BLOOMINGTON — Sunday night was one of the few times Hoosiers could be caught rooting against the U.S. Army.
Of course, it was only the men’s basketball team, not the GIs or their officers in the field.
It took some late trench warfare for Indiana to prevail 72-64 at Assembly Hall in another early season game that was a tougher test against an 0-3 team than expected.
The second game of the 2023-24 season was pretty much an instant replay of the first game last week when the Hoosiers outlasted Florida Gulf Coast 69-63 after getting a late Halloween-type scare.
The Hoosiers won both games but left coach Mike Woodson frowning because of a shortage of style points.The games, and the struggles for the wins, were extremely similar for the Big Ten host, which is very clearly still jelling with several newcomers on a rebuilt roster.
For Woodson, it is like someone spilled the contents of a puzzle box and he has been given 40 minutes to shape a coherent picture out of the complicated shaped pieces. Just as Florida Gulf Coast did by sinking 13 three-pointers, the Black Knights kept the Hoosiers off-balance by regularly hitting that equalizer of a weapon, also hitting 13 three-pointers.
With just under four minutes to go, it was 58-58 with an anything-goes potential result. That was especially true the way Army freshman Ryan Curry was shooting (20 points, four 3-pointers).
But IU rode the backs of their bigs to create separation. Sophomores Kel’el Ware, totally unstoppable when required to be, scored 20 points and Malik Reneau, 14 points, did his share in the low post. Ware has both touch and force in his game. The Hoosiers are struggling with consistency. Point guard Xavier Johnson (19 points, 5 assists) is the man who drives the offense, and he has been a critical scorer, too.
But two games in a row, the IU offense has more resembled a car being started on a cold morning. The engine fits and starts and coughs initially, and then gradually warms up. Woodson has often received more energy and more decisive ball movement when employing three guards in the lineup. Johnson and senior Trey Galloway are staples, but 6-2 freshman Gabe Cupps has been a positive surprise.
Not with his scoring (five points), but through hustle, winning over fans, who didn’t even know his name a week ago.
“I’m going to play guys that want to play and play the right way,” Woodson said. “The last two games, that small lineup coming down the stretch was pretty good for us.”
Woodson gave some playing time to just about everyone, assessing them under game conditions, as he tries to comprehend what he has.
Ware, who is 7 feet tall and athletic enough to shoot from outside, and Reneau, a power guy, are handfuls for any defense, and over one stretch in the second half, Ware ran off 10 straight IU points.
Still, it was clear Woodson didn’t seem very happy with the overall sharpness of the squad. He sees flaws.
“Well, more ball movement, more pick and rolls,” he said of one way to improve. “I mean, we played well, I think, enough to where we got enough in the paint. We got 36 points in the paint. That’s pretty good for us.”
“We haven’t shot the three ball very well, and we’re not getting very many fast-break points, which we had in our first couple of exhibition games.” Johnson, a senior who is often called “X” as a nickname, is trying to be the wise head, even in practice, counseling freshmen and transfers.
“I try to tell them to do the right things,” Johnson said. “You do the right things, play hard and coach will reward you.”
Basically, going into a Thursday nonconference game versus Wright State (7 p.m. Assembly Hall), except for one major spurt in each game, the Hoosiers have not displayed the verve they need to survive against tougher teams.
Not yet, anyway. Still, it is better for a team to pick apart its weaknesses when standing at 2-0 than at 0-2.