Indiana basketball is coming off their most important stretch of the non-conference with Battle 4 Atlantis last week however, the Hoosiers could not take advantage of the opportunities they had in front of them.
After getting blown out by both Louisville and Gonzaga, the Hoosiers were able to get one win at least over Providence during their trip. Through those three games, there was a lot learned about this Indiana basketball team as they dropped to 5-2 on the year and out of the Top 25 rankings.
Indiana will now head into December play without a key win and no opportunity to do so before they jump fully into Big Ten play in January.
There were many talking points about Indiana basketball after last week’s trip and HoosierIllustrated.com is ready to give you our main takeaways as Indiana heads into the month of December.
The defense is just not good enough right now
Where, oh where has the elite defense of Indiana basketball went?
In his first few years as head coach of Indiana basketball, Mike Woodson had his team competing on the defensive end of the floor but for about the last season and half, that defense that we knew could be relied upon has completely disappeared.
Looking back at the Battle 4 Atlantis, you could really make a strong case that the lack of defense and willingness to compete on that is what ultimately led to Indiana basketball not having the showing that many expected them to have. In three games, the Hoosiers let their opponents score 83.6 points per game. When you give up that amount of points and your offense goes through lapses without scoring, you won’t win very many games that way.
Indiana showed bad communication on this end, didn’t defend the perimeter well, would not make the extra effort needed most of the time, and really just the opposing team do what they wanted against them.
“Good teams like Gonzaga and Louisville, you can’t spot them (points) like we did,” Woodson said. “It’s hard to come back.”
Going into the last month before strictly conference play, Indiana basketball has to work on improving on the defensive end of the floor. Indiana has the talent to be a great offensive team, but if they don’t have defense then they won’t be able to reach the goals they have for one-another.
Indiana basketball is at their best when Mackenzie Mgbako plays at a high level
This Indiana basketball team has a lot of balance to it as far as guys that can carry a team. One night, it could be Malik Reneau’s night, then Trey Galloway’s, then Oumar Ballo’s, and so on and so on. A common trend though that you may have started to notice is that when sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako is playing at a high level and being the primary scoring threat, that is when the Hoosiers have their most success on the floor.
When Indiana was at their worst on this Bahamas trip, Mgbako only scored 8 points (2-of-7) vs Louisville and 13 points (4-of-10) vs Gonzaga. In the game the Hoosiers looked their best in, Mgbako led the way with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting (4-of-7 from three) in the win vs Providence.
To further explain how good Mackenzie Mgabko has been, he is the only Big Ten player to average 15+ points per game while shooting at least 50% from the floor, 50% from 3 and 90% from the foul line.
Mgbako’s versatility as a player can open up so many things for Indiana as the season progresses. He is currently averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and could be on track to becoming a member of the All-Big Ten team. For the sophomore, it is all about continuing to be consistent on both ends while also staying aggressive with his scoring.
Moving forward, Mgbako needs to at the very least be a starting focal point in Indiana’s offense.
Relax, there is still plenty of season left
Anyone remember the 2015-16 Indiana basketball that went 1-2 in Maui then turned around and won the Big Ten Championship? Ok good!
The fans of Indiana have every right to be upset with how this team competed overall in Atlantis. The high expectations and talent that this team has had people buzzing ang into this trip, it was expected that the Hoosiers would compete to win the whole thing down in The Bahamas.
With how bad it was overall, there were some flashes of the potential this team has in them. Louisville was just bad however, they showed constant fight vs Gonzaga and playing with an insane amount of energy vs Providence.
The sky is not falling, I promise you. This Indiana basketball team has too much talent for their season to be gone at this point in the year. It is only December and the Hoosiers have nearly three months to get right. If you expected this team to be in complete form this early in the season, that was a poor line of thinking.
“I’m not gonna let us forget this game because this was embarrassing,” Woodson said after the Louisville loss.
Indiana basketball now knows that they have a lot more work to be done this next month. If this team does not show improvement from this terrible trip, then we will have bigger problems at hand.
Make sure to follow Hoosier Illustrated, part of the Full Ride Network, on Twitter @Indiana_FRN, Facebook and YouTube to stay up to date on all of the news, updates and coverage of Indiana University athletics. You can also listen to the Talking’ Bout the Hoosiers podcast on Spotify.
Looking for a place to get more Indiana content? Hoosier Illustrated has partnered with Tom Brady’s company ‘Autograph’ to streamline our coverage, so you can continue to do what you do best – follow IU sports. Use the CODE: Indianafr to get started today. For more info, you can start here.
