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Indiana men’s basketball: Nobody is coming to save these Hoosiers

February 18, 2024 by The Crimson Quarry

Indiana v Northwestern
Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

A lost season.

Trey Galloway did everything he could.

Getting to the rim off the bounce, dishing the ball down low and out to the arc and keeping Boo Buie from getting comfortable when they were both on the floor. He finished with 7 points, 3 rebounds and 12 assists in 40 minutes.

He’s been asked to power this time nearly the entire year after Xavier Johnson went down with an injury. In that capacity he has done his best, playing as much as the staff needs him to and never taking a minute off when he’s on the court.

But nobody can save Indiana this year. Nobody on the roster right now at least.

The Hoosiers are circling the drain and falling to the bottom of the conference. If not for a surprise comeback win in Columbus (that probably helped seal Chris Holtmann’s fate) they’d have just a single win in their last eight games.

That’s not good enough at Indiana. Not with all the resources the program has at its disposal, especially in the age of NIL.

But to say Indiana shouldn’t lose to Northwestern wouldn’t be giving enough credit to what the Wildcats have become lately under Chris Collins. The team is well-coached, plays as a unit and gives all the effort it can muster to win ballgames.

Collins was without his best player due to foul trouble and sent a lineup onto the floor that he said he would’ve never imagined using in a late season game against Indiana. That lineup built and maintained a lead against Indiana.

That’s because Collins built something over time. Indiana threw together a team that didn’t fit on paper and the results have been even worse than expected.

Countless other programs around the country would do unspeakable things for everything Indiana has going for it. This version of the program, at least currently, is currently sitting at 10th in the league standings with resources that outpace pretty much all of its peers.

It has the talent, Indiana rolls out a starting lineup that includes two McDonald’s All-Americans and three former top-100 recruits. What isn’t present:

  • Any reliable outside shooting.
  • Reliable play from a dinged up backcourt.
  • Any sort of system or style to maximize the talent it has.

It falls on roster construction and cannot be fixed in season. Indiana has an open scholarship spot that could’ve been used on a guard. Just a guy with experience who can dribble the ball and hit shots when nobody is looking at him.

That, truly, would’ve been enough to provide at least some help for this team. Instead Galloway is out there doing his best to save it from itself.

The Hoosiers have a good amount of speed and athleticism on the roster. On its best day, that’d turn into points in transition because it can beat guys down the floor on a reliable enough basis.

But you have to get stops to do that. And the (as of writing) 96th most efficient defense in the country isn’t gonna do that. Indiana still gets outshot from deep, lets up too many open shots and can’t play to its strengths.

Then, in the half court, the two-big approach that has seemingly come out of nowhere for Mike Woodson, a coach who has never run his offense through the post until he had Trayce Jackson-Davis, creates more problems than anything.

Galloway, Indiana’s sole reliable creator, has to dribble through multiple bodies just to get to the rim because the spacing is out of wack. He spends more time on the ground than he does on the bench.

It just doesn’t work. Nothing here works.

Players, to their credit, have gotten better. Mackenzie Mgbako looks much more comfortable on the floor than he did in November, Galloway has risen to the occasion as de facto point guard and Kel’el Ware is Indiana’s best player on a night-to-night basis.

But still, that isn’t enough.

Indiana isn’t getting any better. This is just what it is: a bad team.

Filed Under: Indiana

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