Indiana defeats UNC Greensboro with a far from perfect performance

  • Nov 22, 2024 8:33 am in

A commanding first 10 minutes of play set Indiana in position to cruise past its fourth opponent of the season on Thursday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

The final 30 minutes told a different story.

The Hoosiers earned another double-digit win to begin the 2024-25 season, but a mediocre performance against an overmatched opponent left Mike Woodson frustrated with his team.

Indiana’s 69-58 victory against UNC Greensboro improved the Hoosiers to 4-0. The game, however, was filled with good and bad, something that has lingered so far in Indiana’s season.

To start the game, Myles Rice kicked off the Indiana offense with a pair of threes that immediately set the tone. Multiple strong defensive possessions followed, piling up in the first five minutes to give IU a 21-5 lead with 11:07 left in the first half. From there, it seemed like an easy-going night was about to unfold for the Hoosiers, but unsteady play filled the rest of the game.

Indiana stalled in spurts after its energetic start. Moments of dull offense have occurred often during the Hoosiers’ young season. Against UNC Greensboro, Indiana’s offensive movement was sluggish in the middle of the first half and the beginning of the second half.

“That team came to play, we didn’t,” Woodson said postgame. “I thought we came out with great intentions. We were up 19-3 when I started subbing, and that was after guys had played a deep seven, eight, nine minutes straight, and once they got rolling, we gave them hope, and they played a solid game all the way through.”

Turnovers and rebounding continue to be issues for the Hoosiers in the season’s early stages. A much bigger and more physical Indiana team struggled on the glass and allowed 17 offensive rebounds.

Both teams finished the night with 14 turnovers, but Woodson’s frustration was with his team’s intent when handling the ball. Many of the mistakes were careless and unforced, but after the game, harshly and firmly, Woodson used a more specific word to describe his annoyance with his team.

Selfish.

“As a team, we had 16 assists, Woodson said. “That’s awful. I mean, it’s awful. With this team, we should average between 20 and 30 assists. So the play tonight, the way we played offensively tonight was selfish as hell, to me, and that’s something that just can’t be because we have enough guys on this team that can make basketball plays. We’ve just got to be unselfish and sacrifice the ball for the sake of the team and good things will happen. The ball will end up in the right guys’ hands.

“You saw how we threw the ball in the half-court setting all over the place. We made some passes tonight that had no chance of being completed. These are things that we can all work to get better. I’ve got to just push us in that direction to get better.”

Despite Rice’s 20-point performance and freshman Bryson Tucker’s impressive second-half showing, a clearly frustrated Woodson focused on his team’s poor execution. It’s still early in the season, but the veteran coach knows the little things must improve. He knows deeper in the season, Indiana will have to put together a complete 40 minutes.

Indiana has yet to lose a game this season, but in Woodson’s eyes, the finished product is still a ways away. As competition ramps up in the coming weeks, Indiana’s plans to succeed must start from within.

“My whole theme has always been we take it a practice at a time and a game at a time and see where it leads us, man,” Woodson said. “But tonight, I’ve got to give this Greensboro team a lot of credit. They played — I thought they played harder than we did. We didn’t play hard, and that’s unacceptable. That’s on me.”

Filed to: ,