BLOOMINGTON — IU entered her national television game on CBS against Michigan with momentum. That momentum, created by an emotional midweek victory over No. 4 Purdue, was wasted on Sunday.
IU followed up that trademark win by getting beaten 80-62 at home by a Michigan team struggling to stay above .500. Throughout the entire game, IU led for a total of 95 seconds. IU had a chance to jump into the Top 25 with a win over the Wolverines. Instead, they lost in uninspiring fashion, a disappointing first home loss of the season.
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IU had ended a long losing streak with victory over Purdue on Thursday. But, the streak against Michigan continues. Here are three reasons why IU lost to Michigan for the eighth straight time:
IU started flat and never recovered
IU forward Michael Durr said at a news conference on Saturday that he and his teammates had talked about not starting flat after the excitement of Thursday’s on-court storm.
However, IU started out flat.
Very quickly, IU found herself down 21-9, then 29-13. His shooting percentage was in the low 30s and Michigan seemed to be hitting everything.
The Hoosiers played an early stretch that lacked energy, immensely. It’s easy to fall flat on your face after such an emotional high. Purdue’s win was perhaps IU’s biggest in years. It restored energy and enthusiasm to Bloomington.
But that momentum did not hold. IU found herself down early and spent the rest of the game trying to get out of a hole.
IU did not defend, at all, the perimeter
A way to kill any comeback? Let the opponent respond with a 3. Michigan seemed to do that every time.
Or really as a whole, Michigan seemingly made every chance it got on 3s. IU didn’t make it particularly difficult either. The Hoosiers played horrible defense on the perimeter.
Michigan made 11 of 17 3-pointers. At one point in the second half, Michigan was shooting 74% from deep. Many of those gazes were wide open.
Caleb Houstan was more like the highly touted five-star recruit fresh out of high school. He made five 3s. Hunter Dickinson has become one of the best post players in the nation, but he proved to be another Michigan weapon from deep, hitting three 3-pointers. He had 25 total points in a dominant effort.
UI was never adjusted. Collectively, an IU defense that has been so stingy on field goal percentage allowed, yielded the highest percentage they have to any team all season: 57%.
IU stuck around for a while, but was never able to keep up with Michigan’s all-star shootout. IU shot 5-for-19 from 3-point range. He lost explosively because of that.
IU wasn’t particularly good around the rim, where she has to be good
IU is not a great shooting team. Their offense largely comes from points in the paint. IU had 32, that made up the bulk of IU’s offense.
But in turn he missed 14 layups. IU shot 10 of 24 on layups in the loss.
As IU fell further and further behind while Michigan continued to hit 3-pointers, she was not helping herself at all on the offensive end.
IU had actually picked up her offense from a slow start to 39% shooting in the game.
Trayce Jackson-Davis had 17 points. Xavier Johnson had 14. They tried to put some energy, any energy, into IU’s offense. Nothing worked. No one else at IU scored more than nine points.
At both ends, a forgettable effort.
Michigan 80, Indiana 62
MICHIGAN (9-7): Diabate 2-6 6-7 10, Dickinson 9-12 4-6 25, Brooks 1-4 0-0 2, Jones 3-7 1-1 7, Houston 7-12 0-0 19, Williams 4-5 0-0 10, Bufkin 0-2 0-0 0, Johns 2-2 0-0 5, Collins 1-1 0-0 2, Faulds 0-0 0-0 0, Howard 0- 0 0-0 0. Totals 29-51 11-14 80.
INDIANA (14-5): Jackson-Davis 6-13 5-6 17, Kopp 2-2 0-0 5, Thompson 4-11 0-0 9, Johnson 5-11 4-7 14, Stewart 3-7 0 -0 9, Galloway 0-5 0-0 0, Phinisee 1-6 0-0 2, Geronimo 1-3 0-0 2, Durr 2-2 0-0 4, Bates 0-1 0-0 0, Duncomb 0-1 0-0 0, Loyal 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 9-13 62.
Halftime—Michigan 38-30. 3-point goals_Michigan 11-17 (Houstan 5-7, Dickinson 3-4, Williams 2-2, Johns 1-1, Brooks 0-1, Bufkin 0-1, Jones 0-1), Indiana 5-19 (Stewart 3-6, Kopp 1-1, Thompson 1-4, Johnson 0-2, Galloway 0-3, Phinisee 0-3). Rebounds_Michigan 34 (Dickinson 9), Indiana 24 (Jackson-Davis 8). Assists_Michigan 18 (Jones 7), Indiana 15 (Johnson 6). Total fouls_Michigan 16, Indiana 14.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism