Indiana Hoosiers: Time To Get Defensive

Jan 28, 2015; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers guard Bryson Scott (1) is fouled by Indiana Hoosiers forward Collin Hartman (30) as he drives to the basket in the first half at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sandra Dukes-USA TODAY Sports

If Tom Crean is to get his team to finally reach it’s full potential, the Hoosiers simply have to start playing defense with a purpose.

Much has been said for the Hoosiers high-octane offensive attack, and rightly so. Almost halfway through the Big Ten conference schedule, Indiana leads the conference is scoring, 3-point shooting percentage, and total field goal percentage. They’ve been ranked in or near the top 10 nationally in those categories for much of the season.

Even with their lack of interior size, IU comes in ranked a surprising third in rebounding margin in conference games, at +2.9 per contest. Obviously this speaks to the Hoosiers athletic ability, and willingness of all five players on the court to crash the boards.

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When firing on all cylinders, the Indiana offense has been a thing of beauty, as evident in their 19 point thrashing of #13 Maryland a few weeks back. ESPN’s Eamonn Brennan said it best. Indiana is one of the most watchable teams in the NCAA. With the up-and-down pace, their often superhuman outside shooting, and they’re overall team athleticism, Indiana games are a blast to watch. The problem? Offense sells tickets. Defense wins ball games. When Indiana’s offense take a night off, like it did in West Lafayette Wednesday night, things get ugly.

Surprisingly, while being overmatched in the size department, Indiana has done a pretty good job of keeping opposing big men from going off on them offensively. Even more surprisingly, it’s been the IU’s poor guard defense that has been their downfall.

Against Purdue and Ohio State, the opposing guards seemed to get to the rim at will. While starting guards Yogi Ferrell and Robert Johnson have both been billed as lock-down defenders, that really hasn’t been the case, especially in Big Ten play. In the last two contests, the starting guards for Boilers and Buckeyes combined for a total of over 80 points. Most of them were not from jump shots either. Indiana just can’t seem to keep people in front of them and cut off the driving angles. Indiana routinely gets outscored in the paint, but contrary to what you might think, it’s not the opponents’ bigger post players doing the damage. Their guards are getting uncontested lay-ups, and doing it on a consistent basis.

Once upon a time, when guys like Jordan Hulls and Matt Roth graced McCracken Court, it was said that IU just needed quicker, more athletic guards to take them to the next level. Enter Yogi Ferrell, Robert Johnson and James Blackmon. Athleticism and quickness, or lack thereof, can no longer be used as an excuse. While Yogi isn’t the tallest of guards, he might just be the quickest guard in the Big Ten. James Blackmon and Robert Johnson bring size and athletic ability into the fold. So why is it that they can’t seem to defend at a higher level?

Maybe its energy and effort, although it would sure seem to me that effort on one end of the floor would transfer to the other. Logic would seem to dictate that the intensity of Tom Crean’s practices would yield 110% in games.

Maybe it’s that they just don’t know how to play defense the way it needs to be played at this level? Purdue coach Matt Painter said after Wednesday’s game that they worked really hard on keeping the IU guards in front of them and cutting off the passing/driving lan es. While it’s hard to believe the Hoosiers don’t work on those things in practice, it hasn’t been apparent in the games of late.

Indiana’s guards have the talent and athletic ability to keep in front of their opponent. The only reason I can think of as to why they don’t is either poor defensive fundamentals (staying in stance, squaring your body with the opponent, etc) or poor defensive awareness. Both of these things can be fixed with coaching. The Hoosiers now have SIX D1 head coaches on their staff. I would hope one of them could teach perimeter defense.

I must admit, yes, I may have been overly critical at times with this Hoosier team. It’s because I see their potential. We’ve all seen what they CAN do. I just can’t figure out why they can’t do it on a consistent basis. All these guys are good basketball players. All of them seem to be great young men, but at some point, there has to be some tough love.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Coach Crean and his staff have done a tremendous job of playing to this team’s strengths, and evolving the offense to compensate for their lack of size. At the beginning of the season, if you told me we’d be 5-3 in the Big Ten and ranked in the top 25 at this point, I would have called you crazy and questioned your sobriety. Make no mistake, what this team has done, against all odds, is special, but this is Indiana. Hoosier Nation has gotten a taste of what this team can do. If Crean can coax consistent perimeter defense out of this bunch, they can surprise a lot of people, and compete with just about anyone in the country.

If that happens, there will be a lot of happy Hoosier fans come tourney time.

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