With just under two minutes remaining in Indiana men’s basketball’s contest with Illinois, “Hoosier daddy” chants filled the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.
While Indiana fans are typically the ones to shout this chant to taunt the opponent, the phrase was instead directed at the Hoosiers as they faced a 21-point deficit to the Fighting Illini.
Despite staying within single digits in the first half, the Hoosiers were unable to keep up with Illinois down the stretch, ultimately suffering a 71-51 defeat Sunday afternoon.
After losing four straight games in January, the Hoosiers began to turn things around by picking up quality conference wins. Including Sunday, Indiana has won five of its last seven contests and added multiple Quadrant 1 victories to its tournament resume.
While no team desires a 20-point loss, the defeat shouldn’t take away from the momentum the Hoosiers have been building. Sure, a victory would have boosted the Hoosiers’ tournament resume, but a loss to a top-10 opponent on the road didn’t hurt it.
Throughout the first half, the Hoosiers found quality shots and took care of the ball. Indiana went 46% from the field, knocked down four 3-pointers and committed just two turnovers.
Even with Indiana’s good offensive flow, Illinois’ size and physicality began to surface as an issue for the Cream and Crimson. In the first half alone, the Hoosiers were outrebounded by six and gave up seven offensive boards. Illinois accumulated 20 points in the paint, compared to Indiana’s 14.
And as the game progressed, physicality continued to be an issue for the Hoosiers.
“Illinois is one of the best rebounding teams in the country, and for good reason,” head coach Darian DeVries said postgame. “They got great size, they go with some physicality, they go with effort. If we were going to stay with them, we were going to have to limit that. I thought as the game wore on, they wore into us a little bit and those opportunities became too many.”
And while the rebounding discrepancies were clear in both halves, tthe Hoosiers seemed to lose their shooting touch in the second.
“I actually thought we had some really good possessions,” DeVries said. “Got some pretty clean looks by guys we want taking them and we didn't make them.”
The Hoosiers only scored 20 second-half points on 7-of-21 shooting from the field and 2 of 11 from beyond the arc. Only three Hoosiers scored double figures in the contest. Fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson led Indiana with 21 points but was just 2 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Junior guard Nick Dorn, who has emerged as a lethal scorer as of late, was held to just one point and missed all four of his 3-point attempts.
“Nick's a great shooter,” DeVries said. “He's 0 for 4. We'd love to see those get knocked down, and he will. He'll come back.”
Yes, the Hoosiers' elite shot makers weren’t able to hit all their attempts against the Fighting Illini, and the rebounding issues resurfaced. But these struggles aren’t ones that should cause concern moving forward.
The Hoosiers hold a roster with a plethora of offensive weapons that can get hot at any point. Indiana averages 10 made 3-pointers per game and has three players in the top 15 of the conference in 3-pointers made per game.
All great shooters inevitably hit a shooting slump at some point. Yet, all great shooters work their way back into a groove.
And while Indiana has struggled with rebounding at times throughout the season, the Hoosiers have shown growth and that they have the ability to fight through adversity to win critical games.
Despite being outrebounded by five against then-No. 12 Purdue on Jan. 27, the Hoosiers still found a way to secure the 72-67 victory. And again on Jan. 31, Indiana was outrebounded 46-40 against UCLA on the road, but still found a way to earn a 98-97 double overtime victory.
Indiana still has multiple opportunities to prove themselves in said critical games and continue adding to its NCAA Tournament resume.
In its next three games, Indiana will face two top-15 opponents in No. 13 Purdue and No. 10 Michigan State. If the Hoosiers can continue winning the games they are supposed to win and put up a fight against the rest of its quality opponents, they will make a solid case to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
