Early in the second half, when No. 15 Indiana men’s basketball had momentum for perhaps the first time all night, junior guard Trey Galloway found himself guarding junior forward Kris Murray on the perimeter.
Murray, with Galloway’s hand in his face, pulled up and drained the 3-pointer over his defender.
That triple didn’t tell the story of the game as much as the next one did, when Indiana’s defensive rotation collapsed, leaving junior guard Ahron Ulis wide open in the corner to extend Iowa’s lead to 15 points.
But sometimes, when things aren’t going well like in Indiana’s 90-68 loss Tuesday, absolutely nothing goes right.
“We left our game in West Lafayette, and it's just unacceptable the way we played tonight,” head coach Mike Woodson said after the game. “I apologize to our fans.”
The Hoosiers fell down as much as 17 in the first half, unable to create the defensive pressure needed to stem a good-shooting Hawkeye team. By halftime, they had cut into the lead slightly thanks to Jalen Hood-Schifino. The freshman guard scored 8 of Indiana’s final 10 points in the half, and Indiana was down 11 points at the break.
Indiana started the second half needing a spike in defensive effort. The Hoosiers immediately forced three turnovers, providing a spark of life to the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall crowd, but gave it back to the Hawkeyes twice.
Indiana was heavily outshot by the Big Ten’s leading offense, especially from deep. Iowa, which came into the game averaging 80.4 points per game, made more 3-pointers than Indiana attempted.
“It was a full meltdown of our defensive game plan,” senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis said. “They exploited it, they took advantage of it, and they hit shots."
The Hoosiers, themselves the second best Big Ten offense with 75.5 points per game, shot 43% from the floor and only 2-for-11 from deep. Against Iowa, who allowed opponents to shoot a better percentage from deep than any other team in the conference, the disparity was notable, especially as the deficit rose.
Down 20 for a large portion of the second period, Indiana attempted just five 3-pointers, only making one late in the half. On the other end of the floor, Iowa continued to splash triples, making six in the second half.
“They just competed,” Woodson said. “They came in here and kicked our ass. It was just that simple.”
As usual, Jackson-Davis remained a bright spot for the Hoosiers. He finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and four steals, including a record-setting 1,092nd career rebound.
Jackson-Davis dropped 30 in the first matchup against Iowa on Jan. 5, but he had help from his teammates in the two-point loss. On Tuesday, Jackson-Davis did it largely alone — only freshman forward Malik Reneau scored 10 points, half of which came with five minutes remaining, when Indiana was already down 20 points.
“I’m the coach. I’ve got to get them ready to play,” Woodson said. “That was a bullshit performance tonight.”
Indiana still has a path to earning a top-four seed and a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament, but it will need help from the rest of the conference. First, Indiana will need to take care of business on senior night against Michigan at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Assembly Hall.
