was a stretch where both teams were playing sound basketball, both scoring over 10 points in between the under-eight and under-four media timeouts, but at the end of the half both sides went back to playing uninspired offense.
IU and Louisville combined to score just five points after the under-four timeout, racking up even more turnovers that would put the half total for both teams at 21, 11 for IU and 10 for UL.
This wrapped up what ended up being a very sloppy half of hoops, with both teams looking more like high school squads for stretches early on. With IU playing even more out of sorts than Louisville, it entered halftime trailing 37-29
OFFENSIVE WOES NOT JUST A FIRST HALF PROBLEM
The first half may have been bad, but the second half was just as disappointing, as the Hoosiers looked completely lost during the entirety of ballgame after the half.
The problems seen in the first were not adjusted at halftime, as the Hoosiers couldn't find anything remotely close to a rhythm on offense.
Indiana shot just 12-for-34 from the field after the break, shooting 4-for-14 from three and turning it over 12 times, for even more turnovers then the first half saw.
The Hoosiers started poor on offense, with turnovers early in the half turning into easy buckets for the Cardinals, allowing Louisville to start out the half on an 11-2 run.
After this, the offense just couldn't respond, IU turning it over a total of 10 times in the first 10 minutes after halftime, just as Louisville was going in its run to a decisive victory.
Things didn't get better as the half went on, as IU was just chucking up shots and seeing if they went in, not creating any sort of cohesion on the offensive side.
Down the stretch, the Hoosiers weren't much better, as they kept turning it over, all the while still not being able to make shots when they were open.
This not only led to a lack of points being put on the board, but with so many turnovers, it resulted in easy baskets for the Cardinals, en route to the eye-opening loss from IU.
INDIANA WITHOUT DEFENSIVE EFFORT AFTER THE HALF
While the offense was uninspired, the defense for Indiana lacked even more effort, with IU seemingly not putting much care into defending the Cardinals after halftime.
Louisville 22-for-33 from the field, while only turning it over five times, showing just how smooth the offense was for the Cardinals, as the Hoosiers were playing lackadaisical offense.
Things started out bad, just like they did on the offensive side, but were more egregious throughout the half, as Louisville went on several runs as a direct result of poor effort on defense.
As mentioned, the Cardinals started out the half on an 11-2 run, but things would continue because IU just couldn't stop anything UL was doing.
Louisville went on a 12-2 run in the middle of the half to extend its lead past 20 points, and then went on a 14-0 run to extend its lead into the 30s, with the lack of effort being full display as these runs were going on.
Throughout the half, Louisville was just getting easy bucket after easy bucker, open three after open three, and any sort of set it ran, Indiana was simply unprepared.
This could be for a number of reasons, but the main cause seen down the stretch of this game was the lack of effort from Mike Woodson's group, resulting in this 89-61 blowout defeat.
FINAL STATS
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