Indiana followed an upset win over No. 17 Florida State with a 20-point loss on the road at Wisconsin on Saturday. But neither games defines who the Hoosiers are this season.
Early in the second half in Madison, Indiana head coach Archie Miller turned to his bench and called for forwards De’Ron Davis and Damezi Anderson to get into the game. He’d already subbed in Devonte Green. This was just over three minutes into the second half, as it was clear Wisconsin was not slowing down after posting a 20-point lead on Indiana in the first half.
But it didn’t work. Nothing Miller did or could do was working. It didn’t matter how many substitutions he made or which lineup he put on the floor. Indiana looked like exactly what it was – a young team playing its first road game of the season in a venue it hadn’t found victory within since 1998.
The Hoosiers pushed their recent win over No. 17 Florida State deep into the hippocampus with an uninspired 84-64 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday.
“Our team was literally pleading with each in the four-minute timeouts, talking on the bench,” Miller said after the game. “We were searching, searching for that breakout moment early to get our two feet back on the ground. We never really got there.”
When finding a path toward pinpointing the shortcoming that primarily caused Indiana to allow Wisconsin to execute, there isn’t one place to start. It was a collective whiff from the tip to the buzzer.
It didn’t matter who was on the floor. Devonte Green’s presence was as quiet as it’s been in one game this season, and Trayce Jackson-Davis was limited to sub-double-digit scoring for the first time since the season-opener. Al Durham played his part in sparking two Indiana runs in each half, but after Wisconsin answered a push from the Hoosiers that had nearly cut the lead to single digits, the game was hanging by a thread at halftime.
“You’ve got to have a rallying cry,” Miller said. “Somebody’s got to jumpstart you or shake you up. A guy’s got to grab you by the jersey, player-to-player. I thought Al tried pretty hard there a couple times in the first half, but there were a lot of guys who had never been there.”
Indiana had yet to play on the road in 2019 before getting punched in the mouth in Madison. Three of its starters were playing in their first Big Ten games. Redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter played meaningful minutes on Wisconsin guard Kobe King, who nearly reached a career-high in the first half before clearing the mark for 24 points. Brunk was a speedbump for Wisconsin forward Nate Reuvers, who posted 20 points.
In terms of meaningful experience on the road, only Green, Durham, Justin Smith and De’Ron Davis – who airballed one of his four missed free throws in four minutes – were the only veterans Saturday.
That lack of experience and communication magnified tenfold when the Indiana defense appeared lost and Wisconsin hit six first half three-pointers, reigniting any scoring capability the Badgers have this season after a three-game slump.
The fate of the game was evident when Wisconsin scored 47 points in the first half after not scoring more than 54 in its previous three games, and it remains evident in the 54-percent Wisconsin field goal percentage, the four Wisconsin turnovers and the 29-28 rebounding advantage.
“That was probably the most frustrating thing was out defensive resistance,” Miller said. “Our effort level has been pretty good. It’s been growing, and I thought we got frustrated with them making shots and didn’t continue to stay with it.”
But because the loss immediately follows triumph with treachery doesn’t mean the win in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday doesn’t exist. Indiana still has that win and has shown the ability to beat top teams.
Before traveling to Wisconsin, Miller stressed a need to stay grounded, understanding that a win over No. 17 Florida State wouldn’t automatically equate to a win over 4-4 Wisconsin. In fact, it didn’t. Miller emphasized again after the loss that the team needs to remain grounded after a big loss as well, that a 20-point loss to Wisconsin doesn’t equate to a loss in Madison Square Garden against Connecticut.
Indiana has shown how he it can fly and how low it can sink in a matter of two games. Neither of those games define exactly who the Hoosiers are this season.
“The feeling in your body after a loss, especially after you experience it for the first time all year, it’s one of those things where nothing works anymore, nothing’s right anymore. Look, you’re somewhere in the middle,” Miller said. “This feeling that’s in us right now, it’s not going to go away until we work it out.”
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