Every time the IU men’s basketball team gets some momentum, something causes them to hit the brakes.
This statement is true in both the micro and macro.
It seems that whenever the Hoosiers get on a solid scoring run, the opposition counters with a run of their own.
But even in terms of the whole season, whenever IU strings a few good wins together they fall short in unimpressive fashion.
IU was ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll before defeating No. 13 Maryland 89-70. A win at Ohio State would have propelled the Hoosiers to around the top 15.
But IU struggled on Sunday and lost by 12 to the Buckeyes. And frankly, it never even felt that close.
Every time the Hoosiers clawed to within six or seven points, Ohio State’s freshmen were there to answer. Guard D’Angelo Russell asserted himself as the best freshman and one of the best players in the Big Ten. And forward Jae’Sean Tate finished everything down low.
Tate finished nine-of-10 from the field with 20 points. Russell had 22 points and 10 assists.
On the other end of the floor, though, IU sophomore forward Collin Hartman was again impressive. Until he missed a desperate 3-pointer near the end of the game, Hartman was 4-of-4 from the field, all threes. That means over 63 minutes of basketball, the “center” was 7-7 from deep.
But it wasn’t enough.
Hartman definitely struggled on defense trying to contain Tate and whoever else wound up in the post. That’s to be expected when a team’s starting center is a 6-foot-7 wing.
The offense wasn’t the issue Sunday night. In fact, the offense looked pretty good when examining the shooting numbers. IU shot 52 percent from the field and 48 percent from deep, and for a team their size, they also had a respectable 26 points in the paint.
As impressive as the IU offensive figures were, OSU’s were even better. The Buckeyes shot 73.7 percent on 2-point field goals and had a whopping 42 points in the paint.
IU Coach Tom Crean, along with everyone else in Value City Arena, recognized that Ohio State was dominating inside without the injured junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea.
“We’ve played a couple games without Hanner,” Crean said. “It’s harder to protect the rim without that size. There’s a lot of different things [we can do]. We’ll continue to work on figuring them out because we’re not getting any bigger anytime soon.”
I wrote after the Maryland game that IU is better with Hartman on the floor than Mosquera-Perea. One game isn’t going to change that opinion. Crean is correct. There are a lot of ways to help the undersized sophomore down low.
Hartman was never meant to be a center. He’s a wing player who has been thrust into a center-like role. He’ll get better as the season progresses, and the team will get better at helping him.
There’s no break in the schedule, either. On Wednesday, IU will play at Purdue, where the Boilermakers will throw two seven-footers his way. If IU is trying to figure out how to help Hartman, they better figure it out soon.
