Just five days after their epic second-half collapse against Northwestern, the Indiana Hoosiers saw their NCAA Tournament hopes all but evaporate with a 77-64 loss to #13 Michigan State. What is perhaps more surprising is that with their tournament hopes hanging in the balance, Tayton Conerway, who had 12 and 14 points over the past two games, played just 7 minutes.
The Hoosiers looked sluggish from the start of the game, holding the ball and settling for long threes instead of driving to the basket. By the under 16 media timeout, the Hoosiers had gone ice-cold from the field, going 0-5 and failing to score in the last 2:38. The Hoosiers had quickly found themselves in an 11-5 hole. It was clear that Indiana needed to find some buckets in the paint, yet they refused to play Conerway, their best dribble-driving player.
Things weren’t much better on the defensive side of the ball, where Indiana’s repeated switching led to lots of open looks for the Spartans, who were eager to make the Hoosiers pay. Surely the 6’ 3” Conerway could have provided a little length on defense that the 6’ 1” Connor Enright could not?
Regardless of the early struggles, the Hoosiers played much better in the second half, cutting the lead to just 4 at one point. However, no IU player outside of Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson made a field goal in the second half. Wouldn’t it make the most sense to play Tayton Conerway, who has averaged double figures over the last two games, to give your leading scorers some help?
When asked what went wrong after the game, Coach DeVries said, “I didn’t think we had the offensive piece throughout the game. I just never thought we got great offense possession after possession. I didn’t think there was a lot of consistency there defensively. After the first eight, ten minutes or so, I thought we were much better.”
DeVries continued saying, “I thought the second half was really just the rebounding. If we had gathered some more of those offensive rebounds, but they were there. There were a lot of bodies on, a lot of hands. If we had come out with a few more of those and maybe we’re in transition and get the crowd really into it and see what happens.”
When a follow-up question flat-out asked why he did not play Conerway, Coach DeVries said, “We thought Jasai [Miles] was playing really hard and was very active. So we decided to go with him.” Miles ended the game with 0 points, 4 rebounds, 1 turnover, and 4 personal fouls.
Clearly, there is something going on behind the scenes as to why Conerway is not playing. He has been injured at certain points in the season and has missed a game as a late scratch due to illness, yet he had been playing some of his best basketball before Sunday’s game. When a game starts to go sideways as fast as it did on Sunday, there is almost no downside to playing Conerway, who has certainly earned his minutes with his past two performances, outside of teaching him a lesson. It is one thing to like the effort that Jasai Miles gives you; it is another to leave one of your hottest scorers on the bench in a must-win game.