That’s A Wrap: Team offense
Welcome to “That’s A Wrap,” our recap of the 2023-24 Indiana Hoosiers. Today, we examine Indiana’s team offense.
Previous player recaps: Gabe Cupps, Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau, Kel’el Ware, Kaleb Banks, CJ Gunn, Payton Sparks, Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Anthony Walker, Xavier Johnson
Offense (33 games): Adjusted efficiency: 109.8 (105th), eFG%: 52.1 (96th), TO%: 17.5 (208th), 3PFG%: 32.4 (255th), 2PFG%: 53.4 (60th), FT%: 66.4 (333rd), FTA/FGA: 37.7% (58th), OR%: 27.0 (254th)
The 2023-24 season was a significant step back for Indiana’s offense.
After finishing the 2022-23 season with the nation’s 28th offense – an improvement of 67 spots from Mike Woodson’s first season according to KenPom – the Hoosiers struggled in Woodson’s third season.
There were many problems – some new, some old – but the result was that the Hoosiers finished the season with an offense ranked outside of the top 100 nationally. Indiana had the 11th-best offensive in conference play out of 14 Big Ten teams.
It’s important to caveat this discussion with the reality that some regression was expected based on the roster turnover in the offseason. The Hoosiers lost an all-time great and a pro in Trayce Jackson-Davis. IU’s point guard, Jalen Hood-Schifino, left school early and became a first-round pick. Floor spacer Miller Kopp, a 44.4 percent 3-point shooter, graduated with no clear replacement.
With all of that said, the offensive backward slide had plenty to do with IU missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in three seasons under Woodson.
The lack of perimeter shooting was the first and perhaps easiest bone to pick with the offense. The Hoosiers connected at just a 32.4 percent clip from distance, which ranked 255th in the country. Not only did IU not make many 3s, they also didn’t take many. IU ranked just 351st nationally at 27.8 percent in 3PA/FGA and just 355th (20.9 percent) in point distribution from 3s. Against opponents with a high-powered offense, Indiana had little chance to keep up, relying primarily on points inside the 3-point arc.
Woodson built the offense around the post duo of Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau, a similar strategy to the one he used when Jackson-Davis was on the block. As much criticism as Woodson sometimes received for continuing to pound the ball inside, it wasn’t the wrong call based on his personnel. With a poorly constructed roster on the perimeter – an area where it was certainly fair to question Woodson – Indiana’s best chance on most nights was to get the ball to Ware and Reneau for high-percentage looks.
Indiana did a pretty good job shooting the ball inside the arc for the season. The Hoosiers shot 53.4 percent on 2s, which ranked 60th best in the country. IU also posted a free throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 37.7 percent, good for 58th in the country. However, the team’s poor free throw shooting often negated the high free throw rate. Indiana shot 66.4 percent from the line for the season, its lowest mark since the 2018-19 season under Archie Miller (65.5 percent).
Despite having the fourth tallest team in the country – according to KenPom – Indiana’s offensive rebounding was a weakness. The Hoosiers grabbed just 27 percent of their missed shots, which ranked 254th in the country. Turnovers were also problematic as IU coughed the ball up on 17.5 percent of its possessions, ranking 208th nationally.
Bottom line: It was a season to forget offensively for Indiana and a lot of the issues were centered around poor guard and perimeter play. The Hoosiers are hard at work in the transfer portal trying to shore those issues up, which should create more balance across the roster. While Indiana may never be a high-volume 3-point shooting team, the Hoosiers do need to improve their percentages both from the perimeter and the foul line. It’s tough to win consistently at the highest levels of college basketball with a team ranked outside of the top 250 in 3-point shooting percentage and outside of the top 330 in free throw shooting percentage.
Quotable: “Maybe we might be that team that makes the tournament not making threes. You ever thought about that? That could happen. I’m just saying. Everybody puts so much on analytics. Maybe we might be that team to make it. The bottom line is we’re sitting here with one loss, with some wins. Got a lot of work still on our hands. We hadn’t made the three point shot, but we still are winning. Maybe the three point shot will come around. I don’t know. We work on them every day just like we work on free throws, shooting twos, all the things that you’re supposed to do in terms of preparing for a game and getting better. So all we can do is hope that they put the ball in the hole when they shoot the three. If they don’t, then I to feel like they are going to go down and get some stops and rebound the ball and give us another shot at it again.” – Woodson on November 30 when asked about the team’s lack of 3-point shooting and how very few teams have made the NCAA tournament making a low number of 3s.
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