The Minute After: Iowa

Tayton Conerway drives to the rim.

Thoughts on a 74-57 loss to the Hawkeyes:

Losers of three straight, Iowa came to Bloomington on a mission and succeeded.

Save for a few fleeting moments, the Hawkeyes controlled this game from end to end and made Indiana play their game. They never trailed. Bennett Stirtz was an absolute maestro and the Hoosiers had no answers for slowing him down, not even Conor Enright’s peskiness. He played his pace and got to his spots. Set up his teammates for good looks. Hit some tough 3s in the second half. Stirtz finished with 27 points (7-of-13 shooting, 3-of-5 from deep, 10-of-11 from the line) and five assists. Both were game highs.

After Indiana got it to within four (49-45) at the 11:17 mark in the second half after two Reed Bailey free throws, the Hawkeyes turned into a boa constrictor, slowly and methodically putting the Hoosiers to bed. They finished the game on a 25-12 run, doing so in typical Ben McCollum fashion, draining the shot clock on their end and converting late, wearing out their opponent in the process. They also held strong on defense. The Assembly Hall faithful hit the exits early. Darian DeVries, pretty tight with his rotation these days, put Jasai Miles and Aleksa Ristic in the game for the first time since a win against Sienna on Dec. 22, nearly a month ago, perhaps trying to find something, anything.

On offense, about the only thing Indiana found success with was Tayton Conerway out of high-ball screen action. Conerway was able to get by Iowa’s bigs off of switches. He was also able to just blow by Iowa’s initial defender on him at times as well. The Troy transfer finished with 16 points, as he shot 8-of-12 from the field. Sam Alexis had his first game scoring in double-figures since Indiana’s loss to Minnesota on Dec. 3 (10 points). Alexis benefited from some dump-offs from his teammates, and he also made a 3-pointer and both of his free throw attempts. He scored 13 points for the contest on 5-of-7 shooting and also tied for a game-high in rebounds with eight.

There have been games this season where Lamar Wilkerson shrugged off a quiet first half and really got it going after the break. That was not the case this afternoon. Wilkerson went just 1-of-5 from 3-point range and 3-of-10 overall for nine points. Tucker DeVries’ shooting woes continue. He shot 2-of-9 from the field and 2-of-6 from deep for seven points. Indiana struggled from distance overall today as well, going 6-of-24 (25 percent) from 3-point range for the contest. While the Hoosiers were able to negate Iowa’s elite ability to force turnovers, it didn’t really matter in this one. This is now the second straight game Indiana has failed to score over a point per possession, mustering just .99 per trip today after .93 against the Spartans on Tuesday night.

The larger the sample size this season, the less likely it feels that Indiana will make the NCAA tournament. Sure, there are plenty of opportunities left against Quad 1 opponents. This is the Big Ten, after all. But Indiana so far hasn’t shown an ability to protect home court with recent losses to Nebraska and now Iowa, and more elite teams have had its number all season long.

Next up? Indiana’s got its most challenging game of the season thus far, a game in Ann Arbor against a juggernaut Michigan squad. KenPom currently projects the Hoosiers to have just a seven percent chance of victory.

Unless Indiana pulls a rabbit out of a hat, a four-game losing streak is likely on the horizon.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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