Indiana men’s basketball keeps losing to the same type of team

Teams that space the floor and shoot the ball keep sending the Hoosiers home.

Two years. Two teams. One result: a loss.

Last year, Indiana was bounced in the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament by a Penn State squad that had already lit them up in the regular season. This year, Indiana was beaten in the quarterfinals by a Nebraska squad that had… already lit them up in the regular season.

Both of these teams have different styles, players and were constructed in different ways. But they both have one key thing in common: spacing the floor and shooting the ball from deep.

Here’s where each team ranked in 3P% and 3PA/FGA:

3-point %

• 2023 Penn State: 38.7% (7th)
• 2024 Nebraska: 36.0% (65th)

3PA/FGA

• 2023 Penn State: 47.1 (10th)
• 2024 Nebraska: 44.7 (28th)

Most Big Ten teams don’t play like this and Indiana certainly isn’t one of them.

The Hoosiers’ approach under three years of Mike Woodson has been two bigs at the four and five. The first two, Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis, didn’t really shoot much or well. The current iteration, Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware, can shoot but neither takes too many shots.

The offense has been built to run through the post or its frontcourt while the defense emphasizes a nail-slot-rim philosophy. It’s a style that was prevalent in the NBA during Woodson’s coaching tenure with the New York Knicks, the Pacers even used it at times in 2013.

It’s all about protecting the nail, the very middle of the free-throw line about 15 feet from the rim. The nail defender gets there to deter dribble penetration into the lane, but that can lead to his man being open on the perimeter.

Look here, Race Thompson is at the nail for this possession to deter a drive from Jalen Pickett. The latter recognizes this and passes out to Thompson’s man on the perimeter, Seth Lundy, one of many knockdown Nittany Lion shooters.

CBS Sports

Thompson closes out on Lundy and gets a hand up, textbook defense. Kopp, defending Pickett, goes to the nail. But Lundy rises and fires for an early 3 to get the scoring started for Penn State.

CBS Sports

It’s on Thompson to deter Pickett from driving there, but it’s also his responsibility to close out on Lundy if the ball goes his way. He does this, but the shot just goes in anyway.

During this matchup multiple players were defending the nail including Thompson, Jackson-Davis, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Reneau and Kopp. Ideally the guy at the nail has some length, quickness and athleticism to jump around that much and close out when necessary.

That’s why Indiana likes guys like Anthony Walker and Kaleb Banks, they have those traits.

But with this defense, open shooters are often just a pass away from the ball. It burned Indiana against multiple mid-majors in the nonconference slate and then power conference teams.

Indiana had a very new and young group that took time to understand the defense. It improved to a degree as the season goes on, but teams like Nebraska were still able to light Indiana up from the 3-point line.

Against teams full of shooters like Penn State and Nebraska, that’s trouble. It’s doubled when Indiana itself cannot counter with its own 3-point shooting. The Hoosiers don’t take or make many shots from deep, creating a chasm between them and opponents that two points just aren’t good enough to overcome.

It’s a double whammy. Indiana lets up 3-point shots and doesn’t take them on the other end. That means blowouts, and this iteration of Indiana has had a tendency to lose by double digits.

This has been a problem for the Hoosiers for two years now with no to minimal fixes. It’s less about the talent Indiana has than it is about the system itself. More teams are taking more 3s than ever, so more of them can leverage them against the Hoosiers, including the likes of Army and Florida Gulf Coast.

It’s something Indiana has to figure out and fix if the current staff wants some staying power.