A disaster of a final play dooms Indiana against Maryland

The final minute of the game against Maryland was a basketball disaster for the Hoosiers.

Julian Reese gets an easy look at the rim out of a Maryland timeout taken after an Indiana turnover. He gets the ball and all he has to do is post up and back down a guard. Two points.

A few plays later, all Ja’Kobi Gillespie has to do is drive through Trey Galloway. He does, getting into the paint and getting a floater to go. Two more points.

Second to last and certainly not least, Rodney Rice gets open from long range off of a screen and drills a go-ahead 3-pointer. Three points.

Now Indiana has to score. The Hoosiers have blown the meager lead they’ve managed to seize in the closing minutes of a matchup they’d spent 29 minutes of trailing. Rice, with the ball and some time on his side, has the burst and speed to generate his own, pretty reliable look at the rim.

He doesn’t get the chance. Mike Woodson takes a timeout and, seconds later, confusion completely sets in.

Nobody seems to know who should be on the floor. Goode goes to sub in and everyone currently on the court looks confused. Who’s going out? It’s Anthony Leal, pretty much the only reason the Hoosiers had any chance here late.

Then… here comes Mackenzie Mgbako into the game as well. Out goes Ballo. That’s two three point shooters on the floor, down by one. Trey Galloway gets ready to inbound.

Where does the ball go? Well to Rice, right? He has the speed to make something happen or maybe even get to the foul line at least. One of the shooters? Well you do not need a three here, nobody’s ever needed a three less.

Oh it goes to Rice all right…. in the left corner… where he’s completely cornered next to Malik Reneau… and all he can do is fire off a turnaround jumper that hits… nothing.

At some level, especially in the very last instance, all of this comes down to coaching.

The players were in a bad position when Reese got that bucket to go. Gillespie, one of the Terps’ best players and the most dangerous with the ball in his hands, should’ve faced more resistance getting into the painted area. All of that set up a go ahead 3-point attempt that, while admittedly hard to guard, isn’t impossible.

Then there’s that final play.

That was a disaster from start to finish. The best coaching decision in that situation would’ve been to place trust in your best ballhandler, Rice, to do what he does best.

Rice was in a position to succeed. Down two, he had the exact tools that Indiana needed to score and do so quickly thanks to his overall burst and speed with the ball. Instead, Indiana took the ball out of his hands where he’s best with it by calling a timeout.

It got even worse. As stated above, nobody involved in that final play looked like they knew what was going on, not even in the slightest. The players on the floor looked confused at the substations and the substitutions themselves didn’t look like they knew what to do either.

Myles Rice indicated as much after the game, saying that the subs confused the players but it’s on them to understand what the play is supposed to be.

(Which, by the way, you’ve seen players get upset at one another for defensive miscues for multiple games now. This isn’t a one time thing where it’s an issue of understanding.)

It’s not. The guys on the floor were not put into a position to succeed beginning with that timeout call. If you’re an opposing coach and you get to pick what the opposing team runs on a game deciding play, you’re probably drawing up something as futile as whatever ended up happening here.

It was coaching malpractice. Plain and simple.