Bounce Back Mentality Has Indiana's Defense Rebounding After Tough First Half Against Louisville

Written by Zach Greene

The Hoosiers defense stepped up in the second half of this past Saturday’s game. As a unit, they held Louisville just 21 points, with zero coming in the second half.

While the second half performance was good, Allen needs the defense to make more plays.

“Excited to see our defense strong and get a strong performance in the second half. Still not enough takeaways. Got a goal of three every game. Only got one. Needed another one; and three, it would be ideal to get what we need to get to be able to set up our offense in a better way,” stated Allen yesterday.

Allen’s identity is on the defensive side of the ball. The program’s identity especially on the defenseive side of the ball is built off Allen. Furthermore, when the team blows coverages on defensive in the first half. He takes responsibility. 

“So that's my responsibility as a head coach. It gets to that point where we are playing with an edge about us and playing with some confidence and playing with some swagger.” Allen on the defensive mistakes in the first half.

The Hoosiers were gashed in the first half and it fell on the shoulders of two younger players, Jamari Sharpe, who appeared in three games last season, has had a couple big times plays and Philip Dunnam, a sophomore, who has also taken on a big role. Both have embraced Allen’s mentality on the defensive side of the ball.

“You've got two young players that had bad eyes. And so you think about Jamari, very talented player, but that was really his first -- a game I would say of that magnitude where you've got two teams that are very, very equal and we're trying to have -- every play is going to be a variable in the outcome of the game.” Allen said.

 Allen had Sharpe and Dunnam’s back during their miscues in the first half. They will along way with the program. As the develop, expect to see even more production out of them . 

Friday’s game is the same mentality according to Allen. They will make adjustments during practice this week and play with a different confidence and swagger. Execution, confidence, and adaptability are the key words that Allen is confusing on. 

“Defensively, same thing. To me it's making sure we are simple enough so we can execute because they are always going to do some things a little bit different. Especially when you think about offensively, they are going to have an opening script, everybody does. And so what that looks like compared to what you thought they were going to do, and now you can adapt that so that our guys are playing fast and playing with confidence, and playing reactionary and not having to over-process things.” Allen said.

Indiana needs to put together a four quarter game and that starts with a playmaking defense.