IU adds to resume as NCAA tournament seeding comes into focus: 'This game was important.'
BLOOMINGTON — Mike Woodson called Indiana’s win over Illinois a separation game. The Hoosiers entered the day with a better resume than the Illini, albeit a similar one. IU had nine Big Ten wins. Illinois stepped into Assembly Hall with eight. Indiana is 17th in the country in NET rankings, 11 spots ahead of Illinois. Saturday provided an opportunity to increase the gap.
The Hoosiers’ ugly, gritty, come-from-behind 71-68 victory was important in the mental, theoretical sense of further proving they could beat quality opponents when they aren’t playing their best. There were tangible consequences of the sweep of Illinois, effects on IU’s standing in a rapidly approaching NCAA and Big Ten tournaments.
“If they (Illinois) win, they separate,” Woodson said. “Even though we've got a long way to go still, this game was important.”
During the game, the NCAA selection committee revealed its first bracket, where things stand among the top 16 teams with two weeks remaining in the regular season. IU, pre-Illinois win, was No. 13, sharing a region with Alabama, Baylor and Virginia as the top four seed. Saturday's win also keeps the Hoosiers in line for the all-important double-bye in the Big Ten tournament.
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Beating the Illini gave IU another Quad 1 win, its sixth of the season. Given the breakdown of the Hoosiers’ schedule, it may have also been their best chance at a major resume-boosting win until the Big Ten tournament. Up next is Michigan State on the road, followed by another road game against No. 3 Purdue, who fell to Indiana earlier this month. The Hoosiers close the season with Michigan and Iowa, both outside the qualifications for a Quad 1 opponent, at home.
Purdue’s stronghold on first place in the Big Ten has slipped in recent weeks, but the Boilermakers still lead the conference at 12-4. Northwestern and IU are second and third at 10-5 and 10-6, respectively, followed by a glut in the middle: six teams, including Illinois, have either eight or nine wins.
In beating the Illini, Indiana broke away from the concentrated pack, a boon to its already sunny tournament seeding. It also holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Illinois should conference tournament seeding come down to it, having won when they played in Champaign in January.
It all led to the micro moments at the end of the game having consequences reaching far beyond the events on the court.
Saturday, IU shot 43.9% from the field. Its two most productive players throughout the season, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino, combined to commit 10 turnovers. Players that weren’t Miller Kopp shot 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
But in the final minute, the Hoosiers made plays: a pair of big free throws from Hood-Schifino, a press-break dunk as Jackson-Davis put the finishing touches on his 26-point day.
“I gauge things on what happens at the end of the game,” Woodson said. “If it's a close game. A lot of it's on me. Yeah, I live my fantasies through these guys to see who's going to make plays. That's what I get excited about.”
Those plays were about more than the result of a single game. The season is at a point of narrower margins, less room for error and time to catch up if things veer off-course. They were plays that allowed Indiana to separate itself from Illinois both in the game and the season.
The Hoosiers needed all of them in the 3-point victory. They’ll need a similar grit in March games in which they don’t play at their best. Saturday was a step in making the path as easy as possible.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU basketball vs. Illinois: Hoosiers add to NCAA tournament resume
