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IU basketball suffered its second-straight loss on Friday night, falling 93-64 to Purdue at Mackey Arena.
Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Boilermakers:
This was IU’s worst performance of the season
Indiana deserved credit for its gritty 72-67 win against Purdue on January 27 in Bloomington. The Hoosiers battled for 40 minutes and earned a hard-fought win.
Friday’s performance, however, deserves criticism and questions on why the Hoosiers weren’t more prepared to compete.
From the opening tip, Indiana never challenged or put any pressure on Purdue. The Boilermakers are a legitimate top-15 team nationally and enjoy one of the best home-court advantages in college basketball.
That doesn’t explain why Indiana, on four full days of rest in a rivalry game, lacked the fight necessary to even be in the game. The excuse that IU is still a new group learning to play together is not valid this late in the season. This is a roster packed full of seniors and has the most experience of any team in the country, per KenPom.
Purdue led by as many as 34 points and had Matt Painter not eased off the gas late in the game, the Boilermakers could have extended that margin.
It’s one thing to lose a hard-fought road game against a superior opponent. Friday night wasn’t that. Indiana was uncompetitive and at this point in the season, that’s unacceptable.
IU’s defense continues to crater
For the 12th consecutive game, Indiana allowed more than a point per possession.
With just four regular-season games to go, the Hoosiers are a mess defensively. After Purdue’s 1.46 points per possession on Friday night, IU now sits in 13th in the Big Ten in points per possession allowed at 1.156.
The teams below the Hoosiers: Northwestern, Oregon, Rutgers, Maryland and Penn State.
According to Bart Torvik, the Hoosiers ranked 93rd in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency in January and are even worse this month at 135th with just one game to go before the calendar turns to March.
IU’s inability to get stops is putting extreme pressure on the Hoosiers to win solely with offense, which isn’t going to happen against the Big Ten’s best teams.
Over its last two games, the Hoosiers have only mustered 57.5 points per game, which isn’t nearly enough to compete with Illinois and Purdue.
Outside of Lamar Wilkerson, IU has no consistent production
With the exception of Lamar Wilkerson, the Hoosiers have no player who can be relied on offensively on a game-to-game basis.
Wilkerson scored 20 points last night – most of those points came in the second half when the contest was already decided – and he’s the only consistent scoring threat on the roster.
Nick Dorn, who was pivotal in a four-game stretch in late January, has disappeared.
Conor Enright, not known for his scoring, fouled out in 19 minutes last night in Mackey Arena after not committing a foul in the first matchup in Assembly Hall.
Tucker DeVries had 11 points last night, but only attempted six shots and is shooting 32.4 percent on 3s in Big Ten play.
Sam Alexis took eight shots on Friday and scored five points, while Reed Bailey scored 10 points after scoring a total of 14 over the previous four games.
And Tayton Conerway had his best game in a while with 12 points and seven assists, his first time scoring in double figures since January 17 against Iowa.
If Indiana is going to make the NCAA tournament – and the Hoosiers still have a solid chance to do so if they can take care of business at home – someone outside of Wilkerson needs to step forward consistently to close out the regular season.
Purdue put on an offensive clinic
When Purdue is clicking like it was on Friday, the Boilermakers are one of the nation’s best offensive teams.
The preseason favorites to win the Big Ten, Purdue has been overshadowed by Michigan’s dominant season and Illinois’ great season. The Fighting Illini look like a legitimate national contender.
The Boilermakers, however, have played much better recently, despite an 11-point home loss to Michigan.
On Friday, they took out their frustration from that loss, their third this season at home, with an offensive explosion against Indiana.
Purdue’s 1.465 points per possession was its second-highest output in a game this season and most in a Big Ten contest.
From Braden Smith’s scoring and playmaking to Fletcher Loyer’s shotmaking and Trey Kaufman-Renn’s efficiency, it was a dominant 40-minute effort by the Boilermakers in Mackey Arena.
Indiana has to turn the page from this loss quickly
As bad as Friday’s loss was, Indiana has to flush it quickly and move on to a critical three-game stretch that will likely determine this team’s postseason fate.
The Hoosiers play three of their last four games in Bloomington, starting on Tuesday night against a Northwestern team that is 3-13 in the league.
It’s fair to call Tuesday’s contest a must-win for IU’s NCAA tournament hopes.
The Hoosiers have clung to the narrative that their resume doesn’t have a “bad” loss, but a slip-up on Tuesday would immediately change that.
“I think it’s important for us to understand that we have four big games coming up down the stretch, and we’re playing for a lot right now,” Tucker DeVries said postgame. “And I think it’s important that there’s not much that we can do right now about the previous game, but we can learn from it and move on to the next one and use this to get ready for these next four games that are massive for us trying to make that NCAA tournament, which we’ve certainly put ourself in a position to play meaningful games coming down the stretch of the season.”
See More: Five Takeaways, Purdue Boilermakers
