Only a mini, since, to be honest, bactotherac and Degaz kinda covered the essence of the game, which I will surely repeat.
Before that, I do reiterate it is possible to be extremely disappointed in the game, and the season both to date and prospectively, yest still enjoy watching individual special players. Which is going to be the case here. Some fans can decide to be miserable and hate watching the team, and give up on the team: That is of course anyone's right, to feel what they feel. I, for one, while I may be disappointed in the current season to date, and what it seems like the prospective outcome (not only no NCAA, but no post-season), DO really enjoy watching individual players play ... obviously, you all know I very much appreciate and feel like it is a special opportunity to watch Harper and Bailey play for RU.
I know some hate what I said right above: Well, that is your right, but why would you care if I, or others, enjoy watching Harper and Bailey, even if the game and season outcomes are disappointing? And why would you take a dump on us? I am capable of getting joy from small things (like individual player performances), even if larger things (like the overall team performance) are not to my liking.
Anyway, to the game ... I think both Bac and Degaz - and others - have all said that this game was a microcosm of much of the season, and in particular, this game was lost due to THREE to FOUR elements (I think we all have to agree with this):
1) Just AWFUL defensive rebounding
2) Poor defense (though I think this was more related to to the lack of rebounding than actual defense - more on that).
3) Complete ZERO from 3 key players: Martini, Hayes and Derkack.
4) FT shooting.
Obviously we can always find more, but the above are the most important elements, surely.
Awful Defensive Rebounding: I think this was the most important, BY FAR of the reasons RU lost. The problem was not only giving up 18 offensive rebounds, but more importantly, it felt like Indiana SCORED on nearly every offensive rebound they got (sometimes a team might get an offensive rebound, but not score). Indiana scored 34 2nd chance pints on 18 offensive rebounds ... that is a RIDICULOUSLY efficient conversion rate. RU was not great wit offensive rebounds, but scored just 8 points on 7 offensive rebounds ... the same conversion rate for RU would have added up to 12-13 points on 7 offensive rebounds, not just 8 points - for perspective. Now, Indiana did not get a score on EVERY offensive rebound (the "simple" math might suggest with 34 points might come from 17 rebounds (17x2, for 2 points for each basket). The reason we know this is that they were fouled on some - and other than Rice, missed a bunch of FT. AND ... I distinctly remember AT LEAST 4 3-pointers in the 1st half alone after offensive rebounds (including the half-ending heave) - often on scrambles that left IU players open for 3's. I would guess they got at least 1-2 other 3's in the 2nd half after offensive rebounds. So, this was truly the major problem - not unique for RU this season (Princetinm killed RU in this area most recently, as well).
Poor Defense: So ... I am going to be counter-intuitive here, and say that if you EXCLUDE the defensive rebounding element of defense (which really, you cannot), the defense was not as bad as you might think. But ... the defensive rebounding was SO bad, it had a huge negative influence on the overall defense. That said, even with all the offensive rebound put-backs, especially by Ballo, RU held Indiana to under 36% FG from 2-point range (16-45) ... that is actually pretty GOOD defense.
One problem with the defense was that RU allowed a team shooting 30% from 3 coming into the game to shoot 44.4% on the game. Now, some will say it is because the defense was bad and gave up a lot of open 3's - and there is merit to that argument. On the other hand, Indiana has MISSED plenty of open 3's this season, so them missing open 3's would not have been a poor assumption coming into the game, as a defensive gameplan.
Besides IU hitting so many open 3's, it was the likely 5-6 3's they hit AFTER offensive rebounds that really hurt ... and that skews our perception of RU's defensive performance - not that it does not count, but scramble defense is different than straight-up defense. Now, it is likely that IU got so many offensive rebounds in part because RU's defensive rotations were not good enough, so that when a player went over to help on defense, other players did not rotate to be in a position to box out ... or because defensive help WAS required on too many plays that allowed weakside offensive rebounds. All fair points, if you saw that. I am not sure myself.
Another issue with the defense was that without Harper, Pikiell had to play Martini and Acuff (and in the 2nd half,, Hayes) much more than desired. How does that affect the defense? Well, almost every time Acuff entered the game, RU went to a 2-3 zone ... and when Hayes was in the same. In fact, I presume Hayes did not play in the 1st half because Pikiell just could not deal with Hayes' lack of defense - and the match-ups for Hayes would have been poor. Pikiell seemed forced to play Hayes in the 2nd half because no one other than Bailey was scoring. The problem with the zone was multi-fold: a) even worse offensive rebounding - tougher to rebound out of a zone), and b) MUCH less defensive pressure can be put on the opposing team guards. As to the pressure issue, some will say you can pressure out of the zone. That is true, but NOT with Hayes and Acuff - those 2 in the game prevent RU from playing ANY pressure defense. So, without Harper there was a ripple effect of losing any hope of consistently pressuring IU's guards, who have been turnover prone, essentially disappeared.
ZERO From Hayes/Martini/Derkack: So ... `Martini had 3 open 3's - missed them all. Hayes did not play in the 1st half - played 8 minutes in the 2nd half, had 5-6 open 3-point looks, took JUST 2 of them - did force a 3rd 3 ... and missed all of them, plus a wide open lay-up off a nice drive. Derkack did hit 3-4 FT, but otherwise was 0-3 FG ... a total of 0-10 FG, 0-7 3-point FG from those 3. That in 47 minutes of playing time ... which would be cut in half if Harper had been available (not by Harper minutes, because some of Acuff's and Davis' minutes would have gone to Harper also). 47 minutes, 3 points (on 3-4 FT), 0-10 FG, 0-7 3-point, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 10 fouls (though 3-4 were at the end of the game when RU was intentionally fouling). Just awful. I guess Grant must just be awful in practice not to supplant Martini and/or Hayes.
FT Shooting: Ugh ... and Bailey again, just 3-8 FT ... But RU also missed FT's at TERRIBLE times ... 2 front-ends of 1 and 1's (Acuff and Bailey) - and both at particularly harmful times of the game (Bailey when RU was down 52-59). And for the life of me I have ZERO idea why Pikiell chose BAILEY to take the FT's after Bailey had hit a 3, and IU committed a dead ball technical foul ... he could have chose ANY RU player on the court to shoot those FT's, and both Sommerville and Williams were on the floor, both much better FT shooters ... it was 48-59, and Bailey was about to hit another great 3-point shot ... should have been an 8-point possession, basically, to get to 54-59, rather than 52-59 ... RU then got a stop, and Bailey missed the front-end ... that was an ENORMOUS sequence that could have, and maybe should have had RU down no worse than 54-59, but maybe even 56-59. IU followed with 2 made 3's in a span for 4 possessions (at least 1 off an offensive rebound) ... just a killer momentum killer.
Players (not going to go through all of them in individual paragraphs):
Bailey: For those who only care about the season (which I agree should be the most important element of rooting for and feeling good about the team), but I DO enjoy watching special players, even if we lose. I refuse to apologize for that. Abd bailey ... well that was a special performance, as good in many ways as Harper's performances against Notre Dame and Alabama, and either the #1 or #2 freshman scoring game of the season in all of college basketball season. Yes, he took a couple of bad shots (I do not mean contested shots, but bad judgment shots) - in particular a bad choice to take a deep 3 with the score 53-65, which he airballed. Even so, he was simply ridiculously good. Yeah, no assists ... but why should he have passed, generally? Him taking a shot in this game was generally a way better choice and option than anyone else taking a shot. Plus, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and ZERO turnovers .. the main problem, which really hurt RU, was the 3-8 FT - his 2nd wipeout FT performance. BTW: His after-game comments with Pikiell were excellent, and the right attitude: a) Mainly matters ot win; and b) when asked about how he did so well, mainly complimented his teammates for setting good picks, making good passes, getting him the ball in good position to score ... and his body language when Pikiell was asked about FT's: Clearly Bailey was angry at himself and knew he messed up.
Sommerville/Ogbole: Ogbole did poorly - was pushed around by Ballo, though he did end up with 3 rebounds in jst 9 minutes. Sommerville was ... okay, no better. He did make a couple of decent defensive plays, and had 5 rebounds ijn 27 minutes, but really did not do much to limit Ballo's rebounding. He was better than Ogbole in bodying up Ballo in straight-up defense. Hit a few good shots, but had 3 bad turnovers - including being unable what was admittedly a bullet pass from Acuff ... Sommerville catches that and scores, and IU probably does not get that heave 3 ... and it is 36-38 at half, not 34-41 ... a big turnaround.
Davis: Some good, some not as good. He was 0-2 from 3 - when RU was desperate to hit some outside shots other than Bailey. Did a decent (not as good as the last few games, but at least OK) job on Rice (6-15 FG), was 3-5 2-point FG and 3-4 FT ... and 3 assists with ZERO turnovers ... now up to 26 assists and 6 turnovers for the season. Up to 58% FT from 53%, FG% is creeping up - now 33% (38% from 2-point raneg) - still not good enough of course, but gradually improving.
Williams: Really forced his drives causing too many turnovers, and missed those back to back 12 footers (missed, got his own rebound, missed again). But otherwise okay: 3 assists, 8 rebounds, 8 points. That would have been fine if the Hayes/Martini combo in particular had hit even 2-3 3's. But in a game where Hayes/Martini/Derkakc are 0-10 FG, RU needed more from Williams.
Acuff: Clearly in the rotation now - so a 8-man rotation, plus Martini/Hayes situational. Still, when he is in the game, it is clear Pikiell is concerned about playing man defense ... that is a problem, eh? He was ... okay .. sort of ... just not enough, plus 2 turnovers, 1-3 from 3, only 2 rebounds, a missed lay-up also.
Bummer, result, of course., Just too many flaws that wasted an otherwordly performance by a special player in Bailey - even without Harper, if ANYONE else had risen to be a 14-15 point player this game RU probably would have won.
Before that, I do reiterate it is possible to be extremely disappointed in the game, and the season both to date and prospectively, yest still enjoy watching individual special players. Which is going to be the case here. Some fans can decide to be miserable and hate watching the team, and give up on the team: That is of course anyone's right, to feel what they feel. I, for one, while I may be disappointed in the current season to date, and what it seems like the prospective outcome (not only no NCAA, but no post-season), DO really enjoy watching individual players play ... obviously, you all know I very much appreciate and feel like it is a special opportunity to watch Harper and Bailey play for RU.
I know some hate what I said right above: Well, that is your right, but why would you care if I, or others, enjoy watching Harper and Bailey, even if the game and season outcomes are disappointing? And why would you take a dump on us? I am capable of getting joy from small things (like individual player performances), even if larger things (like the overall team performance) are not to my liking.
Anyway, to the game ... I think both Bac and Degaz - and others - have all said that this game was a microcosm of much of the season, and in particular, this game was lost due to THREE to FOUR elements (I think we all have to agree with this):
1) Just AWFUL defensive rebounding
2) Poor defense (though I think this was more related to to the lack of rebounding than actual defense - more on that).
3) Complete ZERO from 3 key players: Martini, Hayes and Derkack.
4) FT shooting.
Obviously we can always find more, but the above are the most important elements, surely.
Awful Defensive Rebounding: I think this was the most important, BY FAR of the reasons RU lost. The problem was not only giving up 18 offensive rebounds, but more importantly, it felt like Indiana SCORED on nearly every offensive rebound they got (sometimes a team might get an offensive rebound, but not score). Indiana scored 34 2nd chance pints on 18 offensive rebounds ... that is a RIDICULOUSLY efficient conversion rate. RU was not great wit offensive rebounds, but scored just 8 points on 7 offensive rebounds ... the same conversion rate for RU would have added up to 12-13 points on 7 offensive rebounds, not just 8 points - for perspective. Now, Indiana did not get a score on EVERY offensive rebound (the "simple" math might suggest with 34 points might come from 17 rebounds (17x2, for 2 points for each basket). The reason we know this is that they were fouled on some - and other than Rice, missed a bunch of FT. AND ... I distinctly remember AT LEAST 4 3-pointers in the 1st half alone after offensive rebounds (including the half-ending heave) - often on scrambles that left IU players open for 3's. I would guess they got at least 1-2 other 3's in the 2nd half after offensive rebounds. So, this was truly the major problem - not unique for RU this season (Princetinm killed RU in this area most recently, as well).
Poor Defense: So ... I am going to be counter-intuitive here, and say that if you EXCLUDE the defensive rebounding element of defense (which really, you cannot), the defense was not as bad as you might think. But ... the defensive rebounding was SO bad, it had a huge negative influence on the overall defense. That said, even with all the offensive rebound put-backs, especially by Ballo, RU held Indiana to under 36% FG from 2-point range (16-45) ... that is actually pretty GOOD defense.
One problem with the defense was that RU allowed a team shooting 30% from 3 coming into the game to shoot 44.4% on the game. Now, some will say it is because the defense was bad and gave up a lot of open 3's - and there is merit to that argument. On the other hand, Indiana has MISSED plenty of open 3's this season, so them missing open 3's would not have been a poor assumption coming into the game, as a defensive gameplan.
Besides IU hitting so many open 3's, it was the likely 5-6 3's they hit AFTER offensive rebounds that really hurt ... and that skews our perception of RU's defensive performance - not that it does not count, but scramble defense is different than straight-up defense. Now, it is likely that IU got so many offensive rebounds in part because RU's defensive rotations were not good enough, so that when a player went over to help on defense, other players did not rotate to be in a position to box out ... or because defensive help WAS required on too many plays that allowed weakside offensive rebounds. All fair points, if you saw that. I am not sure myself.
Another issue with the defense was that without Harper, Pikiell had to play Martini and Acuff (and in the 2nd half,, Hayes) much more than desired. How does that affect the defense? Well, almost every time Acuff entered the game, RU went to a 2-3 zone ... and when Hayes was in the same. In fact, I presume Hayes did not play in the 1st half because Pikiell just could not deal with Hayes' lack of defense - and the match-ups for Hayes would have been poor. Pikiell seemed forced to play Hayes in the 2nd half because no one other than Bailey was scoring. The problem with the zone was multi-fold: a) even worse offensive rebounding - tougher to rebound out of a zone), and b) MUCH less defensive pressure can be put on the opposing team guards. As to the pressure issue, some will say you can pressure out of the zone. That is true, but NOT with Hayes and Acuff - those 2 in the game prevent RU from playing ANY pressure defense. So, without Harper there was a ripple effect of losing any hope of consistently pressuring IU's guards, who have been turnover prone, essentially disappeared.
ZERO From Hayes/Martini/Derkack: So ... `Martini had 3 open 3's - missed them all. Hayes did not play in the 1st half - played 8 minutes in the 2nd half, had 5-6 open 3-point looks, took JUST 2 of them - did force a 3rd 3 ... and missed all of them, plus a wide open lay-up off a nice drive. Derkack did hit 3-4 FT, but otherwise was 0-3 FG ... a total of 0-10 FG, 0-7 3-point FG from those 3. That in 47 minutes of playing time ... which would be cut in half if Harper had been available (not by Harper minutes, because some of Acuff's and Davis' minutes would have gone to Harper also). 47 minutes, 3 points (on 3-4 FT), 0-10 FG, 0-7 3-point, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 10 fouls (though 3-4 were at the end of the game when RU was intentionally fouling). Just awful. I guess Grant must just be awful in practice not to supplant Martini and/or Hayes.
FT Shooting: Ugh ... and Bailey again, just 3-8 FT ... But RU also missed FT's at TERRIBLE times ... 2 front-ends of 1 and 1's (Acuff and Bailey) - and both at particularly harmful times of the game (Bailey when RU was down 52-59). And for the life of me I have ZERO idea why Pikiell chose BAILEY to take the FT's after Bailey had hit a 3, and IU committed a dead ball technical foul ... he could have chose ANY RU player on the court to shoot those FT's, and both Sommerville and Williams were on the floor, both much better FT shooters ... it was 48-59, and Bailey was about to hit another great 3-point shot ... should have been an 8-point possession, basically, to get to 54-59, rather than 52-59 ... RU then got a stop, and Bailey missed the front-end ... that was an ENORMOUS sequence that could have, and maybe should have had RU down no worse than 54-59, but maybe even 56-59. IU followed with 2 made 3's in a span for 4 possessions (at least 1 off an offensive rebound) ... just a killer momentum killer.
Players (not going to go through all of them in individual paragraphs):
Bailey: For those who only care about the season (which I agree should be the most important element of rooting for and feeling good about the team), but I DO enjoy watching special players, even if we lose. I refuse to apologize for that. Abd bailey ... well that was a special performance, as good in many ways as Harper's performances against Notre Dame and Alabama, and either the #1 or #2 freshman scoring game of the season in all of college basketball season. Yes, he took a couple of bad shots (I do not mean contested shots, but bad judgment shots) - in particular a bad choice to take a deep 3 with the score 53-65, which he airballed. Even so, he was simply ridiculously good. Yeah, no assists ... but why should he have passed, generally? Him taking a shot in this game was generally a way better choice and option than anyone else taking a shot. Plus, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and ZERO turnovers .. the main problem, which really hurt RU, was the 3-8 FT - his 2nd wipeout FT performance. BTW: His after-game comments with Pikiell were excellent, and the right attitude: a) Mainly matters ot win; and b) when asked about how he did so well, mainly complimented his teammates for setting good picks, making good passes, getting him the ball in good position to score ... and his body language when Pikiell was asked about FT's: Clearly Bailey was angry at himself and knew he messed up.
Sommerville/Ogbole: Ogbole did poorly - was pushed around by Ballo, though he did end up with 3 rebounds in jst 9 minutes. Sommerville was ... okay, no better. He did make a couple of decent defensive plays, and had 5 rebounds ijn 27 minutes, but really did not do much to limit Ballo's rebounding. He was better than Ogbole in bodying up Ballo in straight-up defense. Hit a few good shots, but had 3 bad turnovers - including being unable what was admittedly a bullet pass from Acuff ... Sommerville catches that and scores, and IU probably does not get that heave 3 ... and it is 36-38 at half, not 34-41 ... a big turnaround.
Davis: Some good, some not as good. He was 0-2 from 3 - when RU was desperate to hit some outside shots other than Bailey. Did a decent (not as good as the last few games, but at least OK) job on Rice (6-15 FG), was 3-5 2-point FG and 3-4 FT ... and 3 assists with ZERO turnovers ... now up to 26 assists and 6 turnovers for the season. Up to 58% FT from 53%, FG% is creeping up - now 33% (38% from 2-point raneg) - still not good enough of course, but gradually improving.
Williams: Really forced his drives causing too many turnovers, and missed those back to back 12 footers (missed, got his own rebound, missed again). But otherwise okay: 3 assists, 8 rebounds, 8 points. That would have been fine if the Hayes/Martini combo in particular had hit even 2-3 3's. But in a game where Hayes/Martini/Derkakc are 0-10 FG, RU needed more from Williams.
Acuff: Clearly in the rotation now - so a 8-man rotation, plus Martini/Hayes situational. Still, when he is in the game, it is clear Pikiell is concerned about playing man defense ... that is a problem, eh? He was ... okay .. sort of ... just not enough, plus 2 turnovers, 1-3 from 3, only 2 rebounds, a missed lay-up also.
Bummer, result, of course., Just too many flaws that wasted an otherwordly performance by a special player in Bailey - even without Harper, if ANYONE else had risen to be a 14-15 point player this game RU probably would have won.
