Indiana fell into a 16-point hole in the first six-plus minutes against No. 6 Louisville on Saturday and could never recover, losing 87-78 in a neutral-site game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Tucker DeVries led the Hoosiers with 26 points.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — If ever a final box score failed to tell the true story of a basketball game, the numbers from Saturday's game between No. 6 Louisville and No. 22 Indiana certainly fit the bill.
Louisville won the neutral-site game 87-78 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the second tough loss in four days for the Hoosiers. The rebounds were the same (34), and turnovers, too (13). The shooting numbers almost caught up with each as well.
None of that means anything, because this game was basically over from the start. Louisville scored the first 16 points of the game and it took 6-plus minutes for Indiana to score. The Hoosiers made a few runs through each half — and even in the final few minutes — but the Cardinals won anyway to move to 8-1.
The slow start was simply far too much to overcome. Indiana point guard Tayton Conerway had two early turnovers and two quick fouls in the first three minutes and 22 seconds. On a day where they really needed his quickness and ball-handling the most, he was only able to play 20 and scored just five points with five turnovers.
"For Tayton, I don't know if he ever got in the flow of the game, and he is the one guy, with that pressure, with his speed to get downhill,'' Indiana coach Darian DeVries said. "When they're playing that hard up on you, you have to be able to get to the rim.
"In the second half, we opened up the floor more and were able to get downhill and started to play in the open floor more."
In those first six-plus minutes, Indiana missed three shots at the rim, missed three open looks from three-point range and had four turnovers. Louisville was clearly more efficient. They made all three three-pointers in that window, and didn't have a single turnover.
"Changing the beginning of the game could have changed a lot of things," said senior forward Tucker DeVries.
The rest of the way, it was basically a fairly even game. Indiana went on an 8-0 to make it 16-8 and got as close as five points (19-14) on a Lamar Wilkerson three with 9:01 to go in the half. But Louisville made another run and led 14 at the half at 41-27.
In the second half, Indiana got within eight (52-44) with 13:44 to go, but Louisville went on a 15-4 run to get up by 19.
Nick Dorn made five threes for Indiana late in the second half and the Hoosiers got to within seven in the final minute, having ''a fighter's chance,'' DeVries said. But the Cardinals made all 17 second-half free throw attempts to keep the Hoosiers at bay.
Tucker DeVries led the Hoosiers with 26 points. He was 5-for-14 from the field, 4-for-11 from three and made 12-of-13 free throws. Dorn had those 15 late points, and Wilkerson was the only other Hoosier in double figures, finishing with 12 points. He was just 5-for-15 shooting and was 2-for-9 from deep.
It's been a rough week for Indiana, but they've got a chance to quickly made amends next week. They have a homer Big Ten game on Tuesday night against Penn State, and then play a struggling four-loss Kentucky team next Saturday in Lexington.