This version of Indiana men’s basketball, the second team of the Darian DeVries era, is built just about entirely around its ability to rebound the basketball.
DeVries said so multiple times throughout the offseason and Indiana’s strength and physicality was on full display throughout its preseason exhibition run. It didn’t need all that against Eastern Illinois or Bellarmine because it had enough talent to overwhelm those teams on both ends.
So it’s a bit interesting how crucial that was in these
Hoosiers’ first game that counts against a high-major opponent. Indiana just eked out an 83-80 win over a Syracuse team playing its first season under new head coach Gerry McNamara.
It was a close one for about all forty minutes, with neither team managing an extended run. Indiana spent 16:03 leading while Syracuse spent 18:28. Indiana’s largest lead was the 5-point margin it held in the final twelve seconds while Syracuse’s was 7 points about midway through the first half.
Syracuse made the most of its time with the ball though, shooting 50.9% from the field and 42.1% from 3. Indiana did not, shooting 41.9% from the field and 36% from 3. It’s just that the Hoosiers ended up taking seven more shots than the Orange because they won the rebounding battle 37-28, turning 14 offensive rebounds into 12 second chance points.
Under ideal circumstances, Indiana’s rebounding allows it to overwhelm opponents while building up a strong lead, not stick around in a game where it’s having trouble scoring the ball.
Indiana had the most trouble in the first half when the Hoosiers shot just 37.1% from the field and went 3-14 from 3. Darren Harris, who finished the game tying the team lead with 20 points, went 0-4 from deep in the first 20 minutes. It’s good that the Hoosiers found their way in the second half, but the difference was going 6-11 from deep.
That’s not even mentioning the defensive woes from this one as Syracuse just kept finding ways to score to build or maintain a lead while keeping Indiana from building one of its own. The Orange found enough favorable mismatches to stay competitive while the Hoosiers’ shots were falling, something that can’t happen too often this year.
It’s good that Indiana’s identity led to a win. It still has a few things to figure out, namely offensive efficiency to keep this performance from turning into a trend.
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