The first six minutes of Indiana’s neutral court matchup with Auburn today were some of the best we’ve seen all season. The ball was moving, the shots were falling, and it suddenly seemed like the offense would be less reliant on paint scoring.
And then things fell apart. And continued to fall apart.
There was another brief period in the second half where Indiana came out looking competitive, cutting an 18 point halftime lead down to 11, but the wheels quickly came off once again. The perimeter defense disappeared and Auburn heated up from deep.
Given the contrasting playing styles between Auburn and Indiana, this kind of blowout loss was always going to be a possibility.