Okay, let’s rewind and start with the obvious.
The way IU’s 71-68 victory over Butler University played out Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse was nothing short of unbelievable — a revelation really.
From senior Juwan Morgan’s career-high 35 points, to the miracle heave of a three-pointer from freshman Rob Phinisee that sealed the victory at the buzzer, everything about the fluky unfolding of the game was breathtakingly inconceivable, yet immediately iconic all at the same time.
Don’t let all those thrills skew the reality of the Hoosiers’ overall performance, even if that means being the pessimist among an ecstatic, albeit flabbergasted, fan base.
The actuality of Saturday’s game is this — if not for Morgan’s unstoppable performance that can only be described as a near out-of-body experience for him, Butler forgetting how to play basketball and the combined good fortune of a lucky rabbit's foot and a four-leaf clover guiding Phinisee’s shot, this would have been a loss.
For about 35 minutes of the contest, IU’s performance could only be categorized as poor. The Hoosiers got out-played and out-toughed by the Bulldogs and raising more concerns than any of the waning moments could make up for.
Coming into the game, IU Coach Archie Miller stressed a focus on trying to limit Butler from getting any momentum going from the three-point line.
Yet, for the most part, the Hoosiers looked lost defensively when trying to recover on shooters and their careless closeouts weren’t making matters any better. Butler shot 40 percent from behind the arc and held on to the lead for almost the entire game.
And when it came to 50-50 balls, IU struggled just as much, failing to get on loose balls and giving up a myriad of offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points in the first half for the Bulldogs.
The offense presented just as many questions as nobody beyond Morgan looked like they wanted to step up as another scoring option minus a few possessions from freshman Romeo Langford and Phinisee. The offensive flow in the half court was once again stale and stagnant as IU looked as if it were just running through the motions until Morgan found a way to bail them out time and time again.
Despite finding a way to pull out four straight games by a combined eight points, the way the Hoosiers have been able to do it has been far from perfect. Murky starts and stretches of incoherency on either side of the floor have been problems in those games and Miller wasn’t one to swerve from that ugly truth Saturday.
“I think the same thing over and over on the negative is our lack of movement, our lack of action on offense,” Miller said. “It turns into a standstill game. You got to take care of the ball. Those two things really kind of get us in tough spots.”
Yet what made the performance against Butler a bit more frustrating than those others was the fact that IU came in with a specific game plan defensively and simply didn’t come ready to execute it early on.
Sometimes crazy shots will fall for opponents and there’s nothing to do about it, but there’s no excuse for getting out-hustled like the Hoosiers did for the majority of the game.
But — and this is a big “but” — all the shakiness and mind-boggling decisions isn’t downplaying the fact that IU has still found a way to pull out victories in all these recent close games.
Maybe being a Debbie Downer is a bit dramatic.
Wins are the ultimate goal no matter what and if IU keeps finding a way to get those, theoretically, there’s not much to gripe about.
With a talented team like this one, it’s important to hold it accountable at the same time.
The Hoosiers don’t need to be perfect but they do need to be better.
This erratic stretch of play has shown there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
If they can find a way to do that, IU won’t need to rely on a last second wing and a prayer anymore.
