Following an upset loss on the road at Minnesota, Indiana had a shot to preserve its AP Top 25 ranking with a win today over top 10 Louisville. A neutral site game in a city already buzzing for the school’s
first Big Ten Championship football game should have provided the perfect setting for Indiana to find its rhythm again.
Instead, Indiana came out even slower than it had all season, effectively losing the game in the first ten minutes of the first half. With turnovers on each of their first two possessions, the Hoosiers had given up a free throw and field goal before even attempting a shot of their own.
Head coach Tucker DeVries, hoping to avoid a winless week, turned to his bench early, bringing Sam Alexis and Trent Sisley off the bench within the first five minutes. His adjustments weren’t enough to stop the bleeding though, and Louisville was able to get out to a 16-0 lead in just over five minutes of play that the Cardinals never surrendered, despite some spirited runs from Indiana.
Whenever the Hoosiers got within striking range, Louisville answered with a 3-pointer to reclaim a more comfortable lead and negate any momentum Indiana built on its runs.
The first of these daggers came after Indiana finally found the scoreboard, getting eight points back in a hurry behind a dunk from Alexis and a pair of threes from Tucker DeVries. After cutting the lead back to single digits, the Hoosiers gave up a three on the other end to Sananda Fru.
Indiana started the second half poorly with another pair of empty offensive possessions, before once again drawing within eight on a Lamar Wilkerson 3-pointer with just over 13 minutes left in the game. This time it was Ryan Conwell from Louisville who hit the three to take back momentum, but the result was the same.
After such a miserable start, Indiana’s fight throughout the game was impressive. With under two minutes to play, the Hoosiers were able to pull within ten again a few time, but couldn’t string together enough stops or made baskets to really threaten Louisville.
At the end of the day, Indiana’s fight and resilience is a hollow victory for a team that came looking for its first quality win of the season and came up empty in front of one of the friendliest non-home crowds it will see all season.
