It was a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance by IU’s offense — bad in the first half and strong in the second half.
Desperately needing a win to avoid a four-game losing streak, IU’s offense wasn’t good enough to knock off Minnesota, and the Gophers won, 75-74, Wednesday.
Junior guard James Blackmon Jr. nearly saved IU on the road once again, but his 3-point heave careened offline. After struggling in his return from injury Sunday against Michigan, Blackmon had 22 points but struggled from 3-point range, where he was four of 11. However, his scoring kept IU in the game as many of IU’s other offensive weapons struggled.
Late in the game, freshman forward De’Ron Davis was IU’s best offense of the game , and he finished with a plus minus of +11, but he was limited with foul trouble.
It was the poor offensive half by the Hoosiers in the first half that did them in. While IU was able to score 1.125 points per possession in the second half, scoring only 0.725 points per possession in the first half stymied the Hoosiers.
“I felt good at halftime because it was low on both sides,” IU Coach Tom Crean said in his post-game radio interview on WHCC 105.1 FM. “We have to find a way to get baskets. Obviously we’re not getting to the line, whether it’s the post, whether it’s the drive. Creativity has got to strike again on how we’re going to get to the foul line more.”
IU shot only 29.7 percent from the field in the first half.
Minnesota started out the game zero of seven from the field, but IU was only able to muster six points during that stretch when IU’s offense sputtered in the first half against Minnesota.
IU was ice cold from 3-point range. The Hoosiers shot 23 percent from beyond the arc in the half. Blackmon had 12 points on four-of-eight shooting in the first half, and Newkirk had nine points.
Sophomore forward Thomas Bryant and junior guard Rob Johnson both struggled in the half. Each shot zero of four, and the pair combined for three turnovers. Johnson finished the game with zero points, and Bryant finished with eight.
IU finished the half missing eight of its last 10 shots and missed out on an opportunity to keep its 10-point lead into halftime.
In the second half, IU’s offense was significantly better, and the Hoosiers shot 50 percent from the field. The Hoosiers were extremely efficient on easy shots in the second half by making 11 of 19 layups. Most of those came on putbacks, which were one of IU’s best forms of offense in the second half because IU had 15 second-chance points in the half.
“That was huge because they, in the last five games of their run, were outscoring people by eight, and we were being outscored in the points off turnover game,” Crean said. “So those were going to be huge, huge things tonight. They were. They got us by two on the points off turnovers.”
IU dominated on the offensive glass with 20 offensive rebounds against Minnesota, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Hoosiers’ skid.
“These guys are battling,” Crean said. “I’m extremely proud of them.”
