Wednesday's overtime loss to Michigan left a bitter taste in even the mildest of Hoosier fans' mouths.
Imagine how Tom Crean felt.
"It's an unbelievably tough pill to swallow right now," Crean said as he swished the words around his mouth. "(The players) got to learn real quick that you just got to turn right back around ... Learn from the film. See what it looks like when you're doing well. See what it looks like when you're not doing well."
One area of focus Crean has emphasized throughout the season, and will likely be examined thoroughly before Saturday's game against Illinois, is shot selection. The offense Crean likes to run centers around his players' ability to drive-and-kick the ball out for open shots. He's said repeatedly he wants his team to share the ball and take good shots, something he admitted his team's hasn't always done.
But shot selection is a difficult thing to teach, and Crean has said there is a fine line to take into consideration. With his team facing unprecedented circumstances and having little room for error, shot selection has come to the forefront of Crean's coaching focus.
Prior to the season, Crean joked if you saw a player being yanked from the game it was likely because of a bad shot.
But Crean was not in a joking mood following his team's 72-66 loss to the Wolverines, the team's fifth loss in a row, their longest losing streak since 2004. The first-year coach reiterated his team needed to improve.
Although the Hoosiers' official stats crew does not chart shot selection, the Indiana Daily Student took it upon itself to chart each of IU's field goal attempts versus Michigan and do some statistical analysis.
| Zones | Floor location | Location FG % | Total points % | Points per shot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 + 5 | Corner 3's | 0% (0-2) | 0% | 0.0 |
| 2 + 4 | Wing 3's | 37.5% (6-16) | 27.3% | 1.125 |
| 3 | Straight-up 3's | 33.3% (1-3) | 4.6% | 1.0 |
| 6 + 10 | Baseline 2's | 54.5% (6-11) | 18.2% | 1.09 |
| 7 + 9 | Wing 2's | 0% (0-4) | 0% | 0 |
| 8 | Straight-up 2's | 33.3% (1-3) | 3.0% | 0.67 |
| 11 | High paint | 33.3% (2-6) | 6.0% | 0.67 |
| 12 | Low paint | 55.5% (10-18) | 30.3% | 1.11 |
| Totals | All | 41.3% (26-63) | 89.4% | 0.937 |
Breaking down the court into 12 zones, the goal was to find out where the Hoosiers most efficient shots came from. According to research done by 82games.com, a Web site dedicated to charting NBA statistics, the most efficient shot a player can take from the floor is a three-pointer from the corner.
While the same might be true of the Hoosiers over the entire season, IU's most economical shot Wednesday came when a three-pointer was attempted from one of the wings. The Hoosiers shot 41.3 percent from the field against Michigan and only 33.3 percent from the three-point line. But in terms of points per shot, the Hoosiers registered the most points (1.125 pps) when shooting from Zone 2 and 4.
Other than Wing 3's, the team's most efficient shots came from two-point attempts in the low paint (1.11 pps) and baseline two-pointers (1.09 pps).
The majority of the Hoosiers scoring Wednesday came from the low paint (30.3 percent), but it was not far ahead of Wing 3's (27.3 percent). IU shot only two more attempts from Zone 12 as it did Zones 2 and 4 combined. And while a shot near the basket is often referred to as a "high percentage shot," the chart shows the Hoosiers most efficient and economical shots Wednesday came from three-pointers attempted on the wings.
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | TOTAL |
| Matt Roth | 2-3 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 3-8 | |||||||
| Verdell Jones | 0-3 | 0-1 | 3-6 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 2-4 | 6-16 | ||||||
| Devan Dumes | 1-3 | 1-1 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 2-4 | 6-15 | |||||
| Tom Pritchard | 1-2 | 0-1 | 2-4 | 3-7 | |||||||||
| Nick Williams | 1-2 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 6-12 | ||||||
| Daniel Moore | 0-0 | ||||||||||||
| Kyle Taber | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1-3 | ||||||||||
| Malik Story | 0-1 | 1-1 | 1-2 | ||||||||||
| TOTAL | 0-0 | 3-9 | 1-3 | 3-7 | 0-2 | 5-10 | 0-2 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2-6 | 10-18 | 26-63 |
While the trends mentioned above are interesting, it is likely they would fluctuate from game-to-game. The Hoosiers failed to hit a single shot from Zones 1, 5, 7 and 9. Zones 7 and 9 can be explained by Michigan's 1-3-1 defense, which limits penetration and mid-range jumpers. IU's 0-2 effort from corner three-pointers is likely nothing more than an anomaly.
- Chart and tables based off of statistical research conducted by 82games.com - Chart designed by Larry Buchanan. - Last week, I charted IU's turnovers versus Lipscomb. Click here.
