3 reasons IU lost to Rutgers: Scarlet Knights beat Hoosiers for sixth straight time
Fresh off its emotional mid-week win over a ranked North Carolina, IU men's basketball came crashing back down to earth in its Big Ten opener. The short-handed Hoosiers struggled offensively against Rutgers, and chants of "Overrated" and "Hoosier daddy" rained down upon them in the second half of their 63-48 defeat Saturday at the Jersey Mike's Arena.
Here are three reasons the eighth-ranked Hoosiers (7-1) suffered their first loss of the season.
Rutgers committed to stopping Trayce Jackson-Davis
Three days after carving up North Carolina to the tune of 21 points and 10 rebounds, Trayce Jackson-Davis found himself in a crowd of Scarlet Knights (6-2) every time he touched the ball in the post. The forward only attempted five shots in the first half, frequently forced to pass out of the double team to avoid committing a turnover. He finished with a quiet 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Race Thompson (scoreless on four shots) also struggled, forcing the Hoosiers to move away from the pound-it-inside bully-ball that guided it to seven wins to open the season.
IU had no choice but to rely more on its guards than usual and shot 6-for-21 from 3-point range as it briefly crawled back into the game after trailing for much of the first 25 minutes. Jalen Hood-Schifino was out with back spasms, so Trey Galloway got the start in the backcourt opposite Xavier Johnson. Without the five-star freshman Hood-Schifino, a steady, calming presence with the ball in his hands, the offense struggled to find its rhythm for much of the game against an aggressive Rutgers perimeter defense and committed 14 turnovers, off of which the Scarlet Knights scored 13 points.
Miller Kopp kept IU afloat
The fifth-year senior has run hot and cold in his second season at Indiana. A 3-point specialist dating back to his days at Northwestern, he entered the game shooting 52% from deep, but had only taken three shots in the past two games. He opened the day against Rutgers by stepping into a trey from the wing and stayed hot for the rest of the game, keeping the Hoosiers in the game as his teammates struggled from the outside.
When Rutgers switched to a zone defense in the second half, Kopp took advantage of the increased open looks. His 3-pointer with 15 minutes remaining tied the game and was part of a 9-0 run that saw IU take its first lead since early in the first half. He scored 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.
IU came back and ran out of gas
The Hoosiers took the lead 37-35 in the second half and proceeded to allow Rutgers to score 17 straight points to put the game away. The Scarlet Knights' swarming defense stepped up as any offensive momentum IU had found dissipated. The Jersey Mike's Arena crowd grew louder as Rutgers took advantage of Indiana mistakes, harassing guards well beyond the 3-point line, preventing Indiana from getting into its offense and running off of turnovers.
Indiana eventually got the lead back down to single digits, but couldn't do enough on offense — take care of the ball, make open shots when they were available, find a balanced attack — to overcome playing from behind for the entire night.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU basketball vs. Rutgers: Scarlet Knights hand Hoosiers first loss
