Seniors struggle & more Indiana basketball takeaways in loss to Rutgers

No. 10 Indiana basketball finally falters and struggles to get anything going against Rutgers on the road.

Was it just the officiating or the performance of the Hoosiers’ seniors that gave the Scarlet Knights the leg up?

Finding out 15 minutes before tip-off that Indiana basketball would be without their five-star freshman guard, Jalen Hood-Schifino, due to back soreness should’ve been the hint that all of Hoosier Nation needed that this game would not go well.

Xavier Johnson and Race Thompson, two of the Hoosiers’ senior leaders, combined for eight points on 2-for-15 shooting from the field, 1-for-7 from deep, and six turnovers. That’s what your senior leaders give you in your first conference road game of the season? C’mon man!

Here are my six takeaways from the Hoosiers’ double-digit defeat against Rutgers on Saturday afternoon in Piscataway:

Six takeaways from No. 10 Indiana basketball 63-48 loss @ Rutgers

#6. Referees controlled the game from the jump, and it didn’t help the Hoosiers

There is no doubt that the story of this game was controlled and dictated by the referees. And it was apparent pretty quickly.

While both teams combined for 38 personal fouls (20 for IU and 18 for RUT), the Hoosiers were not getting a lot of the calls that the Scarlet Knights were getting, and the Hoosiers needed all of the foul shots necessary due to the lack of offensive energy.

Rutgers shots 13-for-19 from the free throw line and Indiana shot 8-for-14 from the charity stripe, which in hindsight, is not a huge difference. But what doesn’t show in the box score is the embarrassing missed calls by the referees on Trayce Jackson-Davis, along with plenty of “make-up” calls that were called near the end of the game when it was already out of reach.

Definitely not blaming this loss on the referees, but it didn’t help Indiana basketball in their first road conference game of the season.