Indiana's lack of physicality has now blew into its most identifiable characteristics as a team, particularly its rebounding, after getting out-manned by Ohio State, 68-59, on Saturday in Columbus. As the Hoosiers head into a week off before welcoming Purdue to Bloomington, they'll be looking to find what made them successful against Michigan State and others.
Indiana, head coach Archie Miller said, needs to be a team that plays hard, rebounds and digs deep to pull games out.
“Good things happen when you play that way, and we’ve shown that,” he said Saturday.
Even in some of the earliest stages of the season, when the Hoosiers were scraping by teams like Connecticut, Notre Dame and Nebraska throughout December, hanging by a thread while searching for a path toward success, Indiana was the team described by Miller.
It certainly was that team during its best stretch of basketball, beginning with a win over then-No. 11 Ohio State and passing through Michigan State and Nebraska. But that team that showed up energized after a near-loss to Northwestern was not the version of Indiana that traveled to Columbus on Saturday.
The Hoosiers were out-rebounded, 31-24, and those 24 rebounds represent the fewest total rebounds Indiana has recorded in a game this season. Capped by zero second-chance points and nine first-half turnovers, Miller said the team’s physicality is not where it needs to be to move past the rut that is its current three-game losing streak.
“We could not rebound the ball,” Miller said. “It was the first time all season that I can really recall our team just getting housed on the glass like that. The physicality in our team has taken a drop and it’s shown here in our last two games.”
It’s not the first time Indiana has had lapses in its physicality or the first time it’s been out-rebounded. Flashbacks to the loss at Wisconsin, the loss at Maryland, the surrendered lead to Arkansas and the slugfest at Rutgers. Being outmanned, particularly on the road, is not out of character for Indiana from time to time.
But coming into the game, the Hoosiers were 53rd in the country in total rebounds, 49th in offensive rebounds and 45th in opponent offensive rebounds, and a loss to Maryland that featured a seven-point lead in the final two minutes had taken the wind out of Indiana’s sails as it traveled to Penn State and couldn’t put away a lackluster Penn State team.
What’s out of character for Indiana is stringing together those performances and then capping them off by being out-rebounded offensively, 11-4.
“Rebounding has been a staple for this team,” Miller said. “And our physicality and our energy level, just getting after balls, just isn’t there right now.”
The offensive rebounding performance, and most of Indiana’s woes in the interior, began and ended with Kaleb Wesson. He scored Ohio State’s first six points with three buckets in the paint. Ohio State was clearly making an effort to attack Indiana and limit the Hoosiers on the glass as well, something that the Buckeyes couldn’t do in Bloomington.
Wesson eventually brought down five offensive rebounds, more than Indiana had as a team, and fought through Indiana’s interior defenders. Even Trayce Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk couldn’t wil their ways through or around Wesson. Miller said his 15 points and 11 rebounds were “different” than his 11 points and 10 rebounds on Jan. 11. Primarily, Wesson’s performance stood out Saturday because of his backcourt’s support.
Of Ohio State’s 26 field goals, 19 of them were assisted, and CJ Walker went 5-for-9 with four assists next to three assists from Luther Muhammad and three three-point conversions by Justin Ahrens. The Ohio State guards attacked the basket and stretched Indiana’s defense simultaneously, and its frontcourt, Miller said, played a “stand-still” game with its feet “locked to the ground.”
Many of those struggles were defined by unquantified plays too – the 50-50 balls that were tipped out of bounds and went Ohio State’s way. Miller counted “six or seven” of those specifically.
As Indiana makes its way back to Bloomington with a week to prepare for Purdue, it has plenty to address – getting to the free throw line, playing tighter defense inside, finding more offensive opportunities inside and being smarter with the ball. Chief among them is its physicality, because the lack of physicality has now bled into the core identifying characteristics of the way Indiana wants to play.
“You could always use it,” Phinisee said Saturday about a reset. “I wouldn’t say we need it. Having the week break will help us get our legs underneath us.”
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