Big Ten Basketball: Indiana holds off Iowa to win outright Big Ten title
Yogi Ferrell and Indiana held off a late Iowa rally to win an epic Big Ten basketball shootout.
Back in early December, Indiana seemed dead in the water after an embarrassing defensive performance against the Duke Blue Devils at the Cameron Indoor Center. The Hoosiers had already lost to Wake Forest and UNLV at the Maui Invitational and the lack of effort against the defending National Champs topped off an unexpected first two months of the season.
Fast forward to March and No. 12 Indiana clinched the outright Big Ten title with a monster road win over No. 16 Iowa, 81-78, on Tuesday night. The Hoosiers held off an impressive 14-point Hawkeye rally in the second half and have now won the regular season conference title two out of the last four years.
So much for Tom Crean being fired..
The Hoosiers were lethal offensively as they shot 51 percent over from the field and 50 percent from downtown while they also made more plays down the stretch than a veteran Hawkeye roster.
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Indiana is hitting their stride at the right time while the Hawkeyes, who have lost five out of their last six and four straight, are headed backwards before the Big Dance.
Three ball love/defense put Hoosiers over the top
Indiana doesn’t rely solely on the three-ball (they are excellent in transition, selfless with the basketball and solid in post-up situations), but when they are knocking down shots from the perimeter like Tuesday night they are awfully tough to beat.
As a team, the Hoosiers shot 11-of-22 from downtown (50 percent), including a dagger step back trey from senior point guard Yogi Ferrell and one three from Troy Williams, who only shoots 33 percent from beyond the arc.
The raining threes are important but what really puts the Hoosiers over the top is their improved defense.
The intensity is finally evident on that end of the floor, the tenacity is there and the bench is involved, getting hyped after every big steal or block. Crean deserves a ton of credit for getting these guys to buy in and completely change their attitude defensively.
That’s one of the reasons this Hoosiers team has the potential to do major damage in the Big Dance.
Who doesn’t love some Yogi?
Ferrell has clearly been Indiana’s best player all season as he averages 17.0 points, 5.5 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game while giving Crean an extension of himself on the floor. The 6’1″ senior point guard scored 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting and hit a number of clutch shots to help Indiana prevail in Iowa City.
The Indianapolis native is dangerous in transition, is a solid passer and can beat any defender off the bounce with his knack for penetrating in the lane. He stays low to the ground, remains poised and is surely one of the top 10 lead guards (you could also argue top five) in the country.
What wins in March? Good guard play and for Indiana to win on the road in a hostile environment without James Blackmon Jr. (done for the year), Robert Johnson (ankle injury) and Collin Hartman (fouled out), shows how talented Ferrell is.
Iowa has major issues
While losing at home to one of the better teams in the Big Ten isn’t a major concern, the Hawkeyes haven’t played well over the past few weeks. They don’t have great depth, National Player of the Year candidate Jarrod Uthoff has struggling with his efficiency and Peter Jok seems to be forcing shots.
The Hawkeyes made an excellent comeback in the second half thanks to great defense and some mental lapses from Indiana, but they failed to make enough plays in crunch time.
After a Christian Williams steal with six seconds left, Iowa had a chance to tie the game at 81. Fran McCaffery drew up a terrific play and Anthony Clemmons air balled. Adam Woodbury did pull down the rebound, calling timeout in the process, but the Hawkeyes followed it up with another miss on a wide open look from the corner from Jok.
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Over the years, Iowa has had major issues in big game and at critical points in the season, they seem to collapse. This year is no different and they are suddenly free falling into the Big Dance.