Interior scoring troubles persist in IU basketball’s loss to Louisville

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

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s no secret — Indiana likes to shoot the 3-pointer.

The Hoosiers have averaged 28.5 attempts from beyond the arc through their first nine games this season. At times, Indiana’s willingness to fire from deep has been its calling card, the core component in a high-powered offensive attack. Regardless, as is often the case, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

That’s exactly what happened when the Hoosiers attempted a season-high 34 3-pointers in their 87-78 loss to Louisville on Saturday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Indiana has now lost two straight games after opening the season 7-0. In that stretch, a worrying pattern has formed — the Hoosiers don’t have a paint presence. Despite the Cardinals overplaying the perimeter, Indiana struggled to get touches around the basket and oftentimes settled for contested shots from beyond the arc.

“If teams are going to get up and challenge you, you have to be able to get to the rim,” Darian DeVries said postgame. “In the second half, we opened the floor up a little more, got a little more dribble penetration.”

It’s true. The Hoosiers shot 18.8 percent from deep as Louisville blanketed its shooters and made every attempt difficult. In a more aggressive second half with a more open floor, they were much improved, converting 44.4 percent from the 3-point line. Even so, Indiana’s frontcourt provided little help offensively.

Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis combined for 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, but weren’t consistent threats on the offensive side of the floor. Instead, the Hoosiers relied on their guards to attack the rim off the dribble, a feat easier said than done against Louisville’s defensively sound backcourt.

At points this season, DeVries has leaned on Tayton Conerway to provide that for Indiana’s offense. The Troy transfer entered the matchup averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 4.9 assists per game. However, after picking up a pair of early fouls, Conerway’s presence was sorely missed.

“He is the one guy that we talked about with that pressure that has the ability, with his speed, to be able to get downhill, get to the rim, get to the free throw line, make plays for others,” DeVries said. “That was unfortunate that he picked up those two early fouls.”

It’s easy to blame losses on poor shooting for a perimeter-oriented team like Indiana. Occasionally, that reasoning is valid. Sometimes, shooters just have an off night. That wasn’t the case against the Cardinals. The IU offense was plagued by an over-reliance on production from the 3-point line and their shooting splits suffered because of it.

Both Minnesota and Louisville opted to take away looks from beyond the arc and force Indiana to beat them on the interior. Both times, the Hoosiers were unable to do so and lost.

“They did a really good job early defensively,” DeVries said. “We couldn’t get loose, couldn’t get a lot of space. When you’re not scoring, it makes it really challenging.”

Moving forward, Indiana will likely need to tweak its scoring attack. Maybe that starts with more efficiency in the post. Bailey posted 21 points twice this season, but has struggled to consistently finish plays at the rim. Alexis has shown flashes of quality offensive play but was just 3-for-7 on 2s against the Cardinals.

If Bailey and Alexis are unable to become consistent scoring threats, even more pressure will fall on the shoulders of Conerway and the rest of the Hoosiers’ guards to penetrate off the dribble.

It’s no secret — Indiana likes to shoot the three. For the Hoosiers to do so effectively, they’ll likely need to start at the rim.

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