It was their first game in front of fans all season, and the Hoosiers still couldn’t find a way to pull out a win at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis — fewer than 50 miles away from Bloomington.
After leading by as many as 10 points, IU men’s basketball fell to Rutgers 61-50 in its first game in the Big Ten Tournament. This makes six straight losses for the Hoosiers and wipes away any hope they had of getting an NCAA Tournament bid.
“Our performance here this season was inconsistent,” IU head coach Archie Miller said after the game. “We weren't able to capitalize on opportunities all the way through from November to December to January to put ourselves in a comfortable position.”
Sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis led the team with 19 points and helped IU get off to a hot start on offense. Two minutes into the game, junior guard Rob Phinisee threw an alley-oop to sophomore guard Trayce Jackson-Davis for a dunk all of the way from the top of the key.
The Hoosiers led for 18 minutes during the first half, but the Scarlet Knights took their first lead of the game just before halftime, making it 33-32 going into the half.
IU showed a spark with an 8-0 run during the middle of the second half fueled by the fans inside Lucas Oil Stadium. During that run, sophomore guard Armaan Franklin hit a baseline jumper to give them the lead, then Jackson-Davis slammed down a dunk to make it 44-41.
That run was disrupted and Rutgers took back and extended its lead to 55-48 with an 8-0 run. Rutgers guard Paul Mulcahy hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the exact same spot in the right corner.
“I thought they really took advantage of us during that stretch defensively when we didn't execute high on the floor against the ball screen,” Miller said.
Soon after, IU stalled. The Hoosiers went more than seven minutes without scoring a point. Senior guard Al Durham ended that drought with a pair of free throws, making it a 5-point game — but it was too late.
IU missed its last 13 field goals of the game. And the team couldn’t hit free throws late either, shooting just 6-15 from the free-throw line against Rutgers.
“I feel like we had a lot of good shots. I feel like we got layups but we just point-blank missed them,” Jackson-Davis said. “We missed eight free throws down the stretch. If we would’ve made them, we would’ve been up 58-57, so just the inability to put the ball in the basket really just killed us.”
As Rutgers dribbled out the ball while the clock ran out on both the game and IU’s season, boos rained down on the court and fans chanted, “Fire Archie.”
When asked about the chants postgame, Miller said he didn’t hear the fans saying anything. But he said the questions about him returning are not his concern.
“I'm not entering any offseason wondering if I'm going to be back,” Miller said. “Those decisions are made way higher than me. My job is to run the program.”
Jackson-Davis said playing in Indianapolis in front of their own fans gave him that extra spark and made him more amped than usual. But in their first — and possibly last — game of the season in front of a crowd, the Hoosiers couldn’t break their losing streak.
“It's sad that we disappointed them, and that’s just something we have to live with,” Jackson-Davis said.
