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Indiana’s offensive issues on display in home loss to Northwestern

Tom Crean, Yogi Ferrell

Indiana head coach Tom Crean, left, talks with Yogi Ferrell during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Northwestern Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014, in Bloomington, Ind. Northwestern defeated Indiana 54-47. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

AP

All that good that Indiana did with their win over No. 3 Wisconsin on Tuesday night?

Might as well go on and toss that out the window.

The Hoosiers shot 25% from the floor and 4-for-18 from three on Saturday afternoon, scoring eight points in the first 17 minutes of the game as the lost to Big Ten bottom-feeder Northwestern, 54-47.

It was about as ugly of a performance as you’re going to see a good basketball team put together, and it’s an example of just what is concerning about this Indiana team. How can they score? If teams are willing to pack in their defense and dare the Hoosiers to shoot from the perimeter, how can Indiana win games?

To get a sense of just how concerning this loss actually is for Indiana, think about it like this: two of Indiana’s four three-pointers were hit by Noah Vonleh, their starting center. Unfortunately, this is just who Indiana is this season. They have enough talent on their roster to beat teams like Wisconsin, which came about as a result of the penetrating ability of Yogi Ferrell and Stanford Robinson. But when that penetration is ineffective and Indiana’s threes are clanging off of the rim, they can lose to just about anyone.

That said, it’s unfair to pin all the blame on Indiana without crediting Northwestern for pulling out another ugly win. This is the second time that the Wildcats have beaten an NCAA tournament caliber team in Big Ten play this season, but their other win came at home against Illinois. This was on the road in a place where a top ten team suffered their only loss of the season.

I think it’s fair to say now that Northwestern basketball fans are getting a glimpse at just what Chris Collins is capable of.

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