Indiana fell to Rutgers 74-63 on Wednesday, another huge blow to its NCAA Tournament chances.
The Hoosiers jumped out to another huge lead in the first 10 minutes, 23-8, but then were outscored the final 30 minutes by a score of 66-40.
Indiana kept it close early in the second half, but too many small mistakes built up and eventually, the floodgates just opened for Rutgers, spending much of the second half up by nearly 20 points.
Here are all the key game notes as well as the full postgame transcript from IU head coach Archie Miller.
Postgame Notes:
• Sophomore Trayce Jackson-Davis recorded his 10th double-double of the season and 22nd in his career as he finished with 21 points and 11 boards, including seven on the offensive glass. Indiana is now 17-5 in games in which he has a double-double.
• Jackson-Davis set a new career high with three steals on the night.
• Aljami Durham started the game a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including 4-for-4 from the 3-point line. His four triples tied a career high. He finished with 20 points, his second-most in a game this season behind the 24 he scored at Northwestern. He was 7-for-12 from the field and added four assists and a pair of rebounds.
• Durham is now six points away from becoming the 53rd player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
• The Hoosiers held a 39-38 advantage on the boards. IU also had the edge on point from the bench, 20-14.
• Freshman Jordan Geronimo set a new career high with eight points, including knocking down a pair of 3-pointers late, also a new career high.
• Redshirt junior Race Thompson pulled down nine rebounds and added two points.
• Redshirt sophomore Jerome Hunter scored five minutes off the bench, adding four rebounds and a steal.
• Freshman Trey Galloway scored four points, adding three assists and a pair of boards in 26 minutes.
• Freshman Anthony Leal knocked down a 3-pointer in five minute of action.
Postgame Quotes:
Opening Statement...
MILLER: Credit to Rutgers. I thought they really, really responded well to our start, and they really wore the back nine minutes of the first half out. We had a hard time functioning. But I thought defensively, and I thought in our first half, our effort level was very, very good at times.
In the second half, right from the start, we weren't ready out of halftime, and started with our defense. I think the thing that's disappointing right now is when things don't go well for us, the thing we've kind of hung our hat on and been able to do is really scrap, compete and find a way to make it anybody's game. In our last two second halves, in particular when things haven't gone well, our defense and our just our tightness, our ability to communicate, our response hasn't given us chance in these last two games. And both teams just really opened the floodgates up offensively against us.
But a lot of it is a credit to them. I thought their ball pressure was as good as we've seen all year. They disrupted our guards, our entries. But we got off to a good start and I thought our guys prepared well and I thought defensively, especially the first 12 to 14 minutes in the first half, we were as good as we've been. We're just going to have to be able to find a way to get that collectiveness back.
Q: On play in the second half recently...
MILLER: I think when things aren't going well, and I would attribute it into both second halves, whether it's a lack of confidence offensively or things start to become difficult for us, our response isn't to run harder, to talk more, to concentrate more, to talk about the things that we can control. And I think in both second halves, which hasn't really been the case all year, teams have been able to go, whether you're up or down, on huge runs without being able to get it stopped.
To me, we're letting our defense completely be affected right now by whatever's going on in the game, whether that's a bad play on offense, whether that's a bad stretch on offense, but at the end of the day, we get quiet. And right now is not the time of year to be doing that.
Q : On Armaan Franklin...
MILLER: Armaan aggravated his ankle, foot, Achilles, I'm not sure which one, in the first half of the game and wasn't able to go in the second half, so that's why he didn't play.
Q: On turnovers...
MILLER: I think it's a big part of what we're struggling with right now. We're struggling with the base stuff that we've been good at times this year. Taking care of the ball has become a problem. I thought their pressure really rattled us tonight. We had a hard time functioning cleanly on offense and a lot of it had to do with just their ability to pick up the ball and really work.
But I think turnovers are hard to defend. We had nine in the first half and that was a big difference in the first half getting turned around. I think in the second half, just defensively, we didn't start the second half like we started the game and I do think when things aren't going well right now, we tend to sort of get more into ourselves and we tend to not get back. We tend right now not to fiercely compete how we have to do it to stay in the game.
There's games this season where we've been down nine at the half, which I think we were down about eight or nine in the midpoint of this second half where we found a way to grab a hold of momentum with our defense. You're down at Northwestern, you find a way to get some stops. There's been times where we've really responded well, but here lately, in particular in our last two games, I think when things haven't gone well, we haven't responded with that comeback effort that we need. I think we can get it back.
This is a humbling game, a humbling second half for us. I think it's the first time all season long our team has really looked fractured where we didn't know how to compete, what to do. And that goes back to me, I have to figure this out and get our team back up off the mat here because we have a big finish. We have a lot of things at stake. We have a lot of things right in front of us. We've worked very hard to get right there. Got a great opportunity on Saturday at home, but you know it's not going to work in any game that we play the rest of the season if our competitiveness and out concentration when things aren't going well, doesn't come back around.
Q: On the level of play from the point guard position...
MILLER: I think tonight was a tough night for our point guards in general. I think they disrupted us a lot in terms of our entries and whatnot. But at the end of the day, it's not just one position or one player, we've got to get much more contributions from a lot of guys right now. And we have to figure out what we need to do to start off better, or get more consistent play. I think that's a big part of here finishing, is to get guys a little bit more confident in their roles. Give guys a little bit more opportunity maybe to get in there. But we're definitely, tonight, just in terms of our overall play from the guard position, although I thought Al (Durham) really, really played well tonight. I thought he did a nice job for us. We just for the most part, we're just not a confident team right now being able to take care of the ball. I think that can come back around, but everybody's got to do more.
Q: On the leadership…
MILLER: I definitely think it's something right now that's been lacking. I think the grab a hold of each other's jersey, kind of get guys buckled down, worrying about the right things, staying focused is something we got to get a hold on. We’ve got to get our older guys, and just all of the guys right now, in general, our whole team's got to stick together. But we got to get guys back focused in on the right things when things aren't going well throughout the course of the game. And just in general right now, I think we're searching for an emotional guy, a guy that can really be looked to that can rally us. We’re a quiet group in general, and I don't think we have an alpha personality. I definitely think right now, we need some guys to step up a little bit within our own ranks, within our own locker room, and we’ve got to be able to pull some things together. Because I do think we lacked confidence at certain times during the game when things don't go well, and that's when you kind of need that stick togetherness, but we talked a lot about that.
I think, I said, I thought coming back off the Michigan State loss guys had a good attitude, worked hard. I thought coming into this game, we were ready to play and got off to a good start. We're just not responding to the adversity throughout the course of the game as well as we need to.
Q: On finding a way to get confidence and way to respond when adversity hits with 3 games left…
MILLER: I think in general it just comes from within. Your focus can change quickly. As a team you need to find that spirit to be back to be playing for the right reasons at a high level. In this league you get exposed when you're not playing well, but that doesn't mean you're not playing hard. I didn't think we played hard in the second half. I think that was as much as anything, I thought the end of the first half, for whatever reason, may have impacted our team. Maybe Armaan not playing in the second half had a lot to do with our ability to make some things happen. But just in general, our competitiveness and what we were trying to do on the outset of this, our prep to plan was there to start, but it wasn't there at the start of the second half and they took complete advantage of us. They were a much more aggressive team. And things change quickly with one win and things change quickly with one loss, and I think you have to be able to balance it. Our team has to be able to take a really, really humbling game here in the second half because I think when you really think about it, it may have been an eight or nine point game with 12 to go, we were sort of teetering right there and we weren't able to sustain it and we caved.
I think it's a learning experience hopefully as we get into this one on Saturday, it's gonna be a tough game obviously. We're gonna have to be a lot more tough, a lot more together, and a lot more stick to the to the script so to speak and don't panic when things don't go our way. I think when things don't go our way, we don't get a little bit tighter, we don't get a little bit smarter, we get a little bit more fractured. I think with this group right now, the wear and tear of the year is on us, the pressure is on, but we have to be able to balance that and be able to play smart basketball. When things aren't going well we got to get a little bit smarter.
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