Hoosiers Notebook: Indiana sharpens newfound versatility vs. Nebraska
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Contrary to popular belief, the regular season does matter in college basketball, which is why we should pay close attention to the Indiana Hoosiers’ light schedule this week. Don’t say it’s only February. Watch carefully because it’s February.
College basketball in February is like the few weeks when land is surveyed and blueprints formed before the construction of a skyscraper. A lot can go right or wrong in the stages of preparation and, once the steel beams are put in place, there’s no turning back.
Last season, in February, Indiana went 6-2, with all six wins coming by at least 13 points, including a quality road win at Minnesota and a resounding home victory over fifth-ranked Michigan State. January of 2012 had been rough, including a stretch of four losses in five games, but the Hoosiers used the shortest month on the calendar to get completely over the hump, learn to work around a famine from Cody Zeller, jell defensively and set themselves up in good shape for tournament time. Sure enough, Tom Crean and company broke into the Sweet 16, only stopping there because eventual national champ Kentucky forced them to.
It’s not hard to picture March these days, especially in Bloomington, where warmer temperatures and more sunlight have already arrived. But in the Hoosiers’ 76-47 victory over Nebraska on Wednesday night, their second impressive proficiency exhibition in four days, the postseason tune-up started to crystallize.
This win was defining because it demonstrated Indiana doesn’t need an epic outpouring of offense to look good. In fact, the Cornhuskers’ defense suffocated the Hoosiers for 20 minutes, holding them to just 27 points in the first half.
That’s impressive in any environment, but to do so in a hostile venue against a national title contender that remembered its one-point loss in Lincoln last year – that was simply crazy.
“I thought that we were playing at our pace for a long time,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said.
And yet when the final buzzer sounded the point was long since moot.
Indiana gave themselves that chance by switching defenses and trapping Dylan Talley at half court to get the ball out of his hands, after Talley had beaten other looks to score six of the Cornhuskers’ first 12 points and keep them ahead inside of 9 minutes remaining in the first half.
“If you want to win big, you’ve got to play a lot of different ways,” Crean said.
Bingo.
Locked in a grind after a slow start, Indiana re-established order by adapting and making life even more miserable for the opponent.
One suspects Ray Gallegos and Andre Almeida remembered redshirting last year with fondness for the first time.
“We knew they were going to press,” said senior center Brandon Ubel, who came down with strep throat Tuesday and played poorly. “That messed us up.”
Did it ever.
For a stretch of nearly 12 minutes which served as the night’s crucial sequence, Nebraska had as many turnovers (four) as points and missed 10 of 12 shots. Translated to weather, that kind of drought would wreak havoc on the thousands of acres of Nebraska farmland.
On the basketball court, it dropped the Cornhuskers below .500 (12-13, 3-9 Big Ten) and allowed Indiana (22-3, 10-2) to cruise on a night it made six field goals in the entire first half.
The Hoosiers are figuring out how to win when they get away from the free-flowing, fast-breaking attack that is their bread-and-butter.
Wisconsin had kept Indiana out of transition and off the 3-point line, and the Hoosiers wanted to be ready in case the same thing happened again. As it turns out, it did, and they were.
Versatility separates pretenders from contenders in the NCAA tournament. Exquisite focus is a necessity because you never know what type of game is going to be thrown your way. While March is famous for four-leaf clovers and legends of good or bad fortune, basketball teams need to make their own luck. And in February, Indiana is doing just that.
