Column: Should IUBB fans be concerned with Indiana’s offense?

Something just hasn’t looked right about the Hoosiers’ offense lately.

After posting a Big Ten best, 89.4 points per game in 13 nonconference games, the Hoosiers’ offense has not been nearly as explosive against Big Ten teams, leaving some fans concerned with the recent struggles.

Look at the past two games as an example. IU only managed to score 59 points in a home loss to Wisconsin and then followed it up with a 67-point performance against a feisty but sub-par Northwestern team.

Some might write off these below-average performances as just two games in a bad shooting week, but the numbers suggest IU’s problems date back to the start of the conference schedule.

In five Big Ten conference games, IU’s scoring is down by 18 PPG, and the team is ranked third with 71.4 PPG in conference games. For the season, IU still ranks first in the Big Ten in PPG with an average of 84.4 PPG.

A couple of things account for this discrepancy.

Obviously, a weaker nonconference schedule is part of the reason IU’s offensive numbers resembled an NBA offense most nights early in the season.

Frankly, Butler, Georgia, Georgetown and North Carolina were the only teams with any chance of slowing down the Hoosiers’ offense, but IU still averaged 79.3 PPG against these four teams.

Using those four games as a barometer, you notice that the Hoosiers’ offense is still down by nearly eight points per game.

Why?

A lot of it has to do with the strength and style of the Big Ten.

Consider this: for the season, no defense in the Big Ten is allowing more than 66.9 PPG, and four teams — Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan — are allowing less than 60.

In a conference that boasts eight teams with season averages of 70 PPG or more, only Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana are averaging more than 70 PPG in conference-only games.

Clearly, one of the factors in IU’s recent offensive slump has to do with the high level in which Big Ten teams defend.

But the more specific reason for the Hoosiers’ scoring troubles — and more concerning reason if you are a Hoosier fan — is the lack of bench scoring that has developed during the Big Ten season.

In five games, the Hoosiers have scored 357 points (71.4 PPG). Of those 357 points, only 45 points (9 PPG) or 12.6 percent of IU’s scoring, has come from the bench.

During the nonconference schedule, the Hoosiers’ bench averaged 29.3 PPG, which was 32.8 percent of IU’s 89.4 PPG against nonconference opponents.

Playing in the Big Ten is a nightly battle that forces coaches into shorter substitution rotations. Starters play more minutes a night, and bench players get less time to work into the flow of the game.

Bench scoring becomes a luxury, but it is a luxury that is necessary to IU’s success.

What has and what will continue to set the Hoosiers apart from the rest of the Big Ten is the second wave that is just as aggressive and potent as the first.

It was not the case earlier in the season, but lately. there has been a bit of a fall-off in offense once the second team is in the game.

So, here lies the question: should IU basketball fans be concerned with the team’s recent offensive struggles?

Heading into a matchup with a weak Nittany Lions team, my answer is “no” for the same reason that it will be for the rest of the season.

Even if the offensive production has been down in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers’ defense has been stellar all year, despite being overshadowed by the high-flying nature of their offense.

Entering this week, the Hoosiers ranked first in the Big Ten and eighth in the nation in opponents’ field goal percentage (37 percent), and they also ranked third in the Big Ten in opponents’ 3-point field goal percentage (30.7 percent), behind only Wisconsin and Iowa.

“I think one thing that doesn’t get brought very much — we’re in the top field goal percentage offense,” IU Coach Tom Crean said after the Hoosiers’ 67-59 victory against Northwestern. “I think most people wouldn’t be shocked by that, but we’ve been in the top 10 in field goal percentage defense for some time.
“A lot of times when the nay-sayers start kicking it out and bringing up all the negatives, they forget to mention that.”

Crean is absolutely right.

Good offenses are easy to talk about and even easier to spot.

On the other hand, good defenses are less glamorous — you usually don’t remember the steal that led to the memorable, highlight-reel dunk — but they are the difference between being a good team and being an elite team.

When you watch IU’s intensity on the defensive end, you can see that their identity as a team is predicated around defense.

In post-game press conferences, players like Victor Oladipo, Will Sheehey and Cody Zeller always point to success on defense to describe why they were able to get points on offense.

Good shooters sometimes go through slumps, but good defense is as consistent as the daily sunrise.

Why do you think Wisconsin’s basketball team manages to finish in the top half of the Big Ten every year despite perceptions that they don’t possess great athletes?

Defense is the answer to this question and to the question of how the Hoosiers will tread water if they continue to struggle offensively through a Big Ten season.

So, should Hoosier fans be worried about the team’s recent scoring decline?

No, because sometimes the best offense is a good defense.

Prediction for IU-Penn State:

For the second time, IU will play Penn State mid-week before taking on a top-15 opponent during the weekend. Last time, the Hoosiers played No. 8 Minnesota after PSU, and this weekend they will play No. 13 Michigan State.

Although looking ahead on the schedule could lead teams into poor performances, I don’t expect the Hoosiers to play poorly against the Nittany Lions because PSU is simply overmatched.

With star guard Tim Frazier out for the season with an Achilles injury, the Nittany Lions don’t have the firepower to score enough points to beat the Hoosiers.

Guards D.J. Newbill (15.3 PPG) and Jermaine Marshall (15.2 PPG) have been bright spots for PSU, but IU’s stars will shine brighter at Assembly Hall.

Hoosiers win 80-57.

­— mdnorman@indiana.edu