That's the Game: Michigan State

So apparently I lied on facebook yesterday when I said I wouldn't post, but my flight's been delayed twice and I'm bored.  This won't be my normal analysis (read as little stats) because I'm doing this on my phone, at the airport.  But here's what I got out of the game.

Indiana lost miserably to Michigan State by a score of 70-50, and those 50 points are a bit impressive when you consider that IU scored a whopping 17 points in the first half.  And it could have been much, much worse, as the Hoosiers were down by 30 points in the second half.

The Good (if there is any in a game like this):

Yogi Ferrell.  Ferrell ended the game with 17 points, three assists, three made threes (out of six attempts), and only one turnover.  Those three assists are particularly impressive when you see that there were only two players to make a field goal in the first half: Ferrell and Emmitt Holt.  Was he perfect?  Far from it.  But he was by far the best player for the Hoosiers.

Turnovers.  Indiana turned the ball over only six times (five of which were in the first half).  This gave them a turnover rate in single digits, which is great for a young team and a pisitive sign for the rest of the season.

The Not-so-good (only the high, or actually low, points):

The play of Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Troy Williams.  These two played horribly overall and didn't see much court time, with both benched for the start of the second half.  Mosquera-Perea picked up two fouls in the game's first 90 seconds, a very bad thing for the height-challenged Indiana.  Williams never seemed to get his head into the game and reverted to his Invisible-Man game from Louisville.  Both will need to step up big time fot the Hoosiers to have any chance against the rest of the Big Ten.

The play of James Blackmon Jr.  The freshman has just looked off most of the last few weeks.  He's forcing shots and not hitting his open ones either.  What's really bad is his defense, where he allows drivers to get by him at will.  Yet he still played morw than 30 minutes in a game where he looked lost on both ends.  Perhaps some time on the bench would have helped and motivated him.

Offense.  And when I say offense, I mean the entire offense.  The Hoosiers were dribbling way too much and never really developing anything resembling a game plan.  Pair this with outright horrendous shooting and it's a recipe for disaster.

Final word:

Disappointing is a good word to describe the game, although disastrous would work as well.  The offense never really got going, even as the defense did a (relatively) decent job.  On the plus side, the Hoosiers have the entire week to prepare for their next game, which will be in the friendly confines of Assembly Hall.

Up Next:

The Hoosiers host the Buckeyes of Ohio State in their Big Ten home opener on Saturday Dec. 10th at noon.  As a note, as it will technically be the tail end of Winter Break, there will not be a student section, which will likely quiet the place down, particularly if the team comes out of the gate flat again.