Thoughts on a 77-64 loss to the Spartans:
With another shot at a Quad 1 win, one it desperately needed to stay afloat in the NCAA tournament conversation, Indiana never seriously threatened against Michigan State. It never led. The few times Indiana started picking up momentum in the second half, Michigan State answered right away. The Spartans, quite simply, controlled this one throughout.
Sure, the Hoosiers brought the right effort. IU dove on the floor for loose balls. Tucker DeVries stepped it up on defense, blocking a shot, picking up a steal and getting deflections in the first half. Indiana also did a serviceable job on the offensive boards, rebounding 29 percent of them over the first 20 minutes and scoring five second-chance points to Michigan State’s 0. For the game, the Spartans outscored Indiana 12-8 on second-chance points, but the Hoosiers outscored Michigan State 14-10 on points off turnovers.
“Our fight was great,” Darian DeVries said post-game. “Especially in the second half, guys were really battling, competing… they were leaving it all out there.”
Fight is one thing. Production is another. And while the Hoosiers hung in okay on the little stuff, the big stuff faltered. Let’s start with the defense, which continues to be a problem for this team down the stretch in Big Ten play. As Michigan State made shot after shot in the first half, Indiana actually went to a zone, a move the Hoosiers have rarely done this season, one seeming to signal they were willing to try anything to try and stop the onslaught.
Kur Teng was particularly back-breaking off both defensive strategies, as he hit 4-of-5 from deep in the first half. Indiana also had problems stopping Jaxon Kohler down low (4-of-6 on 2s) and from 3-point range (2-of-4) over the first 20 minutes. By the time the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Hoosiers allowed Michigan State to score 1.4 points per possession and shoot 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from 3-point range. The Spartans also posted an effective field goal percentage of 73. The Spartans went cold down the stretch in the second half, but still finished at 1.28 points per possession for the game.
The Hoosiers, on the other hand, made just 6-of-20 from 3-point range (30 percent) in the first half and 10-of-35 (28.6 percent) for the game. And it was yet another contest in which Lamar Wilkerson had to carry a heavy offensive load. The Sam Houston State transfer led all scorers with 29 points. He scored 19 of those in the second half, going on one of his heaters, hitting shots on drives to the basket and from deep. He made 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-7 from deep, in the second half.
But aside from Wilkerson, Indiana couldn’t generate much offense. Other than Sam Alexis, who made one free throw for Indiana’s first points of the second half, DeVries (seven points) was the only other Hoosier to score in the final 20 minutes of action. The Hoosiers were basically invisible from the point-guard position: Conor Enright shot 1-of-7 for the game and scored three points in 27 minutes of action. Tayton Conerway played just seven minutes and didn’t score.
The bench wasn’t any help either. Jasai Miles played 18 minutes and didn’t take a shot or score a point. Reed Bailey took one shot in eight minutes and missed. He also finished with no points. The Hoosiers didn’t register a bench point in this one.
Now on a four-game losing streak, the path to the NCAA tournament continues to narrow for the Hoosiers. Can they make it interesting with a run to close out the regular season? Can they make some noise in the Big Ten tournament?
Anything’s possible. But it’s getting harder to see this team turning it around.
See More: The Minute After, Michigan State Spartans