In IU's 94-74 loss Wednesday night at Duke, the problems were clear. The Hoosiers had trouble keeping the Blue Devils out of the lane and off the offensive glass.
Those problems are still present and the Hoosiers are trying to correct them as best they can.
But come Saturday night, IU (5-3) faces Morehead State (5-1), a team featuring an offense that IU Coach Tom Crean calls a dribble drive on steroids and that ranks 17th in the country in offensive rebounding.
“We’re going to really have to be on guard," Crean said. "They attack and they have guys that can shoot. We’re going to have to do a great job of keeping the dribble in front of us and having great communication.”
For the Hoosiers, part of the problem with keeping the Blue Devils out of the lane came from pure defending. IU’s guards had trouble staying in front of Duke’s guards, and when they could, oftentimes they were called for a foul.
Another part of the problem was IU’s presence around the rim, Crean said, or lack thereof. IU has a 6-foot-10 center in Thomas Bryant, but he is still a freshman learning defensive schemes. As a result, he’s not as effective as he could be protecting the rim once IU’s guards are beaten off the dribble.
“It’s going to take a little bit for us to get better at protecting the rim shot blocking wise,” Crean said. “Obviously we’re not as experienced there yet. Other than that we just have to improve everything and we’re focused on that and every practice is focused on that.”
Crean also used multiple defensive schemes Wednesday night, sometimes on the same possession. But he said the solution to IU’s problems aren’t simplification. The solution is just being better.
Even if the Hoosiers do force a miss though, it’s then a struggle to rebound. IU gave up 19 offensive rebounds Wednesday and will face a team Monday that averages 15.7 offensive rebounds a game.
An unfortunate result of all this is the best part of IU’s team, its offense, suffers. Because the Hoosiers have trouble keeping opponents from scoring, they aren’t able to press the ball up the floor as easily. For a team with as many shooters as the Hoosiers, this means less opportunity for them to get open.
So the Hoosiers need to be aggressive Saturday against the Eagles. They need to press the ball defensively to keep the Eagles out of the lane and crash the glass to prevent offensive rebounds. This will be a challenge, Crean said, and is not as easy as simply telling his team so.
Especially because too much aggressiveness might actually allow Morehead State into the lane if IU overcommits, or it might leave a shooter open in the corner. But aggressiveness could also cause a problem IU has found a solution for to return – turnovers.
“We’ve got to be very aggressive,” Crean said. “We have to have an aggressive mindset without being reckless and without being careless. But we have to have an aggressive mindset.”
