BLOOMINGTON, Ind. --- The nation’s best 3-point shooting team came crashing back to earth Thursday night.
The other "crashing" that took place was Minnesota on the offensive boards.
The Golden Gophers picked up 16 offensive rebounds, including 12 in the second half, and never trailed in the second half in a 77-74 upset of seventh-ranked Indiana at Assembly Hall.
For Minnesota (13-5, 1-4 Big Ten) the victory snapped a four-game losing streak to open conference play. For Indiana (15-2, 3-2) the loss ended a three-game winning streak. IU also lost for the first time at home after winning its first 11 games.
IU was unable to make shots and Minnesota pounded the offensive boards.
"We just didn’t have our edge tonight," said IU junior guard Jordan Hulls. "We didn’t get stops when we needed to and we gave up too many good looks.
"And you’ve got to come up with the big rebounds at the end of the game and we just didn’t do that."
IU came into the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in 3-point shooting at 47.6 percent. Sunday at Penn State, IU hit 16-of-24 from beyond the arc.
Against Minnesota, the Hoosiers shot 4-of-18 from 3-point range, 22.2 percent. And that was with IU hitting two 3-pointers in its final four shots. Overall, IU shot 43.6 percent from the field.
IU had a 35-33 rebounding edge, but the Gophers picked up one big rebound after another on the offensive glass.
“It was deflating to give up that many offensive rebounds,’’ said IU freshman center Cody Zeller. “We just have to do the little things better. That one was on us.’’
Despite all of Indiana’s struggles, the Hoosiers rallied from a 71-62 deficit with 1:11 to play, cutting the lead to one with 17.3 seconds remaining.
Matt Roth had a 3-pointer with 56.8 seconds to play and hit another with 30 seconds remaining. A three-point play by Zeller with 17.3 seconds remaining cut it to 75-74.
Austin Hollins then hit two free throws with 15.1 seconds left to make it 77-74. IU had a good look to tie in the closing seconds. Christian Watford, who was limited to four points on 1-of-7 shooting, missed a 3-pointer from the right wing with seven seconds to play.
After Julian Welch missed two free throws at the other end with 2.0 seconds on the clock, IU attempted a full court pass that was intercepted.
IU coach Tom Crean pointed to his team's defense as the main problem.
“This game starts with our lack of awareness defensively,’’ Crean said.
“Communication, weak side, ball side, challenging shots, and block outs. The awareness never got where it needed to be until the end of the game.’’
Crean said he talked to his team before the game and throughout the week about how this was a step his team needed to take.
“They’re shooting the ball well and we’re getting a lot of attention for the winning and things like that,’’ Crean said, “but teams that take the next step totally get that defense is what comes first in every situation. Defense creates the offense, defense creates more opportunities, you name it. And the best teams create confidence from their defense.
“The easiest thing to do is to be sky high when you’re making shots. The hardest thing to do is to understand how committed you have to be to the game of defense and rebounding when you’re not.’’
Zeller led IU with 23 points and eight rebounds. Hulls had 13 and Will Sheehey, playing in his first game since Dec. 19, came off the bench to score 12 points in 15 minutes.
Hollins led Minnesota with 18 and Rodney Williams added 14.
Call Star reporter Terry Hutchens at (317) 444-6469. Follow him at twitter.com/indystar_hutch.
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