Key takeaways from the 89-61 loss for Indiana basketball against Louisville

Indiana basketball was embarrassed on Wednesday in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis event down in the Bahamas, losing 89-61 to the Louisville Cardinals.

It was a pivotal week for Indiana in many ways — but beating Louisville had the potential to set the Hoosiers up for some major non-conference matchups the next two games. In a disappointing non-conference schedule, this week was — in a major way — a make or break for the out of conference play.

Indiana now awaits the loser of West Virginia and No. 3 Gonzaga on Thursday.

Here are some of the initial reactions following IU’s loss.

Flat out embarrassing: There’s no other way to put it — this performance was an embarrassment for Indiana basketball. Time and time again, Indiana plays in signature events and signature matchups — for what? IU continues to get run out of the gym and Wednesday’s performance may have been the worst of them all because of what was on the line this week. Indiana’s lack of attention to detail, lack of preparedness and lack of fight was a disgrace and it starts and ends with the coaching staff and Mike Woodson. Indiana needed a big week and failed to even show up in the first game. We’ll see what happens next, but this could turn out to be a real fork in the road if things don’t get better quickly. Indiana has now lost by 20, 27, 28 and 28 points in the last four neutral site games.

Reactionary basketball for Indiana: When was the last time Indiana made an opponent change its gameplan? That was on full display on Wednesday with Indiana failing to provide any effort or discipline to the game plan or lack thereof. Louisville forced Indiana into every negative play on Wednesday and that was due to being the 100 percent aggressive team on both ends of the floor, and with its coaching. Indiana was walking, jogging or not moving at all on potential 50-50 balls. There was no effort or decision to force Louisville into anything. Time led for the Hoosiers? 0 seconds.

Guard play non-existent: We heard this offseason how much Indiana improved its guard play and that had been on display through the first few games of the season. Not today. It was terrible in every aspect. Myles Rice had three points on 1-of-11 shooting. Kanaan Carlyle was scoreless on 0-of-2. Trey Galloway was also scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting — a combined 1-of-15 from the floor. On the flip side, Checky Hepburn was phenomenal, finishing with 16 points, 10 assists and seven steals. Nine of Indiana’s 21 turnovers were from those trio of players. You can lose the backcourt matchup at times, but getting outscored by 25 by a starting backcourt is unacceptable.

Malik Reneau did everything he could: The lone bright spot was the play of Malik Reneau. Reneau brought energy, toughness and effort on every possession — and above all heart. He had 21 points on 7-of-12 from the field, hit two 3s and had seven rebounds and four assists. Reneau had 15 of the 29 first-half points for the Hoosiers and was the only reason it was a single-digit game at that point. Reneau scored at the rim, not he perimeter and even showcased an ability to put the ball on the floor and finish with some drives to the basket — a part of his game that he’s worked on since last year.

Gut check time: This week will now not be the result Indiana wants but there’s even more of an emphasis to finish with two wins with the likelihood they play West Virginia and Davidson is now on the table, outside of potentially Gonzaga and Arizona. Indiana needs to bounce back immediately and in a big way on Thursday. It’s too early to say this is a must win — but Thursday is as close to a must win as any at this point in the season, for a team that originally had high expectations. Those expectations and goals seem very far away after Wednesday’s performance. But, all sights are now how Indiana will respond.

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