It is far too easy to drive on Indiana, score on Indiana and take games away from Indiana

[ad_1]

Mike Woodson gently corrected a reporter postgame, when asked about the run that ultimately buried his team in defeat in its first true road game of the season Friday night.

The question referenced a roughly 6 ½ minute stretch to close the second half of Nebraska’s 85-68 win, a run which saw the Cornhuskers outscore Indiana 17-1 straight to the final horn. What, the question posed, broke down late?

Woodson rewound to the beginning.

“It didn’t just start late,” IU’s fourth-year coach said. “We had no defensive presence to start the game. That’s something we’ve got to keep working on, to get it fixed.”

IU-Nebraska player ratings: Myles Rice needed more help in loss to Huskers

More: IU goes ice cold from behind the arc, can’t keep up with Nebraska

Indiana fans could be forgiven their impatience at this point.

Friday night marked the Hoosiers’ third loss of the season. They’re 8-3 now, 1-1 in Big Ten play and seemingly no closer to solving the core problems between them and what remains a considerable ceiling for a talented roster.

Some of IU’s issues are interchangeable — on various nights, they’ve struggled with turnovers, 3-point shooting, defensive rebounding and other things.

The one constant, the thread sewing together those three defeats (by a combined 61 points), has been defensive inadequacy.

Woodson proclaimed after the worst of the aforementioned losses, a 28-point rout at the hands of what’s turning out to be a pedestrian Louisville team, that he thought he’d dialed his team’s defense in. He said that afternoon in The Bahamas he brought the Hoosiers to the island believing they were where he wanted them at that end of the floor, and Louisville tore them apart.

The next day, Gonzaga eased past them on the back of 57 first-half points. Friday night, Nebraska (7-2, 1-1) did much the same while shooting more than 61% from the field, and nearly 63% on 2s alone.

It was the first time the Cornhuskers have broken 60% in conference play since 2015,…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/far-too-easy-drive-indiana-121224542.html

Author : Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-12-14 12:12:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.