The score-at-will IU attack of a month ago is no more. It’s gone, replaced by a stagnant, directionless offense that ends in more off-balance heaves than open looks.
IU unveiled the prototype last week, scoring 65 points in a loss at Northwestern, but it was on full display Tuesday night in a 77-63 loss to Iowa. The Hoosiers shot 38 percent from the field in their lowest offensive output since Jan. 5.
Junior guard Nick Zeisloft led IU with 15 points, all of which came from behind the 3-point line. Only two other Hoosiers scored in double digits.
The ball didn’t move. Players didn’t, either. The Hoosiers’ once-feared offense had turned into a showcase of one-on-one basketball, and it wasn’t ?productive.
But IU Coach Tom Crean doesn’t agree. Crean said after the game that his team moved the ball effectively and that he wouldn’t describe the offense as slow.
“I don’t agree with that,” ?Crean said.
IU didn’t pick up many foul calls around the rim, Crean said. Players were trying too hard to create rather than actually shoot the ball. That’s why the offense struggled, he said.
But a few minutes later, he said there may have been a ?couple stutters, after all.
“I’m sure there were a couple of those that looked that way to me, but that’s not by design,” he said. “Design is making sure the ball’s moving.”
Crean said players often stand in place “to protect one another,” and said flow and movement are critical in ?making IU’s offense run.
“There’s got to be movement,” Crean said. “When we’re standing, that’s not good.”
Much of the reason for IU’s offensive spiral is of its own accord, but Iowa managed to keep the Hoosiers out of transition by getting back quickly and maintaining flexibility in its defensive set. Iowa Coach Fran McCaffrey said the Hawkeyes made a concerted effort to keep the game out of transition and prevent IU from picking up fast-break 3-pointers that ?often spark runs.
Tuesday’s lackluster offensive output was the latest in a string of slowdowns that have cost IU games this ?season.
There was Northwestern last week, when IU went over 10 minutes without a point and fell too far behind to catch up. Before that came a home loss to Purdue that saw the Hoosiers stifled in the paint. But worst of all was the debacle that was Jan. 5, a 50-point showing in a loss at Michigan State.
Junior guard Yogi Ferrell said IU will look to find variety to prevent those kinds of struggles again.
“Just try to find different ways to make our offense better, to feel a little bit more fluid,” Ferrell said.
That same Michigan State team may be the one standing in between the Hoosiers and an NCAA Tournament berth when it comes to Bloomington on Saturday. The Hoosiers have lost seven of their past 11 games and seen that once-assured berth slide into ?uncertainty.
Crean said he hasn’t looked at the seasonlong implications of any one game. He hasn’t considered the postseason and he isn’t worried about the boos that rang from a half-full Assembly Hall, he said.
“You know what, I’m really kind of concerned about the team,” Crean said. “That’s pretty much where the thoughts go. The thoughts go with your team and what you need to do to make them ?better.”
