Indiana jumped out to a strong start against what was anticipated to be the Hoosiers' toughest nonconference opponent to date, but a second half filled with unwarranted turnovers and missed shots left the promise felt in the first half damaged, despite an 88-75 win.
Like the start Indiana was able to find against Troy when it reached triple-digit scoring earlier this season, the Hoosiers were able to get off to a hot start, beginning with eight early points from Al Durham on some quick drives to the bucket.
Given how difficult Louisiana Tech was anticipated to put down – a top-100 team, an 11.5-point spread – the stretch that featured strong first halves from both Durham and Devonte Green and a lead as high as 20 points was as promising as Indiana has looked at any point this season.
But a slip-up in the first half made its way into a snowball in the second half, and Indiana found itself leaving much of the game on the court against its best opponent to date, even though it won, 88-75.
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“Hopefully it was one of those deals you've got to be able to get through,” Indiana head coach Archie Miller said after the game. “But it definitely was a hard game to watch in the second half.”
When Indiana began to stumble into halftime, surrendering easy three-point shots and getting lax on offense, the game felt like it could either rise in Indiana’s direction or cliff-fall toward Louisiana Tech, but it didn’t do either.
Indiana turned the ball over five times in the first six possessions and matched its first half turnover total (6) in just five minutes of gameplay, but Louisiana Tech couldn’t take advantage. It scored one point off the first five turnovers.
What spelled doom for Indiana was its lack of ball movement, Miller said. The majority of the first half that featured Durham and Armaan Franklin pushing the ball upcourt and Green receiving kickouts for threes was far in the past just a few minutes into the second half, and the Hoosiers were losing entry passes, contorting their bodies to make sloppy passes and not finding easy shots on the offensive end.
“Embarrassing really, how we took care of the ball,” Miller said about the second half. “And just the types of turnovers we had really weren't very good. It hurt us all half. We weren't able to really get a hold of it. We weren't able to really play the game the right way in terms of how we moved it, shared it, free-flowing. It just became a dribble-fest, a turnover-fest.”
Miller said he hopes, in the future, his experienced guards can take the reins and calm the team when moments like the beginning of the second half grip the team. Just in scoring production, in the first half, Durham and Green combined for 27 points, but, by the 8:00 mark of the second half, they’d combined for one, finishing the second half with seven combined.
“We didn't find groove,” Durham said about the offense in the second half. “I've got to take responsibility. I've got to make sure we don't get into that position. I feel like we've got to reel it in, and we can't have a half a basketball like that again.”
Louisiana Tech, on the back of an 8-of 13, 24-point night from Amorie Archibald, had creeped toward a single-digit margin with Indiana in the second half, but the hoosiers turned to freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis down the stretch, as the 6-foot-10 forward was a force inside all game long against one of the shortest teams in the nation.
Defensively, Jackson-Davis intimidated Louisiana Tech’s driving guards out of lanes and altered what it was hoping to execute offensively. But once Indiana hit the double-bonus with 10 minutes remaining in the second half, the freshman took over the game, finishing his day going 11-for-13 at the line and leading the Hoosiers in scoring along with his third triple-double of the season – 21 points, 11 rebounds.
“He's going to be a big part of us, and you see what's going on,” Durham said about Jackson-Davis. “And I feel he's putting it on display right now.”
Miller has said it after nearly every game this season, and he said it again Monday – the defense is not a strength for the team, yet it’s what it needs to “hang its hat on” to find the most success this season.
But, at this point in the schedule, with the competition beginning to ramp up – reigning Summit League champion South Dakota State, followed by Florida State, Wisconsin and Connecticut – as a tough December schedule looms, Miller said he “won’t get bent out of shape” about some of the concerns shown if the Hoosiers got an ugly win.
“We're past the days critiquing wins and losses,” Miller said. “We won the game. Let's find a way to get better and clean that up.”
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