Indiana has one game left before its strength of schedule dramatically increases, but its defensive shortcomings in its first six games have signaled a potential struggle if Archie Miller and the Hoosiers can't find answers quickly.
Coming into the 2019-20 season, Indiana head coach Archie Miller emphasized that the facet of the team his players needed to hang their hats on was the defensive side of the court. But following Indiana’s 88-75 win over Louisiana Tech game Monday, the head coach said the defense, six games into the season, is not a strength of the team at the moment.
While it’s difficult to identify strengths of the team with players sitting out so often – Rob Phinisee missed another game Monday with a litany of nagging injuries – it’s been clear more often than not that Indiana has and will have to lean on its offense in times of trouble.
The Hoosiers don’t have much time to make the necessary improvements before being thrown into the fire in December, as Florida State travels to Bloomington on Dec. 3, and the schedule rarely gives in difficulty afterward.
“Right now, I don't think the teams are having to work to get a great shot,” Indiana head coach Archie Miller said Monday. “It's obviously got to change. And it can. I think it will, because obviously we have a group that's working pretty hard at it.”
Even when Indiana seemed as promising as it had all season, draining 19 shots for 52 first half points, and running on all cylinders in the first half, it still surrendered looks outside – Louisiana Tech converted six three-point attempts – and allowed its opponent to hit 52 percent of its shots.
Miller said the offense “carried” the Hoosiers throughout their game against what is expected to be the toughest opponent of the early nonconference schedule, before Dec. 3. And that rang true. Once Indiana began to give the ball away early in the second half and lose its way on the offensive side of the floor, Louisiana Tech was able to climb back into the contest, nearly carving the deficit to less than 10 points after trailing by 20 in the first half.
Twelve second half turnovers, and five in the first six possessions, gave Louisiana Tech an opportunity to cut into Indiana’s lead, but it could execute, losing the ball on unforced errors and fouls and scoring just one point on the first five turnovers of the second half.
Devonte Green and Al Durham went cold from the floor, combining for seven points in the second half, and Indiana’s bench only scored four points, and the ball movement slowed. Once those mistakes creeped into IU’s play on the offensive end, they also bled into the defense.
“We definitely let our offense and our lack of taking care of (the ball), and maybe some of our frustration – we let that carry over to some sloppy transition defense, not communicating, some easy breakdowns and whatnot,” Miller said.
As a whole, Indiana’s defense isn’t lost. The Hoosiers are rated No. 48 in defensive efficiency ratings by KenPom.com, but there are glaring vulnerabilities that would lend to a drag against tougher competition, including its perimeter defense (258th opponent three-point shooting percentage) and creating turnovers (286th steal percentage).
“There's enough breakdowns early in possessions, early in transition, that we're not tough enough and strong enough to get the other team to their second side or third side,” Miller said. “That's where we're at right now. We're like. ‘Get back, let's try to guard the first side.’ We're not anywhere near a Big Ten team on defense right now.”
That’s a problem with the strength of schedule ready to skyrocket and Indiana’s first road games nearing.
Miller has said multiple times that he believes the defense will grow into what he expected out of this team – a Big Ten team – but that growth will need to come rapidly, whether it’s forcing more difficult shots or simply gaining experience on one of the most inexperienced rosters in the nation, or else Indiana will be learning how to play defense together against some of the toughest competition it will see this season.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
