INDIANAPOLIS — Shots were just not falling for a team who has lived and died by that same measurement.
With four minutes and 35 seconds left in the first quarter of Thursday’s Big Ten Tournament second-round game, freshman Maya Makalusky hit her second triple to take an early four-point lead against the 12th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. This marked an important moment for IU as the Hoosiers needed to keep their momentum from yesterday’s comeback against Nebraska in order to ensure a strong start against the Buckeyes.
Two triples early for Indiana sounds like a great start.
However, this moment quickly became important for all the wrong reasons.
Indiana would only make one 3-pointer until 2:53 remaining in the game.
That means IU went 31 minutes and 42 seconds only making one basket from beyond the arc.
For a team that finished second in 3-point percentage amongst Big Ten teams, that is going to hurt.
In that span, the Hoosiers were outscored by 34 points to, likely, end their season with an 83-59 loss to the Buckeyes.
“I will say this, we got some really good shots,” head coach Teri Moren said. “I thought we looked hurried a little bit in the first half. I thought we looked less hurried in the second half. Just still couldn't connect the way we needed to.”
Indiana would knock one more down before the final buzzer, but finished just 5-for-21 for a 23.8% in the game.
Just one day earlier, against Nebraska, the Hoosiers scored four 3-pointers in 16 minutes to complete the largest comeback in the Teri Moren era at Indiana; including the go-ahead 3 from Lenée Beaumont with 1:06 remaining to capture the first lead of the day and secure the victory.
Even leading into the tournament, the 3-ball was falling. In the month of February, Indiana changed the course of its season. After starting 0-10 in conference play, the Hoosiers finished strong, winning six of their final eight games.
And in those eight contests, the triples were, of course, falling. In five of those final eight games, IU knocked down seven or more 3s, including a pair of games with double-digit scores from deep, and in six of those final eight games they shot 36%, five games shooting over 38%, and four games shooting over 42% from outside.
IU was able to find good looks Wednesday. But the majority of their success came from just chipping away at the lead, playing good defense and finding the right shot to take. On Thursday, that was not the case.
Indiana struggled to capitalize on open shots. Were there moments that the offense settled for a bad shot? Sure. Was Indiana trying to play a little hero ball? You could say so. But at the end of the day, Indiana had plenty of opportunities on open looks and just could not find the bottom of the net.
“[Ohio State’s] press in itself really, really is disruptive,” Moren said. “It slows you down. It takes you out of any kind of offensive flow, offensive rhythm. Unless you can get a hit ahead to a layup, they do such a great job of recovering and getting back. Then they force you to have to play in the half-court as well. They switch everything. Like I said, they're disruptive. They got to balls way faster than we did, even those loose balls. They're terrific. When you think about Ohio State, you think about, first and foremost, their pressure. It's outstanding.”
The Buckeyes’ pressure was a major reason that Indiana struggled. IU rushed too frequently which led to 16 missed 3s on 17 attempts in their dry span.
While the result was similar, Thursday was a completely different loss than Indiana had against the Buckeyes in their first matchup of the season back in January.
The Hoosiers, like they did Thursday, held an early lead. In fact, the Hoosiers led by 10 going into halftime. But Indiana didn’t lose because of a lack of 3-point shooting. Indiana shot 65% from distance in that contest — incredible efficiency when you realize they shot the ball 17 times from range. This was a huge testament to their ability to stay in the game as long as they did.
But Thursday, that was not the case.
Whether this marks the end of Indiana’s season remains to be seen. But their hopes at March along with their hopes at making a run in the Big Ten Tournament ended at the hands of what has propelled them to this incredible turnaround in the last 10 games: the 3-pointer.
