Disastrous start buries Indiana basketball from the beginning in frustrating road loss to Wisconsin

After playing an extremely competitive game on the road at Purdue last Friday, Indiana basketball made a complete 180 degree turn in tonight’s 76-64 loss to Wisconsin.

From the second the ball tipped off, Indiana looked like a shell of themselves from its previous game, showing a clear inability to knock down shots and defend opponents.

Early on in the first half Wisconsin had generated a 22 point lead over Indiana, torching Indiana 26-4 at the 12:38 mark in the first half.

Starters Anthony Leal and Malik Reneau were held scoreless in the first half, as Indiana shot 10-of-29 from the field and 4-of-15 from deep in the first half.

The team quickly was forced to turn to the bench to produce offense, as Trey Galloway, Luke Goode and Bryson Tucker combined to drop 29 points off the bench. The bench trio nearly outscored Indiana’s starters, who produced just 35 points across the entirety of the game.

Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson spoke his mind on the continuation of players not doing their jobs each night.

“Guys just didn’t step up again tonight. We got to get it fixed.”

Indiana bigs Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau failed on both ends of the court, which hurt Indiana immensely. The duo scored just 10 points, combining for a +/- of -23.

Woodson didn’t refrain from holding players accountable for their mistakes.

“Their bigs got away. I thought that was the difference. Malik and Ballo were terrible.”

In addition to Indiana’s poor offensive efforts in the first half, the team failed to defend Wisconsin, especially from beyond the arc. Wisconsin knocked down 9-of-16 three point attempts in the first half.

Wisconsin was known to be a strong three point shooting team, ranking sixth in the Big Ten in team wide three point shooting percentage, entering the contest shooting 36.3% from deep.

Woodson reflected on his team’s first half struggle on the defensive end.

“We were just awful defensively,” said Woodson. “I mean, just terrible. We knew coming in that this was a great 3-point shooting team and we still didn’t guard the 3-point line early on. I think they had nine at halftime and that was the major difference in the game.”

Indiana’s three point defense improved in the second half, forcing Wisconsin to shoot 3-of-13 from deep, but at that point, it was too late to have made any difference.

Indiana has now lost six of its last seven Big Ten conference games. The program now sits at 14-9 overall, having a 5-7 record in Big Ten play, 11th in the conference standings.

Woodson spoke on how essential it is for Indiana to win games going forward with the season nearing an end.

“We’re running out of games and I got to figure these next eight games because it’s going to be very pivotal for our basketball team in terms of making the tournament play.”

The team will attempt to get back on track at home on Saturday, facing #24 Michigan at 1 p.m. EST.

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