The Minute After: Siena

Tayton Conerway handles the ball.

Thoughts on an 81-60 win against Siena:

Two games in three days in Bloomington and the results were nearly the same.

Just like they did against Chicago State on Saturday afternoon, the Hoosiers played crisp, clean basketball in the first half tonight against Siena, forcing their will on the opponent and breezing to a large halftime lead. Instead of a barrage of 3-pointers, though, Indiana’s offensive attack against the Saints showed more balance.

The Hoosiers were able to get to the rim more from the perimeter tonight. Lamar Wilkerson started that party. He scored a couple of buckets at the rim off the drive in the first half. Add in a 3-of-6 mark from deep,and he entered halftime with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Tucker DeVries added 12. Nick Dorn continues to knock down corner 3s, hitting two in the first half and adding two free throws for eight points. Indiana’s offense profile was strong over the first 20 minutes: 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from 3-point range, 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the line, 1.31 points per possession with an effective field goal percentage of 67.

On defense, Indiana didn’t let the Saints get anything going. It took almost four minutes for Siena to score its first point and a full six before it got its first field goal. The Saints entered the half scoring a measly .57 points per possession for 20 total points, as they missed all nine of their 3-point attempts.

But Indiana once again let it slip in the second half. It wasn’t the collapse the Hoosiers had against Chicago State, where they missed their first 16 3-pointers and made just eight baskets total. But after IU was outscored by three on Saturday in the second half (29-26), Siena actually bested the Hoosiers by five (40-35) in tonight’s second half. And the Hoosiers made just one more basket (nine) tonight than they did on Saturday afternoon.

The Hoosiers went cold early, allowing Siena to make up 11 points off its 26-point halftime deficit. The Saints also threw a full-court press at Indiana, leaving them a little flustered and out of sorts. Siena had six steals and scored 11 points off Indiana turnovers over the final 20 minutes. Wilkerson went just 1-of-5 in the second half after a stellar first 20 minutes and picked up his fourth foul with 9:44 remaining, leading to a disjointed effort.

Indiana’s defense wasn’t nearly as stout. The Hoosiers had trouble containing Francis Folefac (3-of-3, 5-of-7 from the line, 12 points) and Gavin Doty (4-of-6, 4-of-5 from the line, 12 points).

With Wilkerson struggling in the second half, Tayton Conerway helped fill the scoring void. The Troy transfer got to the rim out of the full-court press and in the halfcourt, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

“I thought the second half we just lost a little bit of our edge at both ends of the floor,” Darian DeVries said after the game. “The first half, we were getting stops, which allowed us to get out in transition, allowed us to get our shooters free. The second half, we weren’t quite as stingy defensively. We were taking the ball out of the net a lot more, and the game really slowed down at that point.”

Indiana wraps up the non-conference schedule at No. 28 on KenPom with an adjusted defensive efficiency that ranks 17th nationally. You’ll take those numbers, no doubt.

But for all the talk of Indiana’s offense, its 3-point shooting and its movement, it’s lagging at No. 55 in adjusted offensive efficiency. The Hoosiers need to find other ways to score effectively against better teams, ones we’ve seen slow them down, take away their first options on offense and make them uncomfortable.

After a long break, the Hoosiers return to action on Jan. 4 against Washington and have a tough January ahead. We’ll see then just what Indiana’s made of. It ain’t gonna be easy.

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