Indiana men’s basketball fell 86-72 to then-No. 3 Michigan on Jan. 20 to mark its fourth consecutive defeat. Following the loss, head coach Darian DeVries noted the season is long, and “you’re going to have a stretch or two sometimes like this.”
Forty days later, the Cream and Crimson have déjà vu.
No. 13 Michigan State prevailed 77-64 over DeVries’ squad Sunday at home, handing the Hoosiers their fourth consecutive defeat for the second time this season.
The last time the Cream and Crimson found themselves on a four-game losing skid, 12 games remained on their regular-season schedule. This time around, the Hoosiers have just two games left before the Big Ten Tournament begins March 10.
Over the course of Indiana’s first losing streak, half of the games were competitive. The Hoosiers held a 16-point lead over then-undefeated Nebraska on Jan. 10 and were tied with Michigan State with under 12 minutes to play in their first matchup of the season Jan. 13.
Amid the current skid, just one game was within reach, a 72-68 loss to Northwestern on Feb. 24.
In two of Indiana’s last three games, it hasn’t held a lead. The Hoosiers have shot below 40% from 3-point range in all four losses and have allowed opponents to shoot over 50% across the losing streak.
“I don't know. We're just not playing our best basketball as a group,” fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson said postgame Sunday. “There's a lot of things we have to fix. We've played some good teams, other than the one we choked on last week. I don't know.”
The Cream and Crimson trailed for over 39 minutes of their clash with the Spartans, who shot 49% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. Michigan State drained 12 3-pointers, its second most in a Big Ten contest.
Wilkerson exploded for 19 second-half points, but it did little to quell the Spartans’ attack and cut into the lead. Each time the Hoosiers started to gain momentum, Michigan State came up with a response.
“We got it to right there, a two-possession game, get a stop, get the ball, get in transition, get the crowd into it, and it seemed like they just came up with all the loose balls, all the big plays in those situations,” DeVries said.
Spartan sophomore guard Kur Teng proved effective in quashing the Hoosiers’ spurts. Teng shot 6 for 8 from beyond the arc, including drilling two second-half 3-pointers immediately after Wilkerson made it a two-possession game.
Another issue that plagued the Cream and Crimson was their inability to finish defensive possessions with a rebound. In their first matchup with Michigan State, the Hoosiers were outrebounded 37-19. In Sunday’s contest the Spartans grabbed nine offensive rebounds in just the second half, which DeVries said were “killers.”
Indiana paired its poor rebounding with a poor shooting effort. The Hoosiers shot under 40% from the field for the first time since falling to Iowa on Jan. 17, the third game of its previous four-game losing streak.
In the aftermath of the first streak, Indiana turned its season around and earned its only Quadrant 1 victories of the season shortly after.
“We had a tough four-game stretch in the middle of it and bounced back and played some of our best basketball right after that,” DeVries said.
With just two games remaining and dwindling NCAA Tournament hopes, the Hoosiers require another quick turnaround if they want to keep their season alive beyond the Big Ten Tournament.
Entering Sunday’s game, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected Indiana as one of the final four teams in the NCAA Tournament field. Ohio State was in the first four out. But prior to the Cream and Crimson’s defeat, the Buckeyes picked up a win over No. 8 Purdue, further complicating Indiana’s fate.
“Everybody asks me, ‘Are they good enough to be in the tournament?’” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “Read my lips: hell yes.”
If the Hoosiers want to earn a spot, they’ll likely need to take down Ohio State on the road in their final contest of the season March 7. But first, Indiana will host a rematch with Minnesota on Wednesday, the team that handed the Hoosiers their first loss of the season.
“We've said we're going to go down swinging,” redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries said. “If we go down swinging and it's not enough, then there's nothing we can do about that now. As long as we really stick together and give it our all these last few games and hopefully give ourselves a chance to be playing in that tournament.”
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.
