[Postgame 3-2-1] What We Learned From Indiana's Third Consecutive Home Loss

Here are three key stats, two observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 85-70 loss to Nebraska.

Despite cutting a 20-point halftime deficit to just three in the second half, Indiana was once again unable to get over the hump … and fell to Nebraska for the second time this season.

“When you give up 51 points in the Big 10 in a half, you're not going to beat anybody,” head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “Yeah, we played great the second half to get back in it to cut it to three, but we had no defensive effort I thought the first half.”

After last night’s game, Indiana, now 14-12 and 6-9 in conference play, dropped to 102nd in KenPom.

For reference, this is the lowest an Indiana team has been rated at this juncture since Crean’s second season in Bloomington.

Yes. That season.

Did you miss yesterday's edition of the postgame show?

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3 Meaningful Stats

1. Indiana shot 4-21 from deep.

It has been a dreadful season from deep for Indiana — but up to this point, there hadn’t been a performance this bad from the Hoosiers.

Fans have been pushing for Indiana to take more 3s. They got their wish last night, but the Hoosiers couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.

Mackenzie Mgbako and CJ Gunn were the only Hoosiers to make a three, each hitting a pair of triples.

But the tandem shot a combined 4-15, and some missed badly.

To further exacerbate the basketball math problem Indiana so consistently faces, Nebraska shot 14-33 from behind the arc — including an impressive nine makes in the first half alone.

Jamarques Lawrence came off the bench for the Cornhuskers and shot a perfect 5-5 from deep en route to a 19-point performance.

“We just weren't up to touch.” Woodson said. “They made some tough threes, but you can't have to halves like that.”

2. Nebraska led for 39 minutes.

Of all the wacky preseason predictions made about this team, being swept by Nebraska was almost certainly not one of them.

It’s not just that Nebraska beat Indiana twice this year— it was the way the Cornhuskers dominated the Hoosiers in both Bloomington and Lincoln.

Indiana got waxed on their home floor again last night.

The Cream and Crimson never had a lead on their home floor. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is one of the very few times that this has happened in Assembly Hall’s now-51-year history.

“Figure the road out when you get out there, but you can't lose games at home,” Woodson said. “We lost more games at home this year than we have in the last two years, and that's kind of frustrating.”

If Indiana took care of business and held serve at home this year, there would still be talks of NCAA Tournament chances.

Being dominated at home by the likes of Penn State, Northwestern, and Nebraska is unacceptable.

“You have to win at home in the Big 10. I said that when I first walked through this door. It's always been that way. “

3. Trey Galloway had a career-high six turnovers.

It is easy to look at this statistic and claim that Galloway had a poor night.

While it may be true on the offensive end, Galloway had one of the toughest assignments in the country: follow Keisei Tominaga around the perimeter for most of the night (once Gabe Cupps proved unable to slow him down).

Trey wasn’t perfect, but he worked his tail off for 39 minutes last night and deserves credit for holding Tominaga to just two points in the second half, which helped spark Indiana’s short-lived comeback.

Indiana shortened the rotation to seven last night with Payton Sparks and Anthony Walker not seeing the floor.

“We have to really stick together,” Galloway said of the smaller rotation postgame. “We got five games left, so going to need those guys.”

Wearing down Galloway the next five games may not be the smartest option for Indiana, but at this point, there really isn’t any other option until Xavier Johnson returns.

Now let’s talk more about Nebraska’s scoring and emotional leader, this team’s troubling esprit-de-corps, a lingering macro question about the overall state of the program. (It doesn’t seem good.)