Indiana Basketball: 3 takeaways from win vs Portland State

2. Offensive slumps still showing up

Indiana’s offense has had its head scratching moments throughout Miller’s tenure, and again it was evident on Saturday that there is a lot of watching the ball.

Though the Hoosiers shot 50 percent from the field, most of those makes were either off of offensive rebounds, just a couple of feet from the basket, or in transition. While that is a great way to get easy points, you can’t rely on that every game.

The Hoosiers, throughout the game, struggled to make plays in the half court offense, especially early in the shot clock. Though there was just one shot clock violation, there were either a lot of poor shots put up due to a lack of aggressiveness in the first 25 seconds of the shot clock, or Indiana was bailed out with a foul at the end of the clock.

Fans are all too familiar with this inconsistent offense, as that is what was the main concern and fault when the Hoosiers struggled so much in Big Ten play last season.

While Indiana is able to make it work during games against lesser opponents, some of these fouls and shots at the end of the shot clock won’t be there against the likes of a Michigan State, Maryland, or Ohio State in conference play.

Despite Rob Phinisee and Al Durham being effective as ball handlers and Durham as a scorer – averaging 19.5 points per game through the first two games, they are not two guys who can easily create their own shots.

With Devonte Green out of the lineup, the offense will remain stagnant at times, whether you like it or not, but look for that to change once Green returns to action and is able to use his skillset to open up the offensive sets for Miller and the Hoosiers.