IU basketball: Wisconsin at Indiana — The report card

Sounds the alarms, Indiana won!  Too soon for alarm jokes?

The Hoosiers started strong against nemesis Wisconsin, running out to a 32-17 lead with 6:09 left.  But from there the Badgers started to chip away, and trailed by just five at halftime.  At the 10:31 mark of the second half, Wisconsin completed the comeback, tying the game at 54.  After the game was suspended for 20 minutes due to a fire alarm, Wisconsin led by two with 2:06 left.  But Indiana closed the game on a 6-0 run to win it.

Let’s take a deeper look at how IU won 74-70 with another edition of The Report Card.

Indiana (15-13, 7-10) will next travel to Maryland for a Sunday afternoon contest.

COACHING (B+)

Mike Woodson deserves major credit for getting his team to show up and play hard.  Yes, that’s his job, but it isn’t always a given in these situations when seasons appear to be spiraling out of control.  It was apparent from the opening tip Indiana was ready to play.

Equally important:  After his team dropped a 15-point lead, Woodson and his team were able to find answers late.

Woodson also continues to show he is not fixed on a set rotation.  This time it was C.J. Gunn out of the lineup.  In general the right buttons were pressed.  Woodson did make a somewhat questionable decision to play Payton Sparks when Kel’el Ware needed a rest instead of inserting Reneau with two fouls.  That was the point at which the lead started slipping away in the first half.

There was some kind of miscommunication late in the game that led to Malik Reneau’s fifth foul, and while the decision to use fouls late in games makes sense, Indiana’s execution always seems choppy at best.

OFFENSE (B+)

On paper Wisconsin should have matched up reasonably well with Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau, given that they have their own 7-footer in Steven Crowl, and a solid power forward in Tyler Wahl.  Ware and Reneau were certainly central to Wisconsin’s game plan.

But the IU big men were too much, combining for 41 points on 17-of-20 shooting.

“Those two draw a lot of attention and we didn’t do a good enough job on both of those guys,” said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard.

Part of the answer for IU was good spacing rather than a crowded lane.  And Indiana went to a heavy dose of ball screen offense late in the game to secure the win.  Trey Galloway was masterful at facilitating in those actions, producing 12 assists on the night.

The Hoosiers were unable to be effective on the offensive glass, with just four boards on that end.

Indiana scored 1.18 points per possession.  That was their highest mark since the first Wisconsin game, and second-highest against a high-major team this season.  Their effective field goal percentage of 68.1 percent was a season-high.  That included 70 percent from two and 43 percent from three.

DEFENSE (B)

The Badgers closed the game with six straight misses.  That was the end of a 4-of-16 finish to the game by them over the final eight minutes as Indiana clamped down.  The Hoosiers were also solid at the start of the contest, when UW made just 7-of-23 over the opening 14:22.

In between things got dicey.

Wisconsin made the wise decision to put their big man Steven Crowl out on the perimeter, which pulled Kel’el Ware out with him.  That opened up driving lanes for the Badgers and they took full advantage.  Indiana didn’t always have the quickness to stay in front of ball on those drives.  But led by Reneau, they did limit Wahl to a 4-of-11 game from the field.

Indiana survived some open Wisconsin looks from three, but the Badgers made just 8-of-26 from long range.

The unheralded stat of the night might have been that Wisconsin only shot three free throws.  This is a program that has seemingly lived at the stripe against IU.  Credit the Hoosiers for being fundamentally sound and only committing eight fouls for the entire game, including some that were intentional.  The Badgers are a very good free throw shooting team, so keeping them off the line matters.

That low volume of freebies helped offset just three forced turnovers by IU.  Wisconsin had to score from the field to win, and they weren’t efficient enough, especially at crunch time.

Wisconsin scored 1.11 points per possession, which isn’t a great figure, but a massive improvement over the 1.4 the Badgers scored against IU in Madison.

MORE GAME COVERAGE

THE PLAYERS

*Trey Galloway (B) For the second time in two weeks, Galloway produced a 12 assist game. Four of the assists came in the game’s final six minutes, along with a floater in the final two.  You know the story, he didn’t make threes.  But he also didn’t practice the last two days due to a foot injury, and he was exceptional in this game otherwise.

*Mackenzie Mgbako (B+) In the game’s final 5:35 Mgbako made a three, had a block and made two critical free throws.  He was clutch.  Mgbako wasn’t a factor on the glass and got caught up in some difficult defensive matchups, but this was another step forward.

*Malik Reneau (B+) Foul trouble once again limited Reneau’s role, and he had late game turnover that could have proven costly.  But on the whole this was a solid effort, including a difficult shot in the paint with under a minute remaining that proved to be the game-winner.  He’s also continuing to improve when it comes to reading post doubles.

*Kel’el Ware (A) The sophomore center was in the zone in the first half, making his first eight shots including a three.  His five blocks were a career high, and he took care of the ball.  Ware is the second player this season in Division I College Basketball to record at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocked shots in a game.  This was a game that made his NBA Draft status a no-doubter.

*Gabe Cupps (C+) The freshman guard was steady if not a major factor in this one.  He wasn’t a great defensive matchup once Wisconsin started emphasizing the dribble drive.

Anthony Leal (B) The senior guard gave IU solid minutes in the clutch with a tough, physical defensive presence, and he made a three.

Xavier Johnson (D) Johnson made a couple shots in his return, but obviously his five turnovers in just 15 minutes were problematic.  He tried to force the issue into crowds at times.

Anthony Walker (B) Walker played important minutes with Reneau in foul trouble.

Payton Sparks saw limited action.

C.J. Gunn and Kaleb Banks did not play, coach’s decision.

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Jakai Newton (knee) is out long-term.

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

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