Indiana basketball has lost three straight, including two straight Big Ten home games.
Three losses in a row. That’s how Indiana finished 2016 and rode into 2017. Is it panic time yet in Bloomington? Die-hard Hoosier fans will scream from the limestone rooftops, “Hell yes!”
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Meanwhile, many other Indiana fans are secretly whispering to themselves, “This happened last year and we won the Big Ten outright, there’s no need to panic.” Except what happened last year isn’t exactly the same thing that this year’s team is experiencing.
Here is what is different: Last year’s team experienced their skid between November 23rd and December 2nd. They suffered losses to Wake Forest, UNLV, and a 94-74 loss at Duke. After starting the year ranked 15th, they found themselves at 5-3 and unranked.That team then went on to win 12 straight games and the Big Ten championship outright.
This year’s team is different. They seemed to have peaked early this season. They won early in the year over Kansas and found themselves ranked 3rd, even receiving a few first-place votes in the AP Poll. They then experienced a disappointing loss to Fort Wayne, but bounced back miraculously with a win over then undefeated North Carolina.
During last year’s skid IU lost three games and none of them were at home. What makes this year worse (and substantially different) is that all five losses this season came in the state of Indiana, with two of them coming at home. To put that into perspective, IU didn’t drop a home game all of last year.
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It’s disappointing to say the least, so what is wrong with the Hoosiers?
First and foremost, the quick answer to this question is turnovers. IU committed a whopping 19 against Nebraska. Against Louisville, who is arguably the best defensive team in the country, the Hoosiers committed 14 turnovers, with 11 coming in the first half. On Tuesday, against Wisconsin, IU committed 13 turnovers and started the game with four turnovers in fewer than 4 minutes.
The second answer to the question of what is wrong with the Hoosiers is surprisingly three-point shooting. Indiana did shoot well against Nebraska 11-of-25 (44.0 percent), but came out with very subpar performances against Louisville 4-of-21 (19.0 percent) and Wisconsin 5-of-15 (33.3 percent).
What else is wrong with the Hoosiers? To put it in short, a few key players just aren’t playing well at all.
IU seems to be missing a go-to scorer like what Yogi Ferrell provided last year. Where is the James Blackmon Jr. that showed glimpses of impossible-to-stop scoring? Where is the guy who hit big shot after big shot to help Indiana win over Kansas?
In IU’s three straight losses, Blackmon just hasn’t come to play. Against Nebraska he scored 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting in 30 minutes. Versus Louisville, Blackmon shot 3-of-8 from the field, scoring 10 points in 28 minutes of action. Against Wisconsin, he scored 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting in 26 minutes. He just isn’t performing like we know he can, and the Hoosiers are struggling because of it.
OG Anunoby needs to limit his turnovers (five against Nebraska and four against Wisconsin), as well as shoot the ball more. Why is Indiana’s seemingly most efficient player only shooting the ball four times against Wisconsin? He didn’t miss a shot, which is great, but he shot the ball as many times as he turned it over, which seems suboptimal.
Anunoby also needs to start consistently on this Hoosiers team. Tom Crean, if you are going to tweak the lineup this much once Big Ten play gets started (which already seems like a horrible time to wonder what lineups are best to use together) tweak Thomas Bryant and De’Ron Davis, not Anunoby.
Speaking of Bryant, where has he gone? He’s currently performing poorly on defense, while seemingly getting outplayed by his freshman counterpart, Davis. It honestly seems as though Davis should start over Bryant given how the two have played as of late.
In IU’s last two games, Bryant has played 47 minutes, scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Davis has put up 20 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes of action during that same two game span.
One of the bigger reasons why IU hasn’t played well, and what may go unnoticed, is the play of Robert Johnson. Johnson is arguably the most consistent and steady player for the Hoosiers, and lately he just hasn’t been getting it done. After shooting 1-of-13 against Louisville, Johnson shot 4-of-9 against Wisconsin, missing his first five shots. You aren’t going to get much from a guard who is shooting 1-of-18 from the floor.
Is it time to panic in Bloomington? The Hoosiers have Illinois coming into town Saturday and a loss seems more and more likely at this point. Starting 0-3 in the Big Ten, and matching last year’s total conference losses three games into the conference slate would be a sure fire way to see more and more Indiana faithful turn on this team.
Right now, Indiana is playing uninspired, poor basketball. However, the season is long and maybe in February we will all look back and laugh at how much we worried about this team.
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But this is January. IU is 10-5 and will be unranked in next week’s polls. Right now, this team isn’t playing anything like anyone thought they could be. Right now, this is not Indiana basketball.