The Minute After: UNC Greensboro
Thoughts on a 69-58 win against the Spartans:
Indiana looked like it was well on its way to a blowout victory.
Early on, the Hoosiers locked up on D. Ball pressure combined with Oumar Ballo deterring shots at the rim was the recipe. On offense, Myles Rice hit some early 3-pointers and Indiana’s size inside was too much for the Spartans to handle.
The Hoosiers held a 21-5 lead at the 11:07 mark in the first half.
But that stretch of the game also featured a bench-heavy lineup, something Mike Woodson has rolled out around the 12-minute and 8-minute timeouts in the first half several times during his IU tenure — often to middling results. Tonight was no different. That lineup sputtered on offense. Even with more starters eventually coming back in, Indiana’s defense and rebounding took several steps back.
The Hoosiers weren’t blocking out well. They allowed too much dribble penetration and good looks from the 3-point line.
While Indiana still carried a nine-point lead into halftime, its locked-in nature from the start of the game had evaporated.
The second half didn’t instill much more confidence. The Hoosiers started sloppy. Indiana’s nine-point lead vanished to a 40-all tie at the 15:57 mark, as it allowed the Spartans to rip off a 13-4 run to begin the final 20 minutes of action.
Bryson Tucker helped ensure there wouldn’t be an upset this evening inside Assembly Hall. The 5-star freshman hit several mid-range buckets in the second half, looking like an in-control pro every step of the way. He hit 5-of-7 from the field after the break en route to 14 points for the game. Luke Goode also knocked down a key transition 3-pointer at the 11:40 mark to push the lead out to 10. At that point, UNC Greensboro started to look a little gassed against a team it was giving up size, talent and athleticism to.
The Hoosiers pretty much maintained from there and won the game by 11.
“This game was just backwards,” Mike Woodson told Don Fischer post-game. “We’ll watch the film tomorrow and break it down. And then we’re going to have a tough practice tomorrow.”
Woodson continued at his press conference.
“We didn’t play hard,” he said. “That’s unacceptable and that’s on me.”
Indiana is now 4-0. It has won all its games by double-digits. This team is better than last year’s iteration so far, and the talent is apparent.
Yet, the Hoosiers haven’t been able to put it together for a full 40 minutes. Frustrating lulls have followed bright moments. Individual brilliance on offense has led to lackadaisical attention to detail on the other end. Indiana seems to know it’s more talented and will eventually pull away and that’s been enough so far.
And heck, it’s still early. Many new faces are in the fold, and the computer metrics are heading in the right direction.
Still, if Indiana wants to succeed next week in the Bahamas, it needs to be more focused and locked in than it was tonight.
It seems Woodson is well aware of that. Can Indiana rise to the occasion of what lies ahead next week? We’ll soon find out.
Filed to: UNC Greensboro Spartans