Column: Where do we go from here?

Verdell Jones III swiftly cocked his head to the right as the sound of a large, metal sheet event door opened, drowning out the sound of his sedated voice.

The garage-like door arose to reveal a slick white bus with a chrome Badger on the front and the word “Indiana” illuminated in the upper left corner of the windshield.

After providing justifiably somber answers to the press, Jones walked onto that bus where he and the rest of the Hoosiers would, for the fourth time in five games, have time to think about what went wrong.

After all, IU shot 45.7 percent from the field compared to Wisconsin’s 39.6 and were even with the Badgers in rebounding at 24 in a 57-50 loss Thursday at the Kohl Center.
The Hoosiers even limited Badgers leading scorer Jordan Taylor to 5-of-14 shooting for 10 points.

But Jones, who scored all of his 12 points in the first half, and the rest of his team couldn’t finish what they started.

“They got a couple key rebounds at the end of the game in crucial times,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “We put ourselves in the position to win, we just couldn’t finish it off.”

The makeup of this team came down to nine minutes and 22 seconds of basketball.
It was at that point in the second half when Wisconsin’s Ben Brust nailed a three-pointer in transition to put the Badgers up 41-39.

For the first time all game, the Kohl Center erupted, and the Hoosiers were faced with more adversity than they had faced all season.

Momentum from a first-half lead, which carried into the second half, had begun to swing the Badgers’ way. Leading scorer Cody Zeller, who was scoreless in the first half, picked up his third foul nearly five minutes earlier, and the shackles from fouls that limited his performance and playing time tightened even more.

First IU was back — I know this because I’ve been seeing it on t-shirts all around Bloomington — but then, after three straight losses, we weren’t sure it was.

Now, after dropping to 1-4 in conference road games, those shirts might be put into the closet and better suited for Hoosier Hysteria
next season.

For IU to be better, they have to learn to close out games.

Rankings tell us that a 25-seed beating a 17-seed should be an upset, but this didn’t feel like an upset. That 17 next to “Indiana” on the television is outdated and represents a team that could close out and win games. I no longer see that team on the floor.

IU fought and battled till the end, but at the final buzzer it was clear that the Hoosiers’ best, in the face of a road environment and the officiating that comes with it, wasn’t enough.

The bus doors closed behind Verdell Jones. Friday night’s trip would represent a chance to go back to Bloomington and prove that he plays on a team deserving of everyone’s expectations.