The Hoosiers had not won a game on the court of Jersey Mike’s Arena since Feb. 5, 2018. After Tuesday night, the streak continues.
Indiana (11-5) fell to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-6) in Piscataway, 66-57, in its second conference road game of the season.
Many of Indiana’s common mistakes of turnovers, free-throw shooting and offensive rebounds gave Rutgers its first conference win of the season.
“I thought we came out with good intentions,” head coach Mike Woodson said. “We played hard during spurts of the ballgame but missed free throws, 19 offensive rebounds, [shooting] terrible from the 3-point [line], and 18 turnovers. That’s all losing basketball and I’ve got to fix it.”
The first half of play was one of familiarity for the Hoosiers on the road. Eleven turnovers alone in the first half compared to Indiana’s four total turnovers on Saturday against Ohio State gave the Scarlet Knights the halftime advantage, with the Hoosiers exceeding their nine first-half turnovers against Nebraska earlier this month.
Collecting four of those early turnovers was senior guard Xavier Johnson, who was unable to find any sort of offensive production in his first half of play. With the captain shooting 0-for-3 in his 17 minutes of play, the Hoosiers’ offense remained stagnant in many points of those first 20 minutes of the game.
As the second half of play began, Indiana’s minimal luck continued on all ends of the court. With 13 minutes left to go in the game, Johnson was called for a Flagrant 2 foul on Rutgers’ Antwone Woolfolk for a hit below the belt.
Johnson’s night was over, and Indiana was short a leader.
From then on, Rutgers went on a 14-5 run to give the Scarlet Knights their largest lead of the game over the Hoosiers with just under five minutes left in the matchup, largely contributing to a portion of Rutgers’ 19 offensive rebounds on the night.
“We did a terrible job rebounding the ball today and it showed,” Indiana forward Malik Reneau said. “That just really started their runs and we didn’t have enough time to get back in the game and try to win but it was a tough game.”
But it wasn’t just the offensive rebounds and Johnson’s ejection that led to the Hoosiers’ downfall.
Indiana overall committed 18 total turnovers and shot 4-for-15 from the free throw line. From those turnovers and the Hoosiers’ visible deflation, the Scarlet Knights fed from it and scored 18 points off of those turnovers.
“When I look at the stat line, we were just awful,” Woodson said. “Eleven free throws we missed, we missed a lot of wide open 3s. Taking 3s is what it is, you know, but you’ve got to make them. And we didn’t make them. With the turnovers and the offensive rebounds, I’m surprised we were even that close.”
In the second half alone, Indiana’s guards shot 4-for-14, which meant the Hoosiers’ primary source of production once again came from their big men. Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware combined for a total of Indiana’s 21 of 30 second-half points.
This team continues to run through its frontcourt, who had a strong showing Tuesday for the Hoosiers. Reneau and Ware both finished with 13 points, with Ware adding 17 rebounds and three blocks, collecting his sixth career double-double. Reneau also contributed with six rebounds, seven assists, one block and one steal.
With the result, Rutgers now leads the series between the two, as the win gave them the 9-8 advantage in their 17 total meetings.
A lot needs to be done within this Hoosier team as it heads into one of their biggest stretches of the season with Minnesota and No. 1 Purdue at home, then heading to Madison to face the No. 15 Wisconsin Badgers followed by No. 10 Illinois in Champaign — another tremendous test for the Hoosiers who find themselves in the toughest holes on the road.
Indiana will begin their stretch back at Assembly Hall facing the Golden Gophers on Friday for an 8 p.m. tip.
