Indiana opened the season with an 80-61 win against SIU Edwardsville on Wednesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Here are five takeaways from the win against the Cougars:
Mackenzie Mgbako was dominant
Talent has never been a question for Mackenzie Mgbako. There was, however, an adjustment period last season as a freshman for Mgbako.
By season’s end, he was one of the country’s better freshman scorers and earned co-Big Ten freshman of the year honors.
Mgbako’s season-opening performance showed why there’s optimism he can take another leap forward as a sophomore. The 6-foot-9 forward – yes, he reportedly grew an inch in the offseason – was a matchup problem immediately for the Cougars.
With his size on the wing, Mgbako can comfortably get his shot against smaller defenders. He shot a sizzling 4-of-5 on 3s on his way to a career-high 31 points in 28 minutes.
More importantly, Mgbako was more aggressive going to the glass. And he was engaged defensively. That wasn’t always the case last winter. He finished with nine rebounds – a team-high – including three on the offensive end.
It was an encouraging, confidence-building performance for Mgbako, who has NBA aspirations. On a team full of offensive weapons, Mgbako showed himself as potent as any on the roster.
It’s early, but IU’s free throw shooting looks improved
There are only three games – and two were exhibitions – but the numbers so far say Indiana is improved from the free throw line.
On Wednesday, the Hoosiers shot 14-for-17 from the line, good for 82.4 percent. Including the exhibitions, Indiana is 34-for-46 (73.9 percent) from the line over 120 minutes of basketball.
If that improvement continues, it will boost IU’s offense. Last season, the Hoosiers shot just 66.4 percent from the line.
Getting to the line has always been a focus for Mike Woodson’s offensive game plan. But the Hoosiers have never ranked better than 205th nationally in free throw percentage.
While the Hoosiers are expected to add some new wrinkles offensively in Woodson’s fourth season, getting to the line will continue to be an emphasis.
Turnovers hold back offense from an even more explosive night
Wednesday was a solid offensive performance overall for Indiana. The Hoosiers shot 52.6 percent from the field, 37.5 percent on 3s and scored 80 points.
Indiana missed the mark in taking care of the ball, which made the final score closer than it should have been.
The Hoosiers turned the ball over 16 times in the win, for a turnover percentage of 22. Woodson’s goal since his arrival in 2021 has been 12 or fewer turnovers per game.
“Myles (Rice), he had five turnovers,” Woodson said postgame. “Three of them was where there just wasn’t nothing there. He tried to split two and three guys and lost the ball. Those are things that are correctable.”
In addition to the five turnovers by Rice, Oumar Ballo had four turnovers and Mgbako and Trey Galloway had two each.
As Woodson said, the issues are correctable, but Indiana needs to make progress quickly.
IU’s defensive rebounding was poor
Indiana’s indifference to competing on the defensive glass was more alarming than the turnover issues.
Despite their far greater size and athleticism, the Hoosiers were beaten to the ball repeatedly. When shots went up, Indiana was caught watching rather than finding a body to block out.
The result was 16 offensive rebounds for SIUE and an offensive rebounding percentage of 32. Fortunately for Indiana, SIUE only scored 13 second-chance points.
“We just couldn’t keep ’em off the glass. That’s not a big team,” Woodson said. “I got to get us blocking out and getting better in that area.”
Indiana’s poor defensive rebounding was a theme last season. Despite having the nation’s fourth-tallest team, Indiana ranked 211th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage. Wednesday was not a good start to improving in an area that will be an Achilles Heel if it’s not addressed.
Trey Galloway and Oumar Ballo found synergy in the second half
Indiana has, to its detriment, force fed the ball to Oumar Ballo early in the season.
The strength of Ballo’s offensive games comes when he has his man sealed off in the post early in a possession or in pick-and-rolls when he has momentum going to the rim. The Hoosiers have often tried to find Ballo in the post and let him go to work, which isn’t his game.
After Ballo shot just 1-for-4 in the first half, Indiana did a better job in the second half utilizing him.
Rather than trying to post Ballo, he was out on the floor setting ball screens for Galloway, who was able to find him for easy buckets.
The Mali native was an efficient 5-for-6 from the field in the second half and Galloway had six of his nine assists in nine second half minutes. Four of those assists for Galloway were to Ballo in the game’s final 7:22 when the Hoosiers put the game away.
Filed to: Mackenzie Mgbako, Oumar Ballo, SIU Edwardsville Cougars, Trey Galloway
