There’s no place like home. For Indiana that isn’t a cliche, it’s reality.
The Hoosiers are 3-5 away from Bloomington in the Big Ten this season. And while it’s a commonality for teams to have better records at home, Indiana looks like two different teams based on its location. And some players look like entirely different players.
In Indiana’s heartbreaking 64-62 loss at Northwestern on Wednesday, the Hoosiers lacked production from their role players, again.
Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino were their usual selves and reliable and combined for 36 points and 14 rebounds. Race Thompson had his best game since returning from his knee injury in January, putting up 13 points and was 4-for-4 from the floor. Other than that, the rest of the roster combined for 13 points and shot 5-for-14.
This issue on the road has been continuous all season long. Against Michigan in a narrow win, Hoosiers not named Jackson-Davis and Hood-Schifino were 3-for-15 from the field and no one scored more than four points.
Against the Wildcats, Malik Reneau made freshman mistakes by picking two fouls and turning the ball over in the heat of IU’s attempted comeback. The Miami (FL) native had a +/- of -14. Tamar Bates looked overmatched, hoisting up two ill-advised jumpers and committing a bad turnover. In his second time back at Northwestern since transferring, Miller Kopp looked rattled and uncomfortable. The sharpshooter was 1-of-4 from deep and one miss hitting the side of the backboard. Indiana had just three bench points.
With play like that from guys who continuously play almost 20 minutes a game, it’s tough to win.
“Miller (Kopp) had a few open looks, but we missed shots…the first 10 possessions I bet we had five or six turnovers, you can’t run offense that way. It’s impossible,” Woodson said postgame.
Bates’s home and away splits are staggering. As his sophomore season comes to a close, it’s getting to the point where he should be starting to feel comfortable away from Assembly Hall. There’s a maturation that happens for college players around a certain number of games, where you really see them begin to find their role. The former top-30 recruit doesn’t seem to be there yet.
Entering the Northwestern game, Bates was averaging 9.5 points on 53.3 percent shooting in home games, but just 4.1 points on 28.8 percent shooting on the road.
On Wednesday, Jackson-Davis, Thompson and Hood-Schifino were able to carry the load…