Indiana escaped Madison Square Garden with its ninth win of the season. In a game that went down to the wire with UConn, the team pulled out a 57-54 victory by capitalizing on its opponent's mistakes.
As Louisville, the No. 1 team in the country, was upset by Texas Tech in the Jimmy V Classic in New York City on the national stage, Indiana’s basketball team looked on wearing candy-striped pants and awaiting its next opportunity.
On a neutral site in Madison Square Garden, the team’s matchup with UConn was a chance to overcome an overwhelming defeat at the hands of Wisconsin just three days prior. The struggles away from Bloomington continued, but unlike their first road performance, the Hoosiers gutted out a 57-54 victory.
“It’s not easy to sort of take the medicine we had to take on Saturday,” Indiana head coach Archie Miller said after the game. “I thought tonight, obviously, we were much better in the toughness category.”
In the early stretch of the game, Indiana’s play was eerily similar to its opening effort in Madison, Wisconsin. Freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was the first to strike, followed by a stepback jumper from senior guard Devonte Green.
Then the Huskies found a rhythm.
Not only was UConn’s junior forward Josh Carlton a dominant force inside the paint, but fellow junior forward Tyler Polley was hitting huge shots from beyond the arc. Indiana’s opponent hit four 3-pointers in the first half and Carlton quickly put up 10 of his 12 first-half points.
“We knew that it was a long game and there was no reason to be discouraged yet,” Indiana redshirt junior forward Joey Brunk said. “We were planning on going on a couple of our own runs. It’s part of the game and we responded.”
With nearly five minutes left to play in the opening half, UConn led by 10. What set the Huskies back — and allowed the Hoosiers to come screaming back into the game — was the constant on-ball pressure that forced key turnovers coupled with a faltering percentage from three.
Indiana may have given the basketball up eight times before heading to the locker room, but it also forced 14. A huge shot Green, toes just beyond the arc, gave the Hoosiers their first lead since the start of the game with just under two minutes left to play in the first half.
By the time the first buzzer sounded, they led 34-29.
In the second half, both teams struggled at the perimeter. Indiana failed to hit another three for the remainder of the game. Without the threat of an outside shooter, Brunk was put to work.
After not scoring a single point in the first half, Brunk powered his way to nine second-half points, giving energy to the team — an energy that wasn’t present against Wisconsin. “Really happy for Joey,” Miller said. “He struggled there for a little bit, getting his feet on the ground and getting some easy baskets. I gave him that second run and things became very stagnant, it started to become a very, very tough game to score. I thought he went back to the basics of what he’s been doing well for us all year.”
UConn followed suit, working the ball into the paint while it struggled to shoot the ball. Indiana continued to challenge passing lanes and crowd the space near the rim. As a result, players capitalized on poor ball movement and picked up the pace in transition offense.
The Hoosiers finished the game with 12 points off of turnovers.
Although the Huskies weren’t quite efficient enough to climb back into the lead, they refused to go away. Polley hit another pivotal 3-pointer that tied the game at 45 apiece.
Miller’s team gave up another six turnovers in the second half while UConn lowered its critical mistakes to just nine. As time was winding down, the game stayed within a single-digit scoring margin. The slow-paced second period picked up as the tension began to build with under a minute left to play.
“Very physical,” junior guard Al Durham said. “We knew it was going to be like that. We knew they were going to come and say ‘hit us in the mouth.’ So we wanted to be there to answer the punch, answer the bell.”
Durham was able to attack the basket at times during the night and even drew an impactful flagrant foul. He had a little more freedom thanks to the return of sophomore point guard Rob Phinisee in the backcourt. He was previously recovering from an ankle injury but played in his first game since Nov. 20 against Princeton.
In his return to the court, Phinisee scored just six points, but he was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and none were more important than the two he hit after being fouled with 19 seconds left.
The lead was up to five and it felt like Indiana was going to ride the clock to a victory. However, on the ensuing possession, UConn’s redshirt junior guard Alterique Gilbert made his only shot of the game. He pulled up from the top of the key and sunk a deep three that put the contest within one score.
Green was soon fouled and had a chance to seal the game, but he only made one of his shots from the line. With time ticking away, the Huskies raced down the floor, one more three away from an even score.
Instead, a shot never went off. UConn ended the game with its 22nd turnover, and Indiana won the game with that three-point lead, 57-54
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