Indiana came into New York City having dropped its first of two road games in a major way, with a 20-point loss at Wisconsin. But the Hoosiers answered in one of the sloppiest games it's played all season, outlasting UConn, 57-54.
Defense feeding offense
Indiana found success when it was able to force turnovers on defense and translate those turnovers into points on the other end. From early in the game, Connecticut was turning the ball over at a higher rate than Indiana, as the Hoosiers didn't turn the ball over for their first 14 possessions, but it didn't make a difference with UConn's success inside (detailed below).
But once Rob Phinisee entered the game and Indiana could get into transition, points became easier to come by for the Hoosiers. Indiana ended the first half on a 17-3 run and a 26-12 run after the timeout Phinisee entered the game.
The defense is what Indiana needed to rely on throughout such a sloppy game and through a seven minutes period where they only put four points on the board.
Connecticut's size felt early
Connecticut's size was going to be an issue. It would just depend on how Indiana countered that size would determine much of the success Indiana would have on either end of the court. And early on, UConn's size was way too much for Indiana to handle.
Two quick blocked shots turned into points on the other end for the Huskies. Connecticut had six blocks to Indiana's zero midway through the second half, and the Hoosiers were being out-rebounded, 26-22, at that same point.
Eventually, Indiana was missing simple shots in the paint simply because of that previous presence.
The Joey Brunk redemption story
Joey Brunk started the game at center but had a quick exit after, for the second consecutive game, he struggled against an athletic forward. Connecticut forward Josh Carlton is certainly different than Wisconsin's Nate Reuvers, but he found early success on Brunk just the same.
Carlton had three early scores, as his long two stretched out the Indiana defense to open up two three-point shots that extend UConn's early lead to 15-6.
Brunk played sparingly for the rest of the game, and Archie Miller experimented with a lot of lineups, like he did in Wisconsin. De'Ron Davis played his best minutes of the season before he was replaced by Trayce Jackson-Davis at the five spot and Jerome Hunter, Damezi Anderson and Justin Smith split time between three and four.
Eventually, there seemed to be no real options for the five outside of Jackson-Davis, as Davis missed a number of easy buckets inside and was slow in nearly every situation, as was Brunk.
With seven minutes remaining, Brunk hit back-to-back-back buckets in crucial situations to keep the Hoosiers ahead 47-45, and with less than four minutes left was Indiana's leading scorer.
Sloppy play dominates
It began with poor shot selection by Indiana and a lack of interior defense and was followed by butterfingers by Connecticut, and eventually both defenses were caught with their feet in concrete multiple times.
For half of the second half, Indiana only scored four points but didn't fall out of contention because Connecticut only had seven points in nine minutes.
There was a flagrant one foul, several unforced errors, passes thrown into empty spaces, sloppy entry passes, dives on the floor and missed open layups. Nearly everything that could have happened did, and it seemed like neither team wanted to win the game at several points in the night.
No Hoosier reached double-digit scoring, as Indiana shot 37 percent from the floor to Connecticut's 42.
Rob Phinisee returns
Indiana had been missing a pure point guard with the skills of sophomore guard Rob Phinisee. Devonte Green is intended to be an off-ball shooting guard in the Archie Miller system, and Al Durham and Armaan Franklin just didn't have the same influence on games as Phinisee.
Indiana had all 11 scholarship players available for the first time this season and all available players active for the first time since February.
Phinisee missed much of the second half but returned for critical minutes at the end of the game with a three-point lead. It was Phinisee who made a hustle rebound to replenish the shot clock with less than a minute remaining.
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