3 Takeaways from Indiana men’s basketball 81-60 loss at Michigan State

Indiana men’s basketball suffered its first real growing pains of the Darian DeVries era, getting blown out on the road against a top 15 Michigan State team. It was the first 20+ point loss DeVries’ tenure, but that won’t make it easier for Indiana fans used to seeing lopsided final scores and long scoring droughts.

Like most of Indiana’s five losses so far this year, Indiana had a chance to win this game. With 11:15 left in the second half, the game was tied at 53.

Continuing the trend of being unable to finish games, the Hoosiers wound up scoring just seven points and three field goals from that point on. With no reliable inside scoring options, Indiana turned it over 14 times, leading to 29 points off turnovers. Add in Michigan State’s 11 second-chance points, and Tom Izzo was able to empty the bench against Indiana.

Here are 3 takeaways from the loss:

Collapses

In three of Indiana’s five losses, the Hoosiers have had at least a 75% chance of victory in the second half. Tonight wasn’t one of those games, despite being tied late, but it was yet another winnable game that slipped through DeVries’ hands.

This is not a good trend! It’s to the point where even the broadcast teams are starting to doubt whether Indiana can play a full 40 minutes with the eight or nine players that crack the rotation on a given night.

Because the wins over Marquette and Kansas State continue to look worse, Indiana’s inability to turn in a good 40 minutes is all the more concerning. The big win over Penn State may be the lone exception to that trend, but the Nittany Lions have had their own struggles playing complete games, blowing multiple upset chances already.

With another ranked opponent next on the schedule, Indiana is going to have to figure out how to be competitive for a full game to avoid another embarrassing loss.

Foul Trouble

Indiana had two players foul out tonight, Conor Enright and Reed Bailey, while Tucker DeVries had four fouls. Without commenting on the quality of the officiating, this is another thing that simply has to change for the Hoosiers to avoid further ugly losses.

While he was allowed to play through three fouls tonight, this is the second straight game that DeVries has been in foul trouble. As the second leading scorer and one of the most experienced players on the team, having him available on both ends of the floor is a big part of Indiana’s game plan.

Outside of DeVries, Indiana can’t have one of its two healthy centers foul out. Sam Alexis still doesn’t average over 20 minutes per game, despite being the starter, so having Bailey on the bench tonight also really hurt Indiana.

Moving On

This is year one of a head coach with a bunch of players who have never really played together. There were obviously going to be low points.

What will be decisive for this season, and possibly beyond, will be Indiana’s ability to respond to this early season adversity. Big Ten play is hardly over a quarter of the way through, and there are plenty of quality wins left on the roster if the Hoosiers can take advantage of the opportunities.

Thus far, Indiana has not been able to pull off the victories it appears capable of during its best moments. There are a number of reasons for that, but they will all be forgiven if the Hoosiers can simply find a way to start winning these games.

And there’s plenty of season left.