[Postgame 3-2-1] What We Learned From Indiana's loss at Nebraska
We break down three stats, two additional observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 85-68 loss in Lincoln to Nebraska.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. — Indiana basketball took a four-game win streak to Lincoln, Nebraska on Friday night, hoping to advance to 2-0 in conference play.
The Cornhuskers put the Hoosiers on their heels right away, opening the game on a 13-3 run. But Indiana bounced back, taking the lead a few minutes later, and ultimately trailing 44-41 at the break.
The second half was back and forth until Nebraska pulled away in the game’s waning minutes, securing their fourth straight double-digit victory over Mike Woodson and Indiana.
“We had no defensive presence to start the game,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “We just gotta keep working to get it fixed, especially because it’s tough winning on the road in the Big Ten because you have to establish yourself from a defensive standpoint.”
Here are three stats, two additional observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 85-68 loss at Nebraska.
Did you miss yesterday's edition of the postgame show?
3 Meaningful Stats
1. Indiana took 35 threes.
The narrative surrounding Indiana basketball is that the team does not shoot enough threes. Entering the tilt with Nebraska, Indiana was in the top-50 in 3-point percentage but sub-300 in attempts pet game.
That more than flipped on Friday night.
The cream and crimson got off to a rocking 5-of-8 start from beyond the arc in the first ten minutes of the game. Open shots were falling, and it appeared that Indiana was finally getting over the three-point shooting woes.
After the hot open, Indiana made 3 of its subsequent 27 attempts from three, finishing the game an abysmal 22.9% from deep.
The Hoosiers completely abandoned the two-point game, taking five more threes than twos on Friday night.
"I thought it played out that we had good looks, just didn't make them." Woodson said. “You could take 30, 40, 50 threes, but you gotta step up and make them.”
2. Nebraska shot 61% from the field
The three-point shooting wasn’t the only dreadful stat in the loss.
Nebraska scored just 52 points in a 37-point loss to Michigan State last weekend. But last night, the Huskers scored 85 points on 30-of-49 shooting, while making 8-of-14 attempts from deep.
“They made tough shots,” Woodson said. “But we have to be better defensively.”
Brice Williams averaged 18.7 points per game in Nebraska’s three wins against Indiana last season. Williams picked up where he left off, scoring 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting.
"Getting downhill, getting to the free throw line. He made a couple of tough shots,” Woodson said. “Once he got going, he's tough to shut down."
Indiana’s defensive effort was far from perfect, but Nebraska was getting tough shots to fall. The combination of careless defense and tough shots falling almost always ends in a loss, especially on the road.
3. Indiana finished the game 1-for-18
As was seen on Monday against Minnesota, Indiana struggles to finish games strong.
Friday night was no different as the Hoosiers went ice cold late, missing 17 of its final 18 shots of the evening, including a dozen straight misses to end the game.
The moment Indiana stopped scoring is when they went away from Myles Rice. He took a deep three early in the shot clock in a tie game with just over nine minutes left on the clock, and the Hoosiers barely went back to their leading scorer the rest of the night.
From that point, Nebraska finished the game on a 21-4 run to seal the victory.
“Tonight [Nebraska] had it both ways,” “They made shots and we weren’t very good defensively.”
2 Important Observations
1. Myles Rice couldn’t do it on his own
One ill-advised shot cannot take away from what Myles Rice did for his team on Friday night.
Rice led all Hoosiers with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, scoring 14 points in the second half alone. Thirteen of those second-half points came in a three-minute span when Indiana’s point guard went a 13-4 run of his own to tie the game at 62.
“When we were in transition, they were running with their backs turned, it was a chance for us to get easy shots and easy looks at the rim,” Rice said. “I thought before the game that it was right there for me to attack downhill and take advantage of the opportunities they presented us.”
Although Rice was fantastic, one guy can only do so much on his own to win on the road in the Big Ten, and tonight proved that it is impossible to win on the back of one player. No other Hoosier matched the intensity of Rice on Friday night and the result was worthy of the performance.
2. Indiana couldn’t buy a second-chance bucket
As is the case in almost every game it plays this season, Indiana had a size advantage over Nebraska.
With the misses piling up, it allowed Indiana to dominate the offensive glass, hauling in 15 offensive boards. But the problem was what the Hoosiers did — or didn’t do, for that matter — after earning the second chance.
Indiana finished the game with just 10 second-chance points on its 15 offensive rebounds. Shying away from shots in the paint and dishing the ball out for another three wasn’t working, yet Indiana continuously went back to that method.
1 Lingering Question
Why does Indiana continue to struggle in the middle ten minutes?
Coaches nationwide preach the importance of winning the middle ten minutes of the game. The final five minutes of the first half and the first five of the second half make or break games, and Indiana has had its woes during this stretch of play all season. It was no different on Friday
With five minutes left in the first half, Indiana was leading 35-32. The Hoosiers proceeded to go cold to finish the half and trailed at the break. After five minutes went by in the second half, Indiana was trailing 54-49. A minus 8 in the middle ten minutes.
Much like finishing games, it takes mental and physical stamina to finish and start halves. Indiana lacks the ability to finish a half strong and it tends to spill over into the second half.
It will be an amazing revelation when Indiana finally finds a way to finish a first half strong and carry it over into the second half. Perhaps that’s something the Hoosiers can focus on with two sub-150 opponents next up on the schedule before Big Ten play begins for good.