Awful loss to Rutgers raises questions about the future of this IU team, and Mike Woodson
Xavier Johnson was saved the embarrassment of where his day was headed by being kicked out of Indiana’s 66-57 loss Tuesday night to Rutgers. Johnson had two points and five turnovers in 21 minutes and made a “play” on defense you’ll have to see to believe — I’ll show you in a minute — before accidentally thrusting his right hand between the legs of Rutgers’ Antwone Woolfolk near knee level, and then not-so-accidentally raising his arm until Woolfolk was wincing and grabbing his hand and then shoving Johnson to the ground.
Johnson is a sixth-year senior, and at age 24, two months and 27 days, he’s one of the 45 oldest players in the country. Any idea how many players are in Division I? Well, multiply 351 teams by 13 scholarships and you have … look, nobody told me there’d be math.
Nobody told me IU basketball would look this terrible under Mike Woodson, either.
And it does. That wasn’t merely a bad game Tuesday night. A bad game is when IU beat Louisville or Michigan because somebody had to win, or when IU struggled to defeat Morehead State by one point at Assembly Hall.
Indiana vs. Rutgers player ratings: We handed out our first ZERO
3 reasons IU lost at Rutgers: Ugly offense, too many mistakes, dumb ejection.
This monstrosity Tuesday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.? This was awful. This was an IU basketball team having zero composure, top to bottom, and compounding that by shooting poorly from the floor (39.7%), worse from 3-point range (26.9%) and worse still from the foul line (26.7%). The Hoosiers were outrebounded by 11 by a Rutgers team that ranks 12th in the conference in rebounding.
Plus the Hoosiers committed 18 turnovers, their third time in the past four games with either a season-high in turnovers (19), or one off that mark (18).
If this is how IU is playing 16 games into the season, what does it say about their future?
If this is how IU is playing 2½ years into the Mike Woodson era, what does it say about his?
Mike Woodson and his "second unit"
Mike Woodson doesn’t understand that some of his NBA tricks, well, they don’t work in college.
The way he uses his “second unit,” for example. That’s what he calls his reserves — “my second unit” — and he generally plays four of them with one starter. That’s how it goes in the NBA, but here’s the thing: Everybody on an NBA team is really good. Almost all of them can make a shot, handle the ball, hit a free throw.
Listen, at a basketball school like IU, you’d like to think everyone on that team would be really good too, that almost all of them can make a shot, handle the ball, hit a free throw. Roughly 2½ years into his tenure, Woodson has a roster that cannot do that. Check out social media when the Hoosiers play, and this happens every game, win or lose. The second-unit lineups look wonky out there, a place where momentum goes to die, and IU fans are freaking out and wondering why Woodson coaches like he’s still in the NBA.
And then on Tuesday night, asked a catty question on that topic, Woodson raised his back and clawed back.
“I’m not going sit here and answer that question when it comes to the fans — or you,” Woodson said. “I’ll (continue) to go to my bench, which I’ve done this season and I’ve gotten some good results, here and there.”
It’s possible Woodson’s coaching staff doesn’t have the guts to tell him the truth, so could someone please show him this story? Because this is what happened:
IU starts slowly, with Johnson committing two of its three turnovers in the first four minutes as Rutgers opens an early 7-2 lead, but the Hoosiers battle back — in part because they’re capable of playing well at times, and in part because Rutgers (9-6, 1-3) is arguably the worst team in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers go on a 14-2 run for a 16-9 lead.
And here comes the second unit.
Woodson starts removing starters until he’s down to one, and Rutgers keeps whittling the lead until it's down to none. Woodson puts his starters back into the game for the final minutes of the half, and IU has the ball with 27 seconds left, holding for the last shot, with the score tied at 27.
So how did the Hoosiers go into halftime trailing 30-27?
In a word: Xavier.
In a sentence: Xavier Johnson gets the ball out of a timeout with 27 seconds left, dribbles until there are five seconds left, whereupon he loses the ball and Rutgers goes the other way and hits a 30-footer at the buzzer.
IU never led again.
Woodson doesn’t get it, and I know — I hear you — who the hell am I to say that? Answer: I’m watching the games, same as you, wondering why Woodson can’t see what’s happening. I’m no meteorologist, but it’s like rain: Either you understand you’re getting wet, or you do not.
Woodson, an all-time IU great who has been an NBA head coach for two teams, is sopping wet and too stubborn to ask for a towel.
“Guys,” Woodson said when asked another time about the bench, “you can’t play everybody 40 minutes. That whole stretch (our starters) went a good 10-12 minutes. I thought they needed a blow, so that’s why I substituted. I feel good about our bench. I need our bench to give us more. That’s why I went to the bench. We didn’t get it.”
No, Mike:
You’re the one who doesn’t get it.
No player development, strategy or basketball IQ
Look, this was just one game. And IU did come into it with a 3-1 record in league play, which is about the meanest sentence I’ve ever written about Big Ten basketball. But in real time, as the season has unfolded, people like me have been writing — even after victories — that something is wrong with this team.
A loss like this allows us to take off the gloves. Can’t exactly rip IU after it wins the opener against Florida Gulf Coast, can you? Though I did it as nicely as I could that night. Money sentence, and it didn’t take me long to get there:
Is this team any good at all?
Two months later, we have the answer.
IU is like so many teams in college basketball: Potentially dangerous at home, like last month when it pushed No. 2 Kansas to the brink, but different on the road, capable of spitting up all over itself.
IU isn’t a basketball school, it’s a cliché.
It starts with Johnson, a sixth-year senior who is older than 4,518 of the 4,563 players in Division I. How can a player with that much experience play this poorly, then get kicked out of a game, and before that make a play so terrible it won’t even show up in the stat sheet? This one was on defense, Rutgers in transition. Austin Williams is driving and Johnson plants his feet near the rim to take a charge. Problem is, Williams hasn’t even reached the lane yet. He doesn’t run into Johnson — he just dribbles around him, like Johnson wasn’t there.
And soon, he wasn’t.
More: Xavier Johnson ejected at Rutgers
Nobody from IU showed up. The Hoosiers started the game 3-for-15 from 3-point range, including air balls from three different players. Yes, after 15 jump shots, the basketball team at Indiana — Indiana! — was just as likely to miss everything as it was to make the shot.
Has anyone in this program improved noticeably under Woodson? Don’t give me Trayce Jackson-Davis. He’s an alpha, a marvel. If Woodson gets credit for the beauty of TJD, I get credit for the beauty of my dog, Cap.
Without Jackson-Davis, now an NBA rookie after one of the greatest careers in IU history, the flaws in Woodson's program are being exposed. Player development is lacking, strategy is wonky — a second unit, really? — and the Hoosiers don’t seem to have much basketball IQ:
There’s Johnson, most every game he plays. There was the time with two minutes left and IU within six points and Woodson saying, “Don’t foul, don’t foul,” and sophomore C.J. Gunn fouled anyway — and he fouled Derek Simpson, an 87.2% shooter. On the next Rutgers possession, Simpson beat IU freshman Mackenzie Mgbako off the dribble, and Mgbako responded by grabbing Simpson from behind, both hands around his waist, like he was going for a ride.
Intentional foul.
“That’s the game, pretty much,” Woodson said.
No, Mike.
That’s the season, pretty much.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball, embarrassed by Rutgers, a mess under Mike Woodson
