Indiana wrapped up its non-conference schedule on Friday night time with a 69-55 win towards Kennesaw State at Meeting Corridor.
Listed here are 5 takeaways from Indiana’s win:
One other sluggish begin causes Indiana to play from behind
It’s develop into a commonality to say that Indiana begins video games slowly. For many of the first half on Friday, the Hoosiers had been down. It was only a lackadaisical displaying.
The Hoosiers allowed Kennesaw State’s first 5 baskets to be 3s; from then, Indiana needed to crawl again into the sport. The competition was tied at halftime and Indiana didn’t take management of the sport until below the eight-minute mark within the second half.
Gradual begins have plagued Indiana not too long ago, notably for the reason that Large Ten opener towards Rutgers. At Arizona, IU was down 19 within the first half. Towards Kansas, IU fell behind double figures within the first six minutes. Even earlier this week towards a nasty Elon workforce, Indiana took the primary 10 minutes to get comfy.
Possibly on Friday it was the negative-degree climate or the actual fact it’s two days earlier than Christmas. Regardless of the cause, it was an unmoving and uninspired begin. The 13-day break till Indiana formally begins Large Ten play at Iowa appears to be a lot wanted.
“I believed they performed tougher (within the second half) than we did the primary half,” Mike Woodson mentioned postgame.
Tamar Bates pushes to be an offensive point of interest
With Xavier Johnson and Trayce Jackson-Davis out towards the Owls, the query of the place the offense would come from arose. Tamar Bates answered.
The sophomore led Indiana in scoring with 19 factors on an environment friendly 7-of-12 capturing. Bates made three 3-pointers on Friday. On the season, the Kansas Metropolis native is capturing 52 p.c from the sector and a scorching 42 p.c from deep.
It was clear that Bates was essentially the most proficient on the ground towards Kennesaw State. And Indiana wanted him to be. With out Johnson and Jackson-Davis there aren’t many guys on the Hoosiers roster who can single-handedly create offense. Bates can do this. He can rating on all three ranges and is changing into a vocal chief, calling teammates into huddles and being the primary to cheer them on.
“Tamar is beginning to determine it out…his minutes now are going to extend, as a result of we’re gonna want him to step up and play and make performs for us,” Woodson mentioned.
Over the past 5 video games, Bates is averaging 25.2 minutes per contest. And now with Johnson out indefinitely, Bates might want to develop into a creator for an in any other case stagnant Hoosiers offense.
Indiana’s offense has no course with out Jackson-Davis and Johnson
At occasions, particularly within the first half, it was nearly as if the Hoosiers’ sneakers had been glued to the courtroom. Minimal motion and tempo pressured Indiana’s offense to develop into one-dimensional. Steady dump-downs into the publish led to double groups, turnovers and restricted second-chance factors. This time it was apparent that Indiana didn’t have the crutch of TJD and Johnson to lean on.
It wasn’t till the second half when Indiana went small, that issues began to movement. Transferring Thompson to the 5 and having him play on the perimeter allowed the paint to be open and unclogged. Lastly, guards like Jalen Hood-Schifino may drive to the paint with out worrying about assist protection.
It additionally helped that Indiana shot 7-of-18 (39 p.c) from past the arc towards the Owls.
The kind of offense with or with out Jackson-Davis could be what the Hoosiers flip to if the swarming post-double groups hold coming at their massive males.
An aggressive Jalen Hood-Schifino means comfy guard play
Equally, as he did in his first sport beginning at level guard towards Elon, Jalen Hood-Schifino seemed comfy main Indiana’s offense.
When Johnson received injured, all eyes turned to the true freshman to steer IU’s backcourt. He’s responded. For the second consecutive sport, the Montverde product put up a career-high in factors and shot the ball at a excessive clip. Towards the Owls, he scored 18 on 6-of-8 capturing and tallied three assists and three turnovers.
Whereas the turnovers want work, it’s additionally of observe that Hood-Schifino received to the road for six makes an attempt. Earlier on within the season, we’d see the purpose guard go for pull-up jumpers in transition or off decide and rolls. However towards Kennesaw State, Hood-Schifino was attending to the rack and it drew consideration.
There’s no query that his play within the Large Ten might be essential for Indiana’s success. However for now, he must hold doing the little issues effectively and his teammates will observe. Get to the foul line, feed the rock, open the ground and rise up and down in transition.
Non-conference play is over, now the true season begins
This yr’s non-conference slate examined Indiana. This group is banged up, however a 10-3 document with wins over North Carolina and Xavier heading into January is a strong displaying total.
The issue, nevertheless, is the way in which it’s occurred. The losses to Arizona and Kansas had been purported to be hard-fought and shut video games, and so they weren’t. They had been video games the place Indiana didn’t present up.
However one of the best half about these video games for the Hoosiers is that they had been examined. They know what is going to fly and what gained’t towards prime competitors. Woodson’s squad didn’t have that final yr.
Gradual begins and the one-dimensional offense gained’t work as soon as convention play begins. A wholesome Jackson-Davis might be mandatory if Indiana desires to reside as much as the preseason convention favorites hype.
Filed to: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Kennesaw State Owls, Tamar Bates
