After showing promise on the offensive end of the floor in four of its last five games, Indiana let another vulnerable Big Ten opponent off the hook with its 64-49 loss to No. 24 Penn State on Wednesday in State College.
Penn State didn’t shoot the ball well in State College on Wednesday. Indiana head coach Archie Miller said when he looked at the Nittany Lions’ shooting percentages – 38 percent from the field, 28 percent from three and 48 percent (11-of-23) from the free throw line – he would assume his team had “a chance to hang in there.”
But Penn State caught Indiana on “an off day,” junior forward Justin Smith said after the Hoosiers shot 33 percent from the field, 18 percent from three and attempted just 10 free throws in a 64-49 loss at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.
“Offensively, we were bad,” Miller said. “We talked to the team after the game, and there’s not a whole lot to talk about other than, in the second half, we just played terrible.”
Indiana seemed to be finding its way offensively since defeating Ohio State, as the Hoosiers had shot at least 41 percent from the floor in four of their last five games, including 53 percent in the loss to Maryland on Sunday. The backcourt, in particular, seemed to be piecing itself together in terms of distributing the ball with confidence and finding its shot.
Neither was the case Wednesday, as Indiana hit 19-of-57 shots and only two threes while turning the ball over 17 times, its most in a conference game and more than its combined total of 14 against Michigan State and Maryland last week.
Most of that damage was done in the second half.
Indiana was able to keep the game close in the first half, as both teams came out missing shots. Joey Brunk and De’Ron Davis hit the two-foul mark before halftime while Race Thompson and Jerome Hunter (sickness) were unavailable. But Indiana hit 7-of-8 free throws alongside an early Al Durham three, six points from Davis and six total second chance points, which was just enough offense to match the defensive end to keep the game tied 28-28.
After turning the ball over six times in the first half, Jackson-Davis said turning it over twice in the first two minutes of the second half shook the foundation of the Hoosier offense.
“The game was in a manageable deal there – five, six, four – but the turnovers, the inability to score the ball, was eventually going to cave us in and it did,” Miller said.
Two threes from Seth Lundy and Myles Dread represented the caving. The Hoosiers trailed by nine points, 41-32, and Justin Smith hit a corner three, searching for anything offensively, as Penn State’s pressure was too much for Indiana’s perimeter and entry passes weren’t connecting. When they were, the Hoosiers couldn’t finish at the rim.
A 7-0 run after the Smith three finished Indiana, and by the end of the game, it was out-rebounded in the second half by Penn State, who was last in total rebounds during conference play, and had turned the ball over 12 times.
Penn State also scored 20 second-half points in the paint to Indiana’s 14, scored 15 points off turnovers to Indiana’s two and only allowed Indiana to shoot two free throws.
“The other day, we were able to make shots and it look a lot better,” Miller said, referring to Indiana’s recent offensive performances. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to make shots, but we didn’t have it.”
Miller also stressed that it wasn’t one person who wasn’t making shots. Smith (6-of-8 for 13 points) and Brunk (3-of-4 for six) were the most efficient, but Brunk only played 14 minutes in foul trouble and Smith couldn’t make up for all of Devonte Green (2-of-10), Rob Phinisee (0-of-6), Durham (1-of-7), Davis (2-of-7), Armaan Franklin (0-of-3) and Damezi Anderson (0-of-3).
It was a collective fumble on offense that let a second consecutive vulnerable conference opponent off the hook with a KenPom.com 24-percent chance of winning at Ohio State on Saturday.
“We’re going to be fine,” Smith said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to be fine.”
----
• 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.
