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Indiana suffered its second straight 25-point loss, falling 94-69 to Illinois on Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The loss dropped the Hoosiers to 13-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten.
Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Illini:
Defense sinks Indiana in the first half
The Hoosiers were competitive in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s game in Assembly Hall. After a Myles Rice layup, the Hoosiers trailed 10-8 with 17:08 to play.
But as the Illini went on a run, Indiana had no answer defensively. By the under-12 media timeout, a two-point Illinois lead had ballooned to 15. It would only grow from there as the Illini stretched the lead to 30 points on a Kylan Boswell layup with 4:51 remaining.
Unlike Saturday in Iowa City, the Hoosiers would not respond when the opponent threw an initial punch.
Despite shooting less than 50 percent in the first half, Illinois scored 60 points. In the opening 20 minutes, the Illini went 8-for-19 on 3s, 10-for-12 from the free-throw line and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, which turned into 17 second-chance points.
The 28-point halftime deficit for the Hoosiers was the largest for Indiana in a home game in the last 25 seasons.
Struggles continue for Mackenzie Mgbako
For the third straight game, Indiana sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako failed to reach double figures.
The 6-foot-9 forward from Gladstone, New Jersey, shot 1-for-10 from the field and finished with four points in 19 minutes.
It was also the third straight game in which Mgbako played less than 20 minutes.
Over the last three games, Mgbako is 3-for-24 from the field overall and 0-for-11 on 3-pointers. He’s averaging 3.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in the previous three contests.
Although Mgbako is still shooting 50 percent on 2s and 36.4 percent on 3s for the season, his numbers have cratered against Big Ten opponents. He’s shooting just 36.1 percent on 2s and 26.7 percent on 3s in conference games.
Indiana’s 3-point shooting continues to regress
After shooting 12-for-27 on 3s against Rutgers and 9-for-23 against Penn State, Indiana’s 3-point shooting has taken a significant step back in the last three games.
The Hoosiers shot just 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) in Tuesday’s loss to Illinois. That followed a 4-for-16 (25 percent) performance against Iowa and a 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) mark against USC.
In the last three games, Indiana is 14-for-55 from beyond the arc, just 25.4 percent.
Through 18 games, the Hoosiers now rank 274th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at 31.4. That would be the lowest 3-point shooting percentage for an IU team since the 2018-19 season, when the Hoosiers shot 31.2 percent from distance.
In Big Ten play, IU is making just 30.5 percent of its 3-pointers, which ranks 13th in the conference.
Indiana falls to 1-5 in Quad 1 games
Through its first two games of 11 straight against contests considered Quad 1 for NCAA tournament purposes, Indiana has a pair of 25-point losses.
Each of IU’s five losses have come by at least 16 points and the average margin of defeat for IU this season is 22.2 points.
The road only becomes more difficult from here. On Friday, Indiana travels to Ohio State. The Buckeyes desperately need a win after starting Big Ten play 2-4. On Tuesday night, Ohio State fell 70-68 to Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.
After that, Indiana travels to Northwestern next Wednesday. The Wildcats have had IU’s number in recent seasons. The Hoosiers have not beaten Northwestern since the 2020-21 season, Archie Miller’s last in Bloomington.
Overall, four of Indiana’s next five games are on the road. The Hoosiers are 2-4 overall in games away from Assembly Hall this season.
Kasparas Jakucionis is dominant in return from a two-game absence
Illinois freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis showed no rust after missing the last two games with a forearm injury.
The 6-foot-6 guard from Lithuania scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half of Tuesday’s win for the Illini.
A projected lottery pick in June’s NBA draft, Jakucionis finished with 21 points, five assists and three rebounds in 33 minutes.
He shot 7-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-7 on 3s, and 4-for-5 from the free throw line.
After Saturday’s stunning loss to USC at the State Farm Center, the win kept Illinois in the hunt for the Big Ten title. The Illini, a top 10 team nationally in KenPom, remain just two games back of Michigan and Michigan State in the loss column of the conference standings.
Filed to: Illinois Fighting Illini
