Indiana and Illinois have played four halves of basketball and 80 minutes total this season. For the first three halves and 60 minutes, there was no question which team was better. Illinois dominated Indiana to the tune of a 114-66 advantage, which included a 22-1 lead to start the team’s first meeting in Champaign.
In the second half of today’s rematch in Bloomington, however, the Hoosiers perhaps offered a sign of what is to come in the near future: real competitiveness against a top-20 team.
Despite being down 38-21 at halftime, and continuing to play without suspended leading scorer Devan Dumes, Indiana played hard and played well in the second half. On a couple of occasions the Hoosiers got the Illini lead down to 8 or 9 points, but were never able to take the next step and erase the rest of Illinois’ advantage.
(Follow the link to view the Indiana-lllinois box score)
For the Illini, the game was won inside. Indiana actually held Demetri McCamey to only two points, but Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale combined for 32 points, 16 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. Davis in particular was impressive with his poise and athleticism, and turned in what IU fans will no doubt agree was the best performance ever at Assembly Hall by someone named Mike Davis.
No offense intended for IU’s former coach of the same name, but it what it is.
While another home loss is hard to take, and Indiana never truly threatened to win this game, the team’s fight and defense in the second half was encouraging. Matt Roth and Malik Story played especially well in the second half, doing everything they could to compensate for the offensive void that Devan Dumes’ absence has left. Story finished with 9 points and was assertive in taking the ball strong to the hole. Roth finished with 13 points and put some juice into IU’s comeback attempt
by nailing three second half 3-pointers.
At the end of the day, the same problems plagued Indiana today that have plagued the team all year: overall lack of talent and depth and an inability to make free throws. The Hoosiers shot 24 free throws but made only 11. In a 13-point loss, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how much different the game could have been if the Hoosiers had made their free ones.
In a season of moral victories, the second half of today’s game was another one. It continues to be imperative for IU fans to maintain realistic expectations of this year’s undermanned team. We all want victories, but this is another building block game that helped us to build the foundation for many more victories in the future.
Or at least we hope.
That said, it always sucks to lose by 13 at home, especially to Illinois. Another reward like we got a few weeks back against Iowa sure would be nice before this season is over. Maybe once Devan Dumes is back we can get one.
About Jerod Morris
