Hoosiers’ ending is more ‘hollow’ than ‘Hollywood’
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
Just like that, it’s over.
The Indiana Hoosiers are going home for one big reason:
They couldn’t hit shots. More to the point, Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense prevented them from hitting shots.
Three-for-15 from beyond the arc? While the Orange got their hands on the ball for 12 steals and 10 blocks?
That’s the game, and who would have guessed lousy offense would be Indiana’s undoing. The Hoosiers didn’t even get the ball movement that coach Tom Crean wants.
They had the homegrown talent fans wanted. They had the All-Americans they wanted. They had the third No. 1 seed in school history. They had the “Banner Up” catchphrase. They had their first outright Big Ten title in 20 years. They had the regular season they dreamed of.
Yes, the Hoosiers had it all falling into place for Thursday night in their third game of the East Regional.
Which is why they had to have major remorse at night’s end.
“We have had a heck of a ride,” Crean said. “It’s hard to put that in context or perspective tonight. We did not do a good enough job, we didn’t play as well.”
Some of the many Washington D.C.-area alumni piled into the Verizon Center hoping to see Indiana book its first trip to the Elite Eight since 2002.
It goes down instead as a 61-50 defeat and a considerable wasted opportunity, given the names on the roster. Syracuse’s aggressiveness, length and physicality ushered the season to a stunning conclusion.
“It’s been ups and downs,” senior forward Christian Watford said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m happy to be an Indiana Hoosier at the end of the day.”
Watford missed 7 of 11 shots and finished with just 13 points – or 14 shy of the 27 he had in his last game in the Sweet 16 in 2012.
The Orange had Watford stumped and Cody Zeller equally discombobulated, too.
The larger problem?
Indiana sprung leaks in nearly every respect.
Only four Hoosiers got to the line and one of them – Victor Oladipo – missed three of his first four free throws. Indiana missed nine in 24 attempts overall.
Even with Zeller in a stunningly ineffective state, Indiana lacked the recourse it uses to win these kinds of grinding games and maintain its usual offensive smoothness, getting few jumpers to drop.
Then there were the turnovers, 19 of them, travels and fumbles, bad passes and shot-clock violations. Watford finished with five turnovers, while freshman Yogi Ferrell had four. Indiana gave the ball away on 28 percent of its possessions, a season high, and seemed unable to hang onto it for more than two seconds in the first half.
From start to finish, Michael Carter-Williams looked much more NBA-ready than Zeller or Oladipo. He racked up 24 points, five rebounds and four steals and flashed endless amounts of poise and swagger.
The Orange just had too much. They seized control of the game with little trouble. Syracuse held the lead for almost 37 of the 40 minutes.
The Orange put the higher seed on notice by scoring 11 of the first 14 points, withstood a second-half run that cut an 18-point lead to six, then used a 14-5 spurt in the middle of the half to prevent Indiana from doing anything that might change the momentum entirely.
The Hoosiers got a grand total of zero points from starting guards Jordan Hulls and Ferrell, the two players on their roster who logged the most minutes this season outside of Zeller.
Indiana ended the night shooting 33 percent from the field, while Syracuse got 75 percent shooting from one player when Brandon Triche was 3-for-4 with Hulls trying to guard him in the first half.
There are legitimate questions about how much fatigue – mental and physical – Indiana carried into this round after a near-upset against Khalif Wyatt and Temple. Crean, who effusively praised his team’s effort, also previously revealed that he did wonder whether the grueling Big Ten schedule would have the guys worn down in March.
Zeller’s presence was barely felt in a 10-point, 10-rebound effort. Hulls was a ghost and said afterward his poor shooting would haunt him for life. As anyone who has been around them can attest, these are good, hard-working kids. I left Assembly Hall many winter nights in awe of how much these Hoosiers cared about their game and about each other. This loss will eat at them for a long time. They are crushed, heartbroken, dejected. The loss to Syracuse can’t be changed.
But they’ll struggle to stop thinking about what went wrong.
The Orange were absurdly good at defending the rim, altering shots and constantly hustling. Forwards James Southerland and C.J. Fair hovered any time Zeller got deep against center Baye Keita, who played 31 minutes off the bench. Indiana got within three feet of the basket on plenty of occasions but almost always came up empty. Zeller missed eight shots, all in the paint, and five were blocked. As a team, the Hoosiers were 11-for-28 in the lane against Syracuse’s half-court defense.
And Indiana too often stood around, tentative and without rhythm, thinking too much and struggling to accomplish one of the traditional methods of beating a zone, which is to move the ball into the middle of the defense. Not hitting jump shots – the Hoosiers were 4-of-19 outside the paint – left them even more vulnerable to Jim Boeheim’s rangy scheme.
Meanwhile, Indiana’s defense stayed in man-to-man the whole way, and the Hoosiers’ men struggled to stay in front of their counterparts. Triche and Carter-Williams typically got whatever shot they wanted. Fair, a quicker power forward, took Watford off the dribble.
When Indiana got down 18 points, its biggest deficit of the season, the Hoosiers needed a lengthy string of stops, and against an opponent that endured a 12-minute scoring drought in the round of 32 against California, they just could not come up with them. After an Oladipo 3 made the score 38-32, Syracuse scored on nine of its next 12 possessions. That’s how rallies die. Indiana’s defense, so good all season, let down at the worst possible time, committing five fouls on those 12 trips in a sign of its struggle to match up.
And so a long offseason awaits. Hulls and Watford are finished. Oladipo, who seems very likely to be one of the first 10 players selected in June’s draft, is probably gone, too. Zeller would be a junior next fall, but admitted he nearly left for the NBA after his freshman year. Could the 7-footer pass up riches a second time? I believe there’s a better chance Zeller stays – maybe 40 percent – than people believe. He loves college. He might want to finish his business degree and take one more shot at winning Indiana’s first championship since 1987.
For all of Syracuse’s size, talent and athleticism, this loss is not a good one for the Hoosiers. Syracuse came in just 10-8 in their past 18 games after starting the season 18-1. Oladipo said anything short of a Final Four appearance would be a disappointment, and to win just once after the freebie opener counts as a major one.
Yet Indiana finishes 29-7, tied for fifth-most wins in a season in school history, and perhaps the early exit is more explainable when we consider the big picture. The Hoosiers peaked from late January to mid-February and would have finished the year 4-5 if not for an epic choke job by Michigan. Only once in the past five weeks was Indiana truly on top of its game against a quality opponent. The spry Hoosiers team that won at Ohio State back on Feb. 10 wins this game against Syracuse in March. The version that slid to the finish line does not, and did not.
Miss nearly every shot, and the cream-and-crimson faithful must say goodbye before they’re ready. It’s that simple.
“Just wasn’t meant to be,” Crean said.
