Final scores don’t tell us everything.
Indiana men’s basketball’s 84-83 loss to Northwestern on Sunday doesn’t tell you anything about the Hoosiers’ lack of depth. There is no allusion to the foot surgery graduate guard Xavier Johnson recently underwent, nor the knee injury graduate forward Race Thompson suffered against Iowa on Thursday night.
However, it also fails to mention that Indiana trailed for nearly 38 total minutes, once by 17 points, and surrendered more than twice as many turnovers as Northwestern.
Somewhere between those two evaluations — Indiana as the luckless, injury-riddled squad and Indiana as an abject disappointment — lies the truth about a team whose aspirations have shifted from championships to consistent competence.
A very, very small part of me wants to tear Indiana apart, but the angriest Indiana fans that read these columns have recently discovered the emerging technology known as email, and I’m trying to limit my vitriol consumption in 2023. Instead, let’s start with the positives: freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Hood-Schifino recorded his fourth consecutive career-high in scoring, logging 33 points. He has emerged as Indiana’s clear No. 2 option behind Jackson-Davis and seems to finally be living up to the preseason hype that was somewhat unfairly thrust upon him.
Meanwhile, Jackson-Davis continued to mystify against Northwestern. The All-American logged 18 points, eight assists and a truly preposterous 24 rebounds. He did not spend a single second of game time on the bench.
That’s a cool stat line and it appeals to the part of my brain that loves hard work, “Fast & Furious” movies and suppressing my emotions, but it’s grim when those stats are attached to a loss.
Jackson-Davis has battled a lower back injury most of the season, so relying on him to play 40 minutes per game is a concerning proposition, even if it’s ostensibly necessary. While Icy Hot is making a great case for Indiana’s sixth man of the year, the majority of Indiana’s roster has underperformed.
Against Northwestern, the foremost issues were turnovers and defense. There’s a case to be made for Indiana’s misfortune with refereeing, but last time I checked, referees don’t lob lazy passes directly to Indiana’s opponents or clear wide-open lanes for them.
The Hoosiers committed 16 turnovers to the Wildcats’ seven, leading to 25 points for Northwestern. If Indiana had surrendered even 24 points off turnovers it might have won, but it had to be 25.
On the other side of the ball, I know we identify Indiana as a team whose strength is its defense — but is it really?
This week, hundreds of aspiring sorority sisters at IU will put in dozens of grueling hours in the hopes of receiving a bid from the house of their choice. None of them will have half as easy a time getting in as the Wildcats did getting in the paint against the Hoosiers.
Be it blown assignments or a lack of effort — head coach Mike Woodson alluded to the latter in his postgame press conference — Indiana repeatedly gifted open shots to Northwestern. The Wildcats didn’t make them all, but they certainly made enough.
And yet, despite the turnovers and the lackluster defense, Indiana still only lost by one point, one possession.
It’s an interesting predicament wherein it feels wrong to heavily criticize a team missing two of its best players. But then you watch that team hand out turnovers and open shots like questionable pamphlets at a Turning Point USA table in front of the arboretum, and your well of sympathy starts to run dry.
Right now, Indiana looks to be roughly the same caliber of team as Northwestern, perhaps just a hair worse.
Final scores don’t tell us everything. But they might tell us everything that matters.
