NEW YORK - On Sunday, Indiana faced off against the reigning national champions, the No. 5 UConn Huskies. The Hoosiers were outscored from behind the 3-point line for a fourth consecutive game to start the season, losing to the Huskies 77-57.
This isn't a new problem for Indiana. The lack of 3-point attempts has been a consistent and glaring weakness of the Hoosiers' Mike Woodson-led teams throughout the early stages of his tenure. Sunday against UConn was no different.
Coming into the game, Indiana's opponents were outscoring the Hoosiers 111-33 from behind the 3-point line this season. Prior to the start of the game against UConn, Indiana was tied for 347th in the country in 3-point attempts per game shooting 13.3 per contest. Additionally, the Hoosiers were tied for 342nd in the country in 3-pointers made per game entering Sunday's contest. No Big Ten teams rank lower than Indiana in those two categories this season.
"Paint, paint, paint for them," UConn head coach Dan Hurley said postgame on what he wanted to take away from Indiana offensively. "The 3-point line is not something at this point for (Indiana) that is a strength. Really it was just about taking away the paint."
Against, UConn, Indiana fell slightly under its season averages shooting the ball, going 3-13 from distance. Through four games, Indiana has taken roughly 28% of its field goal attempts from 3-point range, a number that has to change.
On Sunday, as the Huskies outscored the Hoosiers 21-9 from distance. Following the loss to the defending national champions, Indiana is 14-53 (26%) from 3-point range on the season. The Hoosiers' first four opponents have combined to go 44-120 (37%) from downtown against Indiana.
When asked about Indiana's lack of 3-point attempts, Woodson credited UConn's defensive performance.
"(UConn) is very good defensively and the looks that we did have, we didn't make them," Woodson said. "We just have to get better offensively."
Indiana has two talented post players in Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware. The Hoosiers are bound to have a bias towards scoring in the paint with those two in the frontcourt. However, two of Indiana's three made 3-pointers on Sunday came from the Hoosiers' 7-footer, Kel'el Ware. Ware went 2-4 from downtown, while the rest of the team combined to shoot just 9 3-pointers, making only one of them.
"A lot of (Ware's) work has come in the paint, but it was like he didn't want any part of it tonight," Woodson said on Ware's offensive performance. "He's 7-feet tall, he's got to get in there and mix it up. He kind of floated around the perimeter shooting 3's. That's good when you're up 20, but when you're down you have to get in there and mix it up."
On the season, Ware is 3-7 from 3-point range. Through for games, the Oregon transfer has accounted for 21% of Indiana's 3-point makes while taking 13% of the team's shots from distance.
Is it at all possible that Ware should be utilized on the perimeter more often to help the Hoosiers space the floor, especially considering that he went 0-6 in the paint against UConn's Donovan Clingan?
After all, that would allow Indiana to put four 'shooters' on the court around Reneau and play four-out, one-in on the offensive side of the floor. After putting up 18 points on 7-9 shooting against the Huskies on Sunday, it is clear that Reneau can score in one-on-one situations on the block, no matter the competition. An inside-out game centered around the sophomore could be the schematic change Indiana's offense desperately needs.
If Indiana wants to have success this season, the Hoosiers have to find a way to play 21st century basketball.
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