Hoosiers Woes Continue, Fall to Purdue

Hoosiers Woes Continue, Fall to Purdue

The losing streak continued for the Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon, as they struggled to match the intensity of the Purdue Boilermakers in a disappointing game.

The loss was just the most recent blemish in a season that is quickly spiraling downhill for the Hoosiers, now losers of four straight. Indiana dropped to 3-4 in Big Ten play, and their road record dropped to just 1-5 on the season.

Indiana encountered a similar game plan to the one employed by Nebraska in their previous outing, pack the paint and force Indiana to beat them with outside shooting. Yet, the Hoosiers couldn’t ever find a rhythm from behind the arc, converting just 4 of their 20 attempts. The shooting issues didn’t end there for the Hoosiers, as they also converted just 7 of their 18 free throw attempts along with 14 turnovers on the game. Indiana has struggled to find an identity on offense over their last two games, and Indiana’s lack of shooting (6-of-34 from the three over that same stretch) have made them far too easy to defend.

Romeo Langford also had his worst game of the season finishing just 2-of-10 from the field, including 0-of-4 from the free throw line. Two early fouls forced Langford to leave the game early, and the Freshmen never looked comfortable for the remainder of the game. Most of the team could not find any sort of rhythm on the offensive end, and outside of Justin Smith and Juwan Morgan, the Hoosiers shot just 9-33 from the field.

Despite the statistics, there is one noticeable flaw with this team that continues to surface game in and game out, which is a lack of intensity. While Purdue was diving for loose balls and feeding off the energy of the crowd, the Hoosiers were often left standing flat footed and watching. The Boilermakers looked like the team that wanted the game more, while Indiana looked hesitant and unsure of themselves. Archie Miller has talked at length about his disappointment with the team’s intensity level in their performance against Nebraska, and things did not look noticeably improved on that front in this game. Miller will need to find a way to get through to his team, as Indiana is consistently finding themselves on the losing end of effort plays.

The tough stretch of games for the Hoosiers will continue Tuesday when they travel Evanston, Illinois to take on Northwestern. The game on paper looks like a winnable one for the Hoosiers, but their recent play of late makes this team difficult to predict. After a promising start to the season, Indiana will need to find a way to correct a season that teeters on the brink of collapse.