Notes on a 71-54 win over Mississippi Valley State:
There was trepidation among the ITH faithful before this one.
We worried Sean Woods, a Rick Pitino disciple, would have his Delta Devils — about as fantastic a team nickname as they come, by the way — running up and down the court, taking it to the Hoosiers, a group playing its third game in five nights.
It wasn’t always a sure thing. IU, against a controlled full-court defense from Mississippi Valley State to start the game, were taking contested threes too early in the shot clock, and turnovers created some issues in the first half as well. But it’s beginning to become clearer and clearer that these Hoosiers are too experienced, too talented, give too much effort and have too much heart to let some team from the SWAC give them serious trouble inside Assembly Hall.
Tonight’s win was grabbed on the strength of a second half where IU clamped down hard on D and got out on the break. (Defense creating offensive!) The Hoosiers scored 32 points off turnovers tonight.
IU now stands at 3-0, the first time its found itself at such a mark in the Tom Crean era. And with another three games against more-than-beatable opponents looming, it would be a letdown if IU didn’t head into the ACC-Big Ten Challenge against Boston College at 6-0.
It’s not always perfect. It’s not always pretty. There will be tougher tests ahead, especially when Big Ten play rolls around.
But it’s taking care of business when business should be taken care of — something this team in Crean’s third year is proving we should come to expect, not see as a pleasant surprise.
The four factors: Mississippi Valley State
If you’ve been reading Inside the Hall since last season, you know we made an effort a year ago to dive into the four factors to winning the game of basketball: effective field goal percentage, turnover percentage, offensive rebounding percentage and free throw rate.
The four factors, established by Dean Oliver, are building blocks for Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency formula, which we’ll also be using as the season moves along. It’s important to mention, as noted by Stat Sheet, that the factors are not weighted equally. Research shows the best way to weight the numbers is as follows: shooting (40 percent), taking care of the ball (25 percent), offensive rebounding (20 percent), and getting to the line (15 percent). That said, here’s a look at the four factors in last night’s 71-54 win:
Free throw rate: The Hoosiers did a solid job of getting to the line (29 attempts), but left nine points there as well. Nonetheless, close to a 50 percent free throw rate is a very good number and came close to matching the output for the Wright State game, where the Hoosiers had a free throw rate of 52.5 percent.
Turnover percentage: The 23.3 percent mark here was IU’s best performance of the young season. Making it more impressive was the helter skelter style of play that the Delta Devils tried to employ which many believed would give IU ball-handling woes. Through IU’s first two games, only eight teams ranked worse nationally in turnover percentage, so this is a number to keep close tabs on as the season moves along. The Hoosiers must get better here, period.
Effective field goal percentage: This was a mediocre performance by both teams, but for IU, it’s nice to see a blowout win despite the woeful shooting. In the first two games, the Hoosiers were remarkable in this category — 64.9 percent against Florida Gulf Coast and 65 percent against Wright State. That won’t happen too often. Bottom line here is that while IU didn’t shoot well, it was negated by the fact that MSVU shot even worse (41 percent effective field goal percentage).
Offensive rebounding percentage: A very solid performance here — 38.1 percent — but just 11 second chance points is a bit low. This was a strength for IU a season ago (35 percent, 89th nationally), but it was also a bit negated by the fact that the Hoosiers allowed opponents to rebound at a 35.4 percent clip.