Five takeaways from IU basketball’s loss to Louisville

Photos of IU basketball's 87-78 loss to Louisville at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana dropped its second straight game, falling 87-78 to Louisville on Saturday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Cardinals:

Indiana can’t overcome a poor start on both ends

The Cardinals scored on their first possession of the game – a layup by J’Vonne Hadley – just 27 seconds into the contest.

It was the first bucket in what would be an offensive onslaught over the first six and a half minutes by Louisville.

By the time IU scored its first basket – a dunk by Sam Alexis – the Hoosiers were already down by 16 points.

Not only did Louisville score at will to begin the contest, but its defense also disrupted IU’s offensive game plan. The Hoosiers couldn’t get anything going offensively, as the Cardinals’ length and athleticism were smothering.

While Indiana was able to dig out of the hole and got within five at the 9:01 mark, that was as close as the Hoosiers would get all afternoon as Louisville led wire-to-wire in a dominant 40-minute effort.

Hoosiers struggle to defend without fouling for the second straight game

After it sent Minnesota to the free-throw line 27 times in Wednesday’s loss at Williams Arena, Indiana again struggled to defend without fouling on Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinals went 24-for-28 from the line in their win, outscoring the Hoosiers by nine from the stripe.

It marked the second straight game Indiana allowed its opponent to finish with a free-throw rate (FTA/FGA) of better than 50 percent.

Louisville’s guard duo of Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown finished a combined 15-for-17 from the line and four of IU’s five starters finished the game with four or more fouls.

Conwell, in particular, was a difficult matchup for Indiana. The Pike product was aggressive off the dribble all afternoon, bullied his way to the rim and through traffic, earning his 11 trips to the free-throw line. He also made IU pay when he had space, burying three of his seven 3-point attempts.

A tough afternoon for Tayton Conerway

Tayton Conerway’s up-and-down play continued in Saturday’s loss to the Cardinals.

Last season’s Sun Belt player of the year at Troy, Conerway was 0-for-2 on 3s against Louisville, bringing his totals from distance to 6-for-31 this season or 19.4 percent.

He also shot just 2-for-5 on 2s and committed just one assist to five turnovers.

In addition, Conerway’s foul trouble allowed him to log only 21 minutes. His final line: five points, three rebounds, one assist, one blocked shot, one steal and five turnovers.

With Conor Enright limited as a scorer and little guard depth, it’s difficult for Indiana to overcome a challenging afternoon from its point guard against a top-10 opponent.

Indiana struggled to get clean perimeter looks for most of the game

On paper, Indiana’s 11-for-34 shooting performance on 3-pointers doesn’t look terrible.

The Hoosiers, however, struggled to get quality looks for most of the afternoon.

Minnesota kept Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson off balance and blanketed both players on the perimeter.

Louisville took the same approach and held the duo below their season average in terms of 3-point shooting percentage.

DeVries was 4-for-11 on 3s and Wilkerson was just 2-for-9, his third straight game shooting 33.3 percent or worse from the perimeter.

The Louisville offense, meanwhile, produced far cleaner looks from the perimeter and its best shooter, Isaac McKneely, went 5-for-9 from deep.

Nick Dorn shines in the second half

Junior wing Nick Dorn is still easing his way back into the rotation, but his performance on Saturday was encouraging.

The Elon transfer scored all 15 of his points in the second half.

At 6-foot-7, Dorn has the size to shoot over opponents and he did just that against the Cardinals. He finished the game 5-for-7 on 3-pointers.

Dorn is now 11-for-23 on 3s this season, good for 47.8 percent.

Having a third reliable 3-point threat on the floor with DeVries and Wilkerson could help relieve some of the pressure opposing defenses are currently putting on IU’s two leading scorers.

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