Indiana was reminded it’s a notch below the nation’s best on the road.

The Hoosiers kept the margin within single digits throughout the entirety of the first half, and were down just five on multiple occasions in the final four minutes before the break.  But an 11-0 second half Illinois run gave the Illini a 54-36 lead with 12:33 left.  And that was all she wrote.

Let’s take a deeper look at how Indiana lost 71-51 in Champaign with our latest edition of The Report Card.

The Hoosiers (17-9, 8-7) will travel to Purdue on Friday.

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OFFENSE (D)

At 51 points, Indiana was held to its lowest scoring output of the season.  At .90 points per possession, the Hoosiers were held to their second least efficient game of the season.

This was a game where troubles on one end bled into the other.  Indiana felt its best chance to score in this game would be broken floor opportunities in transition off Illinois misses and turnovers.  But Illinois’ ability to get offensive rebounds and limit turnovers meant more often than not the Hoosiers were taking the ball out of the basket and forced to run half court offense.

IU coach Darian DeVries liked his team’s shot selection from 3-point range, but the results left much to be desired.  The Hoosiers made their fourth-fewest threes in a game on the season, tied for their second-fewest attempts, and shot their fourth-worst percentage.

Not making shots was fatal, because IU wasn’t scrambling in other ways to accumulate scoring opportunities.

Indiana didn’t get to the free throw line.  At 12.2%, their free throw rate (FTA/FGA) was the second-lowest of the year.  They took just six free throws for the game.  At with just four offensive rebounds, their 14.8% offensive rebounding rate was their third-lowest of the year.

DEFENSE (C+)

Indiana probably would have taken the deal if you offered them 43.9% shooting overall from Illinois, including just 22.6% from three.  IU actually held Illinois to its second-lowest point total of the season.

Like IU, the Illini missed plenty of good looks from long range.  But the plus side of their 24 misses from beyond the arc was long rebounds they were able to track down.

“They come off long and they’ve got 6-10, 7-foot everywhere where they can just grab it over the top of you,” IU coach Darian DeVries said.

Illinois grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and scored 17 second chance points.  That in large part explains why the Illini scored 1.26 points per possession, the third-most allowed by IU all season, despite their relatively poor shooting percentages.

That, and IU only forced two Illinois turnovers, for a season-low turnover percentage of 3.5%.  So Illinois got a shot on the rim on virtually every possession, and they got offensive rebounds on 41.7% of their misses.  Indiana never went to a bigger lineup to attempt to combat Illinois’ size, and the staff never attempted to increase the defensive pressure in order to create more takeaways. Eventually, it was just too much to overcome.

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THE PLAYERS (*starters)

*Tucker DeVries (C+) DeVries shot the ball reasonably well but wasn’t as much of a factor on the glass as he’d been recently, and he wasn’t able to facilitate the offense like he has on several occasions.  And early foul trouble helped Illinois grow its first half margin.

*Lamar Wilkerson (B) Indiana was only able to get Wilkerson five shots in the second half.  And he wasn’t able to connect on the limited open looks.  He was solid in the first half, making of 6 of 9 from the field.  He only scored two points in the final 16 minutes of the game and didn’t make a three in the final 28, but that was probably more on the staff than Wilkerson.

*Sam Alexis (B-) Alexis once again provided an inside scoring option for IU, and he competed on the glass.  The effort is there, but he wasn’t going to be able to contain Illinois on the glass on his own.

*Conor Enright (C) This just wasn’t a game where you felt Enright’s fingerprints all over it.  He was still a solid facilitator with six assists against two turnovers.  And he probably lost a bunch of assists as IU missed open looks.  But like most of his teammates, Enright struggled to contain dribble drives.

*Nick Dorn (D) Dorn’s shooting struggles are a concern.  He went 0 of 4 from three, and he’s 4 of 26 from deep over his last four games.  But just as concerning, Dorn had just two rebounds in 32 minutes.  It’s hard to point to a significant pattern of positive contributions.

Jasai Miles (C-) Miles made a three and competed on the glass, but was otherwise mistake and foul prone.  It’s interesting how he has taken minutes from Trent Sisley, because the results haven’t always seemed to justify that move.

Reed Bailey (C) Bailey had a nice drive for a score and had some moments as a facilitator.  He did grab some rebounds in his limited minutes. But not at the rate of Alexis. This was probably a game to try him and Alexis together to see if they could slow Illinois on the glass.

Trent Sisley, Tayton Conerway and Aleksa Ristic saw limited action.

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Andrej Acimovic did not play — coaches decision.

Jason Drake and Josh Harris were out with injuries.

For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE. 

The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

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