IU coach Archie Miller offers his assessment of the Hoosiers' 92-72 loss to Fort Wayne on Monday. Zach Osterman/IndyStar
BLOOMINGTON – IU coach Archie Miller has now absorbed multiple lopsided defeats at home to mid-major in-state opponents, thanks to Monday’s 92-72 defeat to Fort Wayne.
If Indiana State was a stunner, Fort Wayne was an embarrassment for the Hoosiers, who fell to 6-6. Here are Three Reasons Why:
1. IU's defense still has disaster capabilities
Given Indiana State, Seton Hall and Michigan, among others, this shouldn’t be a total surprise. But when a Summit League team is doing this in Assembly Hall, it’s bound to be jarring.
IU entered play Monday 160th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, a number that had actually been creeping up the charts recently. It took a shot to the stomach thanks to the Mastodons.
â–º BOX SCORE: Fort Wayne 92, Indiana 72
Fort Wayne shot 51.7 percent from the floor Monday, and 56.7 from behind the arc. The Hoosiers committed 18 turnovers. Two Mastodons outscored Indiana’s leading scorer.
If you thought that the loss to the Sycamores was the season’s low point, you didn’t even have to wait until Christmas to find out otherwise.
IU Insider Zach Osterman recaps an ugly 92-72 defeat at the hands of another mid-major visitor, this time Fort Wayne. Zach Osterman/IndyStar
2. 3-point defense is the weakness
The 17 3s IU allowed Indiana State in the season opener can at least be qualified by the Sycamores’ respectable 3-point shooting numbers so far this season. Fort Wayne looked like evidence of a more worrisome problem.
Monday’s visitors arrived in Bloomington shooting just 34.5 percent from behind the arc. They improved significantly on that number thanks to their trip south, hitting 17-of-30 from distance.
Indiana’s problems defending the 3-point line are well-established, and that probably won’t change dramatically between now and the end of the season. The Hoosiers just aren’t good defending from distance.
The problem with that is it gives even poor 3-point shooting teams confidence. Opponents with problems of their own look at IU and believe they’ll hit the semi-contested shots, that the ones that just won’t go down will find a way, because Indiana is that poor.
And so it was Monday night.
3. Intangible questions
It’s easy and lazy to say Indiana “quit” Monday, or that the Hoosiers “didn’t care,” or whatever else frothed up out of social media’s postgame anger release.
That said, it’s not unfair to ask this team’s more experience players, its juniors and seniors, how this kind of result can be allowed to happen twice at home in one season. Indiana State, while stunning, could be explained by the choppiness of the coaching change.
But Fort Wayne, especially on the heels of three weeks broadly marked by improvement and capped with the overtime win against Notre Dame, can’t be shrugged off so easily.
This is undoubtedly a season of transition for Indiana. Miller will have designs on a much-changed roster and program within even just the next year or two.
In the meantime, those on his roster who can remember what it takes to win a Big Ten title must huddle with their coach, and figure out what it will take to avoid this kind of result. Again. At home.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
IU forwards Juwan Morgan and Collin Hartman speak to the media about the Hoosiers' 92-72 defeat at home to Fort Wayne. Zach Osterman/IndyStar
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