Forget Jack Skellington, Sally or Oogie Boogie. For No. 18 Indiana men’s basketball on Friday night, the real nightmare before Christmas was Kennesaw State University.
What concluded as a 69-55 win for the Hoosiers began as a concerning display of stagnant offense and wavering defense due to another slow start — a theme Indiana has become all too familiar with in December.
Indiana led Kennesaw State 9-6 with just over 14 minutes to play. From that point until the 2:09 mark, the Owls held a durable lead over the lackadaisical Hoosiers — the largest of which yielded a seven-point gap between the two.
Kennesaw State, the No. 211 team in the country according to kenpom.com, came into the matchup as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country. The Owls were shooting nearly 38% as a team, averaging nine makes beyond the arc per game.
Thanks to a scrambled, over-helping defense on Indiana’s end, Kennesaw State was able to capitalize on its strengths and see the majority of its offensive production come from deep early in the game. The Owls made six 3-pointers on 37.5% shooting in the first half.
Indiana entered the half tied with Kennesaw State at 34 points apiece after a small run consisting of back-to-back 3-pointers from junior guard Trey Galloway, but the Owls had put the Hoosiers’ biggest flaws under a sizable microscope during the first half.
With senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis sidelined for precautionary reasons for the second-consecutive game and third time this season, Indiana had trouble down low all game. Freshman forward Malik Reneau had three points, three turnovers and two fouls after eight first-half minutes, and graduate forward Race Thompson was unable to assert himself in the post on offense.
A stronger showing from the Hoosier backcourt on both ends of the floor in the second half proved to be the deciding factor, however.
Indiana jumped out to a five-point lead before the under-16 timeout, as freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and sophomore guard Tamar Bates bore the hot hands.
Hood-Schifino scored five points in less than two minutes, propounding himself as an adequately dominant facilitator in the absence of graduate point guard Xavier Johnson. The Hoosiers’ veteran floor general had foot surgery Wednesday and has been ruled out indefinitely.
Bates, who has shown steady signs of improvement recently, was Indiana’s only consistent bright spot throughout the whole night. He hit three of four consecutive 3-pointers for the Hoosiers — the other coming from graduate guard Miller Kopp — during a stretch in which Hood-Schifino was playing with three fouls.
“Depending on the floor, the game, I always want to try to pick my spots, do what I can to bring us some energy, because we needed that tonight,” Bates said after the game. “It wasn't necessarily a slow start, but it just wasn't too much energy in the group on both ends of the floor. I just tried to find a way where I could bring a spark in. Tonight, I was running the floor and getting on the rim.”
Still, Kennesaw State didn’t go away easily. The Owls made four 3-pointers in the second half, but a defensive showing that was much more stifling than the Hoosiers’ first-half efforts ensured that the long-balls wouldn’t result in any major momentum swings.
It was the complementary guard play of Hood-Schifino and Bates at the one and two positions, who finished with 18 and 19 points, respectively, that changed the trajectory of the Hoosiers’ iffy effort in their final nonconference game. The backcourt combined for 27 points on 75% shooting in the second half to shut down the Owls’ upset bid and propel the Hoosiers to 10-3 on the season.
Strong guard play has been an encouraging — and necessary — trend for Indiana as of recent. It’s nearly impossible to replicate the presence of All-American Jackson-Davis on either end of the floor, so post play has not been up to par over the Hoosiers’ past two games. And with Johnson out for the foreseeable future, players like Hood-Schifino, Bates and Galloway have the responsibility to step up, facilitating the offense and creating mid and long-range shots when the lane is clogged
Fortunately for Indiana, Hood-Schifino has set career-highs in points in five of his last seven games, even after sustaining a back injury that sidelined him against Rutgers, the now-No. 5 University of Arizona and Nebraska. Bates has scored 13 or more points in three of the last five games coming off the bench with 12 made 3-pointers in that span.
But the Hoosiers’ real test remains in front of them: a two-and-a-half-month-long conference campaign against the likes of many other top-25 teams. Next up is a trip to Iowa City, Iowa, to face head coach Fran McCaffery, All-American candidate Kris Murray and the rest of the Iowa Hawkeyes on Jan. 5 after Woodson’s squad gets a nearly two-week break.
