The Minute After: Louisville

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

Thoughts on an 87-78 loss to Louisville:

The big question after Indiana’s strong start to the season: Could the Hoosiers keep it up as the Big Ten season and marquee non-conference matchups arrived?

So far, the answer to that question is no. Nope. Definitely not.

If the loss at Minnesota showed how physicality could create cracks in Indiana’s foundation, the beginning of the Louisville game was an earthquake that brought the whole house down.

It was an absolutely horrendous start for the Hoosiers. The Cardinals jumped out to a 16-0 lead, looking like men against boys, as Indiana was unable to get anything — and I mean anything — going on offense thanks to Louisville’s suffocating defense. Indiana started 0-of-8 with four turnovers. It took six and a half minutes for the Hoosiers to score their first point, a Lamar Wilkerson to Sam Alexis alley-oop that came on the run after Indiana was finally able to get some daylight with the ball in its hands. Its first bucket out of half-court offense came via a Tucker DeVries 3-pointer at the 12:40 mark — over seven minutes into the game.

Sure, Indiana buckled down on defense some from there, which helped the Hoosiers get out and go for some easier buckets. And sure, the final score shows that Indiana outscored Louisville 76-71 after the initial 16-0 deficit. But Indiana also found itself down 19 with just under eight minutes to go in the game after two Sananda Fru free throws. The Hoosiers then went on a scoring binge late — including six 3-pointers down the stretch — to make things look a little better, final score-wise, than this actually felt for the full 40 minutes.

And how did it feel? Like Indiana doesn’t have the talent, size, athleticism or muscle to match up with a team like Louisville, which is ranked No. 13 overall on KenPom and has the fourth-ranked offense in adjusted efficiency. The Cardinals were quicker, more springy and more imposing all over the place. Many possessions they found good looks in their half-court offense, while Indiana again struggled to find the fluidity and joy it showed off earlier in the season, with many possessions looking over before they even began.

The Cardinals hit 13-of-31 from deep, good for 41.9 percent. Isaac McKneely led the way with a 5-of-9 performance. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap off Louisville’s 16-0 run, as well as hitting some key ones in the second half to keep Indiana at bay.

After really struggling at the rim in the first half, Indiana got some early buckets in the paint to start the second half. The Hoosiers actually scored more points in the paint than Louisville did (28-24). They really had to ride Tucker DeVries in the first half and it helped him lead all scorers with 26 points. DeVries was an inefficient 5-of-14 from the floor, but did make 12-of-13 from the line. Lamar Wilkerson (12 points) also scored in double figures, but he was similarly inefficient, going 5-of-15 for the game, including a rough 2-of-9 mark from deep.

If not for Nick Dorn’s heater in the second half (5-of-6 from 3-point range, 15 points), this would have most certainly been a double-digit loss. Dorn hit all five of his 3-pointers after Louisville got up 19 points, including two of them with under a minute to go in the game.

“They did a really good job early defensively,” Darian DeVires said after the game. “We couldn’t get loose. We couldn’t get a lot of space. We were competing defensively, but when you’re not scoring, it makes it really challenging.”

It was a challenging game for these Hoosiers, indeed.

Can they find a way to break out of this two-game skid on Tuesday night at home against Penn State?

They certainly need it.

See More: The Minute After, Louisville Cardinals