Indiana Basketball: What is behind the numerous scoring droughts?

The Source of the Problem

To the chagrin of some couch-dwelling critics, these droughts are no one’s fault in particular. In order to have a shooting performance as ridiculous as these, it must be a team effort.

I have been critical of Devonte Green for not playing smart basketball and passing up open shots and opportunities in order to pursue the self-centered highlight play. However, the 10-minute scoring drought against Ohio State was certainly not all on his shoulders, as he only took three shots during that stretch.

Some stats jump out when you take a look at the shots taken during that scoring drought and compare them to the shots taken during the first quarter of the game, which may very well have been Indiana’s best offensive stretch of the season.

In the first 10:03 minutes of the game, Indiana scored 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. They followed that up by going 1-of-17 over the rest of the half. What changed?

For one, Rob Phinisee was feeling it a bit, as he hit three threes to open up the game, but there’s more to it than a guy with a good shooting stroke. Five of the first nine buckets came off of assists, meaning assists accounted for 14 of the Hoosiers’ first 25 points (22 of which came from the field).

Phinisee got all three of his makes off of an assist and had plenty of space to let it fly on each attempt. Sure, Phinisee came out stroking, but the quality of the looks he received made his success much easier.

In the final 9:57 of the first half, however, things changed dramatically. By my count, only three of the next 17 shots would have been assisted on, had they been makes. One of those was because the shot clock was at four seconds upon inbounding it.

In other words, 14 of the next 17 shots would come from isolation, post-ups and other plays where passing isn’t involved, whereas the first eight baskets in the game were off of ball movement and passing.

In this bad run, there were superfluous amounts of isolations on the post for De’Ron Davis and Joey Brunk, some missed shots by Phinisee (4) and Green (3), and an overwhelming amount of selfish basketball. The formula for success earlier in the game had been completely abandoned by players and coaches.

During this drought, extra passes and swinging the ball around the perimeter were replaced by dribbling from the guards and pivots galore from the big guys down low. When it comes down to it, it looked as if they had forgotten how to play team basketball altogether, focusing merely on the individual.

That can work if you’re an NBA team, where players like James Harden are so good that they can manufacture offense out of pure nothingness for both themselves and others, but Indiana Men’s Basketball is a far cry from the Houston Rockets.