Michigan State star Denzel Valentine gifted Indiana with an undeserved chance to force overtime in a home game the nose-diving Hoosiers desperately needed to win.
Fittingly, Indiana found a way to squander the opportunity.
When Valentine intentionally fouled Yogi Ferrell with two seconds left because he thought his team led by three points instead of two, it gave the Indiana point guard a chance to sink two free throws and tie the game. Ferrell rattled in the first foul shot but blew the second one, condemning the Hoosiers to a 74-72 home loss that will only increase the late-season tension in Bloomington.
An Indiana team that cracked the AP Top 25 on Jan. 23 has since lost eight of its last 12 games to tumble all the way to the bubble.
The argument in favor of the Hoosiers is that no other bubble team has a better collection of quality wins than Maryland, Butler, SMU, Ohio State and Illinois. The argument against the Hoosiers is a pedestrian 19-12 record, a dreadful non-conference strength of schedule and a lack of victories against anyone relevant since January.
Indiana's four RPI top 50 wins might be enough to secure a bid no matter how it fares in the Big Ten tournament, but the Hoosiers probably would not be wise to test that theory by losing in the opening round. They'll be either the No. 7 or No. 8 seed depending on how Illinois fares against Purdue later this weekend and they'll open with either Michigan or Northwestern.
Saturday's loss was a huge wasted opportunity for the Hoosiers considering they got Michigan State without star Branden Dawson, who warmed up but sat out due to concussion symptoms. Indiana lost anyway for familiar reasons — defense and rebounding. Michigan State overcame 7 of 28 shooting from behind the arc and 11 of 20 shooting from the foul line because it grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
Watching an 11-point lead nearly vanish in the final four minutes had to be alarming for Michigan State coach Tom Izzo because that has been a season-long issue for the Spartans.
Twice in Big Ten play, Izzo has been burned by not electing to foul intentionally when leading by three in the final seconds. This time he instructed his players to foul only if Travis Trice sank both of his free throws to increase the lead to three, and Valentine either misunderstood or had an ill-timed brain cramp.
Thankfully for Michigan State, it didn't prove costly.
Indiana wasted the chance to get off the bubble and instead ensured a nerve-jangling buildup to the Big Ten tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment