Indiana's losing streak has reached four games after the Hoosiers lost to No. 4-ranked Michigan on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor. It took the Hoosiers more than five minutes to score, and were down 19-4 early. They never got any closer than eight points.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There was always concern when Indiana entered this brutal part of its Big Ten schedule, with five games against ranked teams in a narrow three-week window. There was the fear of the unknown, with no certainty as to how well the Hoosiers could match up against the league's best teams.
Turns out, the worst fears are coming true. The Hoosiers can't match up for 40 minutes, and it showed again on Tuesday night when Indiana lost to No. 4-ranked Michigan 86-72 in a game that wasn't nearly that close. Michigan led by as much as 25 points in the second half — handing the Hoosiers their fourth-straight loss.
Michigan (17-1, 7-1 in the Big Ten) jumped all over Indiana early, scoring the first nine points of the game. The Hoosiers didn't score at all until the 14:29 mark, when Reed Bailey made a layup.
They missed their first eight shots, had two turnovers before the first hoop and standout senior Tucker DeVries picked up two fouls in the first 80 seconds. It was 19-4 a few minutes later, and Michigan led by 11 at the half.
“We got off to slow starts at the beginning of both halves, and those were killers for us, but I thought there was a lot of really good stuff tonight,” Indiana coach Darian DeVries told reporters after the game. "You know, we dig a hole against a team like this, that makes it challenging.
"But I thought in both halves, our guys really fought to try to get back into the game. You know, even in that second half, there were opportunities there.”
Michigan quickly stretched the lead to 20 points in the second half, starting the period on a 17-9 run. They were up by 25 — a game-high — at the 10:45 mark and cruised from there.
Indiana had a difficult time matching up with Michigan's size all game. They were outrebounded 41-25, and allowed 14 offensive rebounds.
"When we play some of these bigger teams, it's hard. They are one of the biggest teams in the country. We're undersized, and I thought they battled the best they could. We have helped them out more, and done more as a team.''
One encouraging thing for Indiana was seeing Tucker DeVries get hot late. He hit four threes in the second half, and led the Hoosiers with 15 points. He was just 7-for-31 from three in the past five games, a frustrating 22.6 percentage.
“He's been through a pretty good shooting slump here, and the guys have been great coaches,” his coach, Darian DeVries, said. “He's been working hard at it. He's been shooting it great in practice, so it was good to see some of those go down in a game and hopefully take the lid off of it.”
Indiana is now 12-7 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers are at Rutgers on Friday night, then back home on Tuesday against in-state rival Purdue. There's still plenty left in this season, and the Hoosiers are confident they can turn things around.
"I just like our group. We've got great guys that continue to work, and they're continuing to prepare at a high level,” DeVries said. “We haven't had the wins that we've wanted to, we've had a couple there that we felt we could have gotten. But this season is a long season, and you're going to have a stretch or two sometimes like this.
"Our thing is, and why I feel so good about us, is that our locker room is great. We got guys that want to continue to compete, they want to continue to get better, so we're just going to keep working. That's the only way you get yourself back out of it.”
Guard Tayton Conerway, who's been dealing an ankle injury, started and played just two minutes. He hasn't been able to practice all week. Nick Dorn had 14 points off the bench, and big men Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey each had 11.
Leading scorer Lamar Wilkerson had just eight points. He missed all five three-point attempts.