It was a suggestion by Butler senior forward Andrew Chrabascz that sealed the game for the Bulldogs.
With just over 15 seconds left in the game, Butler was hanging on to a narrow two-point lead over IU and Chrabascz advised his coach Chris Holtmann of an in-bounds play that Chrabascz thought would work.
It did.
Butler’s senior guard Tyler Lewis threaded the needle from out-of-bounds and hit junior forward Tyler Wideman for a wide-open dunk that ended up being the dagger for IU as No. 9 IU fell to No. 18 Butler 83-78 in the Crossroads Classic.
On that play, IU’s sophomore forward Thomas Bryant was guarding the basket, but allowed Wideman to score undeterred.
“Just a misunderstanding with me and my teammates,” Bryant said. “I just got to be better in that moment.”
However, it wasn’t just that missed assignment that did the Hoosiers in. IU climbed back all the way from being down 16 points in the second half to claw within two late in the game.
Their lack of intensity in the first half was what contributed to the significant deficit.
“Really it was a mindset thing, energy thing,” junior guard James Blackmon Jr. said. “That’s what we were upset about the way we came out in the first half. We can’t let that happen. We gave them too much confidence in the beginning of the game and they put us in a hole.”
The Hoosiers started off the game strong and led by six early, but the Bulldogs answered that start and their 10-to-one run put them ahead.
IU’s poor shooting in the first half led to deficit. After its offense had been in rhythm the past few games, IU shot 32.3-percent from the field in the first half and had eight turnovers. In the half, IU went on long scoring droughts and failed to hit a 3-point shot.
“It’s just when they’re not falling, we’ve got to have something else going for us,” Blackmon said. “And in the first half, we didn’t have that going.”
Butler’s junior forward Kelan Martin shredded IU after not scoring in the first portion of the first half. His inferno in the last few minutes of the first half allowed Butler’s lead to swell to 14 headed into halftime as he had 16 points in the first half alone.
Butler ended the half on a 10-0 run.
IU came out in the second half and began to chip away at the Butler lead. However, Martin continued his impressive shooting and IU couldn’t seem to string together enough stops to make up the margin.
Every time IU cut the lead under 10, Butler answered back with a run of their own to keep the Hoosiers at bay.
With four minutes to go, Blackmon brought the Hoosiers within four on a 3-pointer, and he hit another three to close the gap to two with just under 40 seconds left to play in the game.
On the ensuing Butler possession, IU knocked the ball out of bounds under the basket, setting up the inbounds for Butler play that proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Hoosiers.
“They got us on the out-of-bounds play at the end, but we were standing straight up,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “So I think I could have got the lay-up at the end if you’re going to stand straight up on that.”
