Indiana's road game rematch against Nebraska was a chance for the Hoosiers to display the steady growth they've made defensively, and they did more than just that in an 82-74 win over the Cornhuskers in Lincoln on Saturday.
Indiana head coach Archie Miller mentioned Friday that around this time of year, players look back toward the beginning of the season and see the ground they’ve covered developmentally and, typically, see the strides they’ve taken. The same can be said for the Indiana defense this season.
Leading into the Nebraska game in Lincoln on Saturday, the Hoosiers hadn’t given up more than 75 points in a game since the last time they played Nebraska on Dec. 13 in a 96-90 overtime win in Bloomington. Miller noted that he was not happy with the defensive display in that game.
In an effort to show development on defense, Indiana’s road game at Nebraska represented a chance to show tangible evidence of that growth on the defensive growth, and, while the offensive success will likely be remembered from Indiana’s first true road win of the season, Indiana’s defense kept its heels in the ground in resistance of another Big Ten offense.
“To be able to come out with one tonight was very, very important for us,” Miller said after the 82-74 win on Saturday, “because I know what we have coming up on Thursday.”
Leaving Piscataway, the narrative surrounding the team was that it couldn’t hit shots and that it was in the midst of the worst three-point shooting season in Indiana history. It’s lack of ability to make shots consistently was betraying the defensive efforts it was making on the other end as frustration boiled over offensively.
That frustration didn’t exist Saturday. It was a slow start, but Indiana began to hit its shots early in the first half. It took an 11-0 run by Nebraska with three three-point shots made in 81 seconds to put the Huskers up 24-13. That barrage would have sank a previous version of this Indiana team and some other Big Ten teams as well, but Indiana maintained footing.
“That’s what they do; they go in bunches,” Miller said. “You just have to hang in there and weather the storm until they miss a few.”
The way Indiana weathered the storm was through bench scoring, as Jerome Hunter hit a couple threes, Armaan Franklin connected on one and Devonte Green did as well. The Hoosiers scored 18 points off the bench in the first half.
While Indiana hung in offensively, it forced empty possessions for Nebraska, when guard Cam Mack wasn’t scoring any of his 17 first-half points. That held the Huskers down while Indiana leapfrogged them with a late 11-3 run.
There was a definitive period in the second half when the Hoosiers relied on defensive rebounding to limit easy scores for Nebraska, as Indiana out-rebounded Nebraska, 48-30, and cutting off drives to the bucket and transition plays, paired with the sound rebounding efforts by Trayce Jackson-Davis – who had a double-double with 18 and 13 – Justin Smith and Armaan Franklin – who was the second guard paired with Rob Phinisee who Miller used in the second half – allowed Indiana to swell its lead to as many as 19 points.
“We try to be the most dominant rebounding team in the country,” Jackson-Davis told Inside The Hall after the game. “That’s what Coach Miller always tells us.”
But putting together a full 40 minutes of consistent offense has been a struggle for Indiana. The Rutgers 59-50 loss on the road before traveling to Nebraska is one of many examples where Indiana’s offense has hit scoring droughts, and a nine-minute scoring drought left Indiana vulnerable late in the second half.
Miller has said on multiple occasions this season that he would like to see a “killer instinct” from his team in situations where it can finish off opponents, and that wasn’t there offensively Saturday. Defensively, however, Indiana kept Nebraska at arm’s length. Nebraska inched closer and closer as shots failed to fall for Indiana, but it never came within fewer than six points of the lead.
What was prime in fending off Nebraska, outside of cutting off lanes to the basket and limiting the passing lanes, was the pressure Indiana’s guards put on every level of the Nebraska offense. The aggression they played with, particularly Franklin, who drew two charges and even more fouls, smothered Mack in the second half, limiting him to three second-half points, and left Nebraska looking for answers from three. The Huskers hit nine threes Saturday after connecting on a remaining season-high 12 threes in Bloomington.
As Indiana returns home from two consecutive road games with positive showings on defense, it can finally hang its hat on that end of the floor as it welcomes in two of the best Big Ten teams of the season – Michigan State and Maryland – into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall next week.
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