Since Indiana head coach Archie Miller addressed the 11-man rotation after a near-loss to Northwestern, there has been a definitive strategy to how the Hoosiers will approach the backcourt moving forward, and, at least in the short-term, it's worked.
As Indiana worked through the middle of its schedule – the phase between non-conference and Big Ten play – the inconsistencies in the backcourt largely determined how high and how low Indiana could play.
Devonte Green buried Florida State with a career-high 30 points, but since then has had one game – his 19 points against Ohio State – that has lifted Indiana above the expected plane of existence.
There have been other one-offs too. Armaan Franklin’s 17 points led Indiana to a win against Notre Dame, Rob Phinisee’s seven overtime points downed Nebraska in Bloomington and Al Durham’s 16 points aided an Indiana offense that was trudging through mud against Northwestern. Head coach Archie Miller said Durham “played like a leader” in that game.
Those offensive inconsistencies have also bled into other areas of the game, whether it be on defense, in moving the ball or in turnovers.
“It always comes down, at the end of the day, to play and beat the best, you've got to have guard play,” Miller said after beating Ohio State on Jan. 11.
How to manage such an inconsistent backcourt in a way that will maximize its production has proven to be a challenge entering Big Ten play, but a definite template has been set since the near-loss to Northwestern.
That template starts with Phinisee, the crutch that guard play was expected to lean on all season. But with his luck with injuries, Phinisee has struggled to get back to the form and promise shown during his freshman year. His availability before Ohio State was largely questionable, as he played 26 minutes against Portland State on Nov. 9 but never saw that number, in regulation, again until he played 29 minutes against Ohio State and immediately was in physical therapy afterwards.
But in the two games since the win over Ohio State, Phinisee has played 32 and 24 minutes. Those performances have been at the heart of what the Hoosiers have been able to get done in guard play. Phinisee hasn’t scored a lot, averaging nine points in the last three games, but he has pushed the envelope in areas the backcourt variously relaxed in, such as challenging post players defensively and getting the ball moving at Nebraska or poking four balls away from Ohio State to initiate transition plays. Phinisee has been the catalyst, as he was expected to be coming into the 2019-20 season.
But it’s been the other three guards and how they’ve been adjusted around Phinisee that have seen changes since Phinisee has gained some footing. Following the Northwestern win, Miller addressed for the first time that the 11-man rotation might not be the key to success for the team and that playing time was no longer guaranteed to everyone on the team.
“We can really take some of the confusion out by not worrying about playing – we just play as many guys as we need to play to win the game and who is playing the hardest,” Miller said after the Northwestern game, “because you're not going to be able to compete against Ohio State or anybody after that as teams keep getting better, if you're still standing in the same conversation.”
The result was, in the next game against Ohio State, Phinisee’s minutes jumping from 18 versus Northwestern to 29. Early in the game, Armaan Franklin was sent to the bench and only played five minutes. A much more measured Devonte Green recorded 29 minutes after shooting 0-for-6 from the field against Northwestern and 4-for-12 from three in a late loss to Arkansas the week before.
At Rutgers, Phinisee played 32 minutes in a game where every Hoosier struggled offensively. That left the door open for Durham to play 29 minutes, as he matched what Indiana was trying to do defensively against a physical Rutgers team. Green had just 16 minutes on 0-for-4 shooting, and Franklin played four minutes.
Against Nebraska on Saturday, Franklin was earning a large share of the time at the two spot, as his defensive play, an early three, six rebounds and four assists kept Miller from taking him off the floor. The freshman played 23 minutes, which allowed for Durham to spell Phinisee in 21 minutes, and Green played just 14 minutes on 1-for-6 shooting with four assists.
For a team that Miller said, after losing at Maryland, is working its way through its own changes, this seems to be, at least in the short-term, a tactic that can give Indiana some solid ground to stand on as it welcomes in No. 11 Michigan State and No. 17 Maryland in the next week.
Though what doesn’t change is that from game to game, Indiana doesn’t know which guards it’s getting out of its quartet, which man will play next to Phinisee at the two spot or whether it can put this much weight on a wounded Phinisee’s shoulders in the long-term.
The games following Northwestern have not necessarily answered those season-long questions for Miller and the Hoosiers, but there is a sense that pieces are beginning to be put together in an effort to maximize the backcourt.
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