With 17:04 left in the first half Luke Goode pulled up and drained a three, giving Indiana a 1-for-1 start from 3-point range. This gave Indiana a 9-4 lead and capped off what was a 7-0 run at the time for IU, possibly giving fans hope that this one would be an easy, runaway victory for their Hoosiers.
That couldn't have been further from the case as, after Goode's made jumper, the Hoosiers missed every single one of their long range shots, going 0-for-19 and finishing 1-for-20 from three to end the game.
While IU did get the 77-68 win against Winthrop, this shooting performance made it much closer than expected, while also reaffirming the notions that Indiana has a shooting problem, and a very bad one at that.
Mike Woodson addressed this postgame by saying, "they have just got to keep working, and eventually they will fall. That's how I think as a coach."
While Woodson thinks that his team needs to keep working, his group's three ball certainly wasn't, as the fact still remains that after one made 3-pointer, nineteen straight missed, giving the Hoosiers a 5% clip from beyond the arc, its lowest in a game since January 18th where IU failed to make a three against Illinois.
Mackenzie Mgbako went 0-for-5, Myles Rice went 0-for-3, Trey Galloway went 0-for-2 Kanaan Carlyle went 0-for-1 and, despite making the lone Indiana three, Luke Goode had the worst showing at just 1-for-9.
All this led to Indiana having a very subpar performance against Winthrop, giving the Hoosiers a nailbiter it was never expected to be in, showing what was a bad sign before Big Ten play resumes on January 2nd against Rutgers.
Going back to the only made 3-pointer of the game for Indiana, it was during a time in the game where it looked as if Indiana could pull away early, giving the Hoosiers a blowout win though, obviously, this was not the case.
After Goode's made three and the ensuing media timeout, Indiana was on a 9-2 run and was on its way to a double-digit lead early on, yet IU didn't lead by more than nine all game.
This was caused by poor play in several facets of the game, but none of these issues were as glaring as the Hoosiers' shooting from deep.
IU missed five threes before the under-12 media timeout, not taking advantage of open looks, while letting Winthrop back into the game, now with only a two point lead.
This was a point during the game where Indiana had a real shot at making a statement and taking control of this game, but it did not, as the shots just didn't go down, even though the Hoosiers thought they were decent shots.
"The threes that we got were really good looks. I think over 75, 80 percent of them were really good looks," said Myles Rice postgame, explaining that, even with shots not falling down early, he believed that his teammates were finding the right shots.
This mindset resulted in the Hoosiers shooting even more long range shots, with IU not converting on four more 3-pointers before the half was over, all the while letting Winthrop hang around.
At the half, the score was 41-37 Indiana, nowhere near where the Hoosiers would've liked to be, but it had an entire second half to correct these woes, meaning that there would be several more opportunities to see a three ball find the bottom of the net.
Unfortunately for Indiana, this did not happen, as the Hoosiers would continue to fire and fail to hit from three, with each miss adding another tally to a historically abysmal shooting night.
To start out the second half, IU was still firing up 3-pointers, as it attempted six more before the under-12 timeout all of which, of course, not finding any nylon.
Even with all these misses, Indiana as a team still believes that it was just a matter of seeing one fall, but one never did. This didn't change the mindset of the Indiana head man, though.
Woodson said postgame that "We're shooting them. And again, if they were bad threes, then I would really sit here and complain. But they were good threes, and I feel good about the guys that are shooting them. So again, eventually, they are going to make them. That's how I think."
The Hoosiers thought this as well as, even with the six misses to start out the second half, it attempted three more before crunch time, putting their mark at 1-of-19, while also dwindling the Indiana lead to just one.
Sitting with 18 missed threes in a row and just a one point lead, the Hoosiers had their backs up against a wall, and they did respond, as it turned a 69-68 game with 3:16 left into a 77-68 victory when the buzzer sounded, missing one more three along the way to make it 19 in a row.
While Indiana did respond when it needed to secure the victory, the 19 missed 3-pointers in a row were something that, even with Indiana's reputation as a poor shooting team, was a major takeaway despite the win.
"But we've just got to get over that mental hurdle and keep shooting. Because like I said we getting good shots and I feel comfortable with everybody who took threes tonight, and like I said, it was really good shots," said Myles Rice postgame, letting everyone know that he's confident in his team, even with the 5% mark from three.
While confidence is one thing, shots need to start falling if Indiana wants to be successful in Big Ten play. The performance seen today won't get it done against the caliper of opponents in conference so, if Indiana wants to secure wins down the stretch, it needs to fix its shooting problem, and fast.
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