Key takeaways from the Indiana basketball 73-64 loss to Oregon

Indiana basketball wrapped up its west coast trip with a 1-1 week and a 73-64 loss to Oregon in a tight battle on Tuesday night.

It was a matchup that rarely went past a one possession lead for any team for the majority of the second half until Oregon took control late.

Here are the key takeaways from IU’s loss.

Second chance points the deciding factor: Indiana basketball has been able to dominate on the glass from a defensive rebounding perspective — but that wasn’t the case on Tuesday. After giving up 10+ offensive rebounds in four of the first seven games of the year, IU went the next 22 games only giving up double-digit offensive rebounds four times. Oregon blew past that number with 15 offensive rebounds and converted nearly every opportunity, with 23 second chance points. Indiana’s energy on the defensive end was there, but it was very much unable to finish out possessions, sometimes giving the Ducks two or three different looks. Oregon’s second chance points were a season high for the Ducks.

Three-point shooting: Oregon came in as a top-3 shooting team from three in Big Ten play and averaged 8.2 made 3s a game. Indiana’s perimeter defense has struggled at times, but more importantly, its ability to connect on 3s and keep pace with terrific shooting teams was a weakness. Oregon, which was shooting 40.8 percent over the last six games, was held to just 6-of-25, including 1-of-9 in the second half, while IU was 9-of-25 from three — a major change as five of the last seven games were sub 31 percent performances from three. While shooting has typically been the issue, it wasn’t for Indiana on Tuesday.

Kanaan Carlyle’s quality minutes a huge positive: Indiana has been getting better play from its bench over the recent winning streak and with some positive moments from Kanaan Carlyle as well. But Tuesday was a different level of production from the IU guard. Carlyle had scored just 12 points total over the last seven games combined and on Tuesday he had eight points. That included two made 3s, after making two over that same span. It was even bigger for Indiana to have Carlyle on the floor with the speed and athleticism of Oregon’s backcourt. Carlyle has always played hard and brought good energy again, but his offensive production was a major boost that had not, and has not, been there for the majority of the year. If IU is going to get inconsistent play from Myles Rice — like today’s 1-of-7 performance — and limited scoring from Anthony Leal, production from Carlyle is significant.

Late game scoring slump: It’s been one of the struggles for Indiana basketball all season — the long stretches of play without points or made field goals. After taking a two-point lead with 8:19 left, Indiana went 1-of-8 over the next six minutes and 2-of-12 to close out the game and struggled to maintain the momentum it had carried over at the start of the second half. Indiana missed three shots inside the paint during that stretch, including two layups at the rim as well. Oregon would go on to end the game on a 10-0 run to seal the win.

Another opportunity slips away: This isn’t the first game that Indiana let slip away — but this is one that will sting more than the other based on where we’re at in the season. If Indiana won this, it would’ve nearly sealed its spot in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, IU finishes the year 4-12 in Quad 1 games and will now look back at games like Maryland, the first Purdue matchup, Michigan, UCLA and now tonight as games that could’ve easily swung in IU’s favor, if one or two small bounces went its way. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way and now Indiana is left asking ‘what if’.

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