The Minute After: Nebraska
Thoughts on a 93-66 loss to the Cornhuskers:
That escalated quickly.
In the final 2:58 of the first half, Nebraska ripped this off: Three Keisei Tominaga 3-pointers, a Jamarques Lawrence 3-pointer, a Juwan Gary 3-pointer and two free throws from Gary as well. That’s 17 points. Indiana’s response? Zero.
Nebraska’s six-point lead became 23 and that was pretty much all she wrote for this game. Indiana did hold a 17-16 lead at the 10:46 mark, but was outscored 34-10 the rest of the half.
That late barrage from the Cornhuskers aided them to an insane 12-of-20 (60 percent) mark from deep in the first half alone. They also pumped in 1.45 points per possession over the first 20 minutes of action.
On defense, Fred Hoiberg’s squad pitched a near-perfect game against Indiana. They overloaded the paint and completely took Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau out of it. There were bodies everywhere down low and Indiana had no answers. The Hoosiers missed 14 of their last 15 shots to close the first half. They last made a field goal at the 6:17 mark and then spent the first 3:30 of the second half without one until a Reneau score. That’s 9:47 of game clock without a bucket.
Against a Nebraska team that can really fill it up, that’s just not going to get it done.
The Hoosiers kept pace for a bit in the second half, but it felt like the last several minutes of this game were garbage time, neither team particularly locked in. Mike Woodson got a technical arguing a non-foul call on a CJ Gunn shot. He picked up another technical late in the half and was ejected from the contest.
Despite the five-game win streak, this one was a stark reminder of Indiana’s deficiencies this season. Teams that prioritized 3-point shooting, ones that were quick and decisive in their screens, cutting and movement, gave them trouble. So, too, did elite squads outside of the Kansas game. This was Indiana’s fifth loss by 20 points or more this season. The Hoosiers lost another four games by 12 or more. That’s nine of their 14 losses this season being lopsided.
Of course, it’s hard to recover from double-digit deficits when you’re a team shooting 3-pointers at one of the lowest clips in the country. As it stands tonight, out of the 362 Division I teams, only 10 have a lower 3-point shooting volume than the Hoosiers. And it’s also hard to keep up when one of your biggest advantages on offense — getting to the foul line — is negated by poor free-throw shooting. The Hoosiers made 65.7 percent of their free throws this season, which ranks 344th in the country.
The list could go on here: Indiana’s strength in the paint with Reneau and Ware meant less spacing on offense. And while Trey Galloway really came into his own as a creator off the perimeter, Indiana’s guard play just wasn’t good enough this season.
An elite defense could have perhaps made up for some of this. But the Hoosiers rank 72nd in the department on KenPom.
It looks like Indiana’s coaching staff is going to just jump in and immediately try and address all this. According to Jeff Rabjohns, the Hoosiers aren’t planning to play in the NIT and will focus on recruiting.
With no current 2024 high school recruits on the way, the portal looms large. Can Indiana find shooting? Can it find athletic, play-making guards and wings? And will the Hoosiers be able to retain key pieces along the way?
Lots of questions out there for this program right now. We’ll see if they have answers.
Filed to: Nebraska Cornhuskers