Key takeaways from the 89-73 loss for Indiana basketball to Gonzaga

Indiana basketball had another major letdown in a massive potential opportunity in an 89-73 loss to No. 3 Gonzaga.

Indiana is now 0-2 in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The Hoosiers will now play the loser of Davidson and Providence on Friday.

Here are the key takeaways from IU’s loss.

Defense is the strength of Mike Woodson … but 57 points at half: Woodson continues to harp on how IU’s defense isn’t where it needs to be and that’s accurate after giving up 57 points to Gonzaga in the first half. The Hoosiers struggled to keep ball handlers in front, struggled to rebound the ball and struggled to defend the paint. Gonzaga had 34 points in the paint and shot 53 percent from the field — scoring at will. With no real shot blocker, if IU’s guards are unable to defend on the perimeter, there will continue to be issues.

Oumar Ballo dominates: Like Malik Reneau was on Wednesday, Oumar Ballo was the lone bright spot for the Hoosiers on Thursday. He finished with 25 points on 11-of-13 from the field — the rest of the Indiana basketball roster was 16-of-46 from the floor. Ballo dominated in every aspect of the game and made his first nine shots of the afternoon before his first miss. He had 17 of the first 31 points for Indiana. This was the best that Ballo has played this season and the most energy and biggest presence he showed offensively — a welcomed sight for Indiana.

First half run for Gonzaga: It was 33-31 with 8:11 left in the first half … then a 24-8 run, sparked by a 21-2 run opened the floodgates. Indiana went 4:46 without scoring and put the Hoosiers in a major hole. IU went away from Ballo and struggled to get any sort of rhythm on that end of the floor. Why? Ball watching. There is so much one-on-one action, whoever doesn’t have the ball continues to stand and watch. That’s easy, extremely easy to defend.

Guard play non-existent … again: Much like Wednesday’s game against Louisville, Indiana’s backcourt was nowhere to be found. Indiana’s trio combined for 16 points on 6-of-22 from the floor with eight fouls. That group was outplayed once again, while Gonzaga’s starting guard trio combined for 42 points on 13-of-31 from the floor. Even better? Ryan Nembhard had 13 assists while IU’s trio combined for nine. Indiana’s inability to make shots from the perimeter is amplified even more when they are inefficient at attacking the basket and making plays for teammates. This is now back-to-back games where IU’s guard were incapable of keeping pace with their counterparts. That’s inexcusable and a major, major problem.

Indiana’s inability of containing teams on the glass continues: This has been an issue all season long and was no different on Thursday as Gonzaga outrebounded IU 42-27. Not only was it lopsided overall, but the Zags had 13 offensive rebounds and had 23 second chance points compared to Indiana’s four. No Indiana player had more than five rebounds, while only four players had more than one rebound. The front courts were as follows: Gonzaga 17, Indiana 9. That can’t happen if Indiana basketball wants to be competitive game in and game out and too often it has been a major issue this season.

SEE ALSO: A week of opportunity has turned into week of major questions as Indiana basketball finds itself on the wrong side of another high-major blowout

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