'They didn’t fight tonight': Indiana basketball stumbles down the stretch in loss to PSU
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson didn’t sugarcoat his team’s poor performance in the second half of a 85-71 loss to Penn State on Saturday afternoon.
“They were flat as hell.”
“It’s like we were a step slow.”
“They didn’t fight tonight.”
“We just didn't have anything going.”
It was particularly disappointing for Woodson, who thought his team had turned a corner recently with strong efforts against Illinois and Iowa only to see it “lay an egg” against Penn State a team (11-11, 5-6 Big Ten) playing without its leading scorer.
The lackluster effort came with the Hoosiers (13-9, 5-6) in desperate need of wins to bolster an NCAA tournament resume lacking meaningful victories. While Assembly Hall had been the team’s refuge this season, a sold-out crowd couldn’t even help IU find the urgency it needed.
But the most damning critique of IU’s performance in the second half didn’t even come from Woodson after the game on Saturday.
"They were just playing harder than us,” Indiana guard Trey Galloway said.
More: Indiana basketball guard Xavier Johnson misses game against Penn State
Indiana led by as many as 11 points in the first half only to get outscored 48-30 coming out of halftime. Penn State used a 12-2 run right out of the break to take control. The Nittany Lions never trailed after Ace Baldwin Jr.’s 3-pointer with 16:50 left put them ahead for the first time.
The Hoosiers had all of two made field goals in the first nine minutes as PSU pushed the lead to double-digits.
Indiana was short-handed without injured point guard Xavier Johnson (elbow), but Penn State was missing its leading scorer, Kanye Clary. Baldwin was the only other player averaging double digits for the Nittany Lions, but they had five players in double digits on Saturday.
Baldwin played with the kind of fire Woodson was hoping to see from his own players. The VCU transfer had a team-high 22 points and eight assists. He played the entire game despite pressing in IU’s backcourt for long stretches.
"Sure I want more fire. I mean, come on," Woodson said. "Yes, I want more fire to my guys. They didn't fight tonight in the second half, and that's kind of disappointing."
Woodson and Galloway traced the disappointing finish back to a poor defensive performance.
According to Woodson, IU didn’t handle switching off Penn State’s “ghost screens” — a fake screen where the player sprints to open space — very well, while Galloway lamented the overall lack of communication.
“I look at the points, you gave up 85 points, you're not beating anybody in the Big Ten doing that,” Woodson said. “That's not us, you know what I mean. You have a chance when you're trying to hold teams to 65 under in the Big Ten, and when we've done that, we've been pretty successful.”
It was the seventh time this season Indiana has given up 80 or more points. The Hoosiers are 2-5 in those games and 0-4 in the Big Ten.
"At the end of the day, it's about playing harder and smarter," Galloway said.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball was a 'step slow' against Penn State
