Column: IU must improve against zone

Tuesday’s 65-59 loss to Wisconsin highlighted a number of concerns for the Indiana men’s basketball team.

After the game, IU Coach Tom Crean said his biggest concern was the lack of players making offensive movements to cut through the lane to the basket.

“We had guys that played too hurried and too rushed, and we had guys that didn’t cut and move the way they need to cut and move,” Crean said. “Somebody has to cut and move just to move the defense.”

If you rewatch the game and focus on the Hoosiers’ four offensive players, you’ll see they were pretty stagnant for the majority of the possessions against the Badgers’ 2-3 zone defense.

Wisconsin wasn’t the first team to play the zone, and they won’t be the last.

Teams are going to continue to play the 2-3 zone defense against IU because the zone is one of the only ways to neutralize Cody Zeller down low without having an equally physical and skilled man to match up against him.

Even if Zeller snaps for 18 points, as he did in the first half against Wisconsin, a good zone makes it difficult to do anything in the paint.

Wisconsin did not allow any dribble penetration from freshman Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, and senior Jordan Hulls was blanketed like a newborn, which led to contested shots and bad decisions.
 
So, how does IU correct this problem?

A lot of it will have to start with the point guard position.

Ferrell and Hulls have worked well with each other this season due to Ferrell’s ability to draw Hulls’ defender off him while driving the lane. However, when Ferrell can’t penetrate, Hulls has difficulty creating a good look.

Hulls needs to regain his ability to find open looks by himself because good defensive teams in the Big Ten aren’t going to leave him wide-open when Ferrell drives.

Everyone in the building knows the marksman lurking behind the arc is ready to knockdown a trifecta.

After the point guards, the burden of movement falls on IU’s three wingmen: Victor Oladipo, Will Sheehey and Remy Abell.

Oladipo played a fair game against Wisconsin – 10 points, five rebounds and one steal – but his offensive performance was affected because he had to lock down Wisconsin’s Ryan Evans for the majority of the game.

Undoubtedly, Oladipo is IU’s best defensive player and will always draw the opponents’ best scorer unless that player is a center. This year, his offensive game is at the same high level as his defense.

Realistically, Oladipo’s going to have an off-scoring night. 

Because shots don’t always drop, Sheehey and Abell are crucial.

They are the two pieces that set IU apart from the rest of the NCAA pack because they can quickly add points to replace Oladipo’s missing points.

Sheehey and Abell are dynamic, energetic and athletic players whose physical traits are desirable for opposing coaches.

Crean is most worried about what they have gotten away from.

In the past two games, Sheehey and Abell have been offensively nonexistent and, combined, have scored only one point – a free throw by Abell against Minnesota – because they haven’t been cutting as effectively or as much as they were in previous games.

Their speed while cutting through the lane either puts them into open spaces by the basket or makes the zone defense react to them, which sometimes frees up IU’s other shooters.

Sheehey, Abell and the rest of the Hoosiers didn’t do that in the game against Wisconsin.

Sunday’s game at Northwestern could not have been scheduled for a better weekend, as they had a few days of practice beforehand.

The Wildcats will play zone defense against a team like the Hoosiers because the zone accounts for one-on-one mismatches that could be exploited.

Northwestern is also missing their best player, Drew Crawford, this year due to injury, and last year’s star – arguably one of the best players in school history — John Shurna has graduated.

Reggie Hearn and Dave Sobolewski are good pieces for Northwestern, but the ‘Cats are a long way from completing the puzzle.

In the long run, the loss against Wisconsin might seem to be the best thing that happened to the Hoosiers because it showed them how an opponent’s zone, when executed and accompanied by made shots, can lead to a loss.

For the future, the Hoosiers are going to use what they learned to get back to what made them the number one scoring team in the Big Ten.

Prediction: The Hoosiers will have good practices and film sessions throughout the week and will get back on the good side of the winning column. 84-65.

­— mdnorman@indiana.edu