Riding a four game win streak, Indiana basketball hit the road for its first Big Ten conference road game of the season, facing Nebraska.
Indiana found themselves behind Nebraska as soon as the clock began to tick.
Forward Mackenzie Mgbako recorded two fouls in the first minute of regulation, pushing himself out of the rotation for the remainder of the half.
Aside from Mgbako’s two first half fouls, Kanaan Carlyle, Malik Reneau and Myles Rice each had two first half fouls. The constant fouls from Indiana sent Nebraska to the bonus early, shooting nine-for-thirteen from the charity stripe on the half.
On the evening, Nebraska would get to the line for a total of 26 shot attempts, scoring 17 free points.
Foul trouble wasn’t Indiana’s only defensive issue. Indiana continuously failed to successfully play consistent defense, allowing Nebraska to rack up shot after shot.
The Cornhuskers shot 61.2% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. Streaks of offensive success from Indiana was never capitalized on, as Indiana’s lack of defense allowed Nebraska to keep the game tight until the end.
Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson was disappointed in the loss, criticizing his team’s effort on both ends.
“We got to be better defensively. I’m on these guys constantly, we work on defense and I know defense wins especially when you’re not making shots, it at least keeps you in the ball game. At the end of the night, they had it both ways, they made shots and we weren’t very good defensively.
A big factor of the Cornhuskers’ night offensively was Brice Williams, who shot for 30 points on ten-of-fifteen shooting from the field and two-of-three shooting from three. Williams added six rebounds, five assists and a steal, finishing the game with a +/- of +25.
Williams, a senior guard, has served as arguably Nebraska’s best scoring option this season, averaging 17.5 points per game going into the contest.
Coach Woodson gave his insight on what he saw fail defensively when Indiana was guarding Williams.
“Once he got going it was tough to shut him down. A lot of it was in isolation, off the bounce, and that’s something we got to get better in that area too and defending off the dribble.”
The 85 points allowed was the second most points allowed by Indiana this season, falling behind the 89 points allowed against Louisville in the loss during the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
Coach Woodson reflected on the weak defensive performance from Indiana throughout the night.
“We had no defensive presence to start the game and that’s something that we just got to keep working and get it fixed because especially on the road, it’s tough winning on the road in the Big Ten and you got to establish yourself from a defensive standpoint.”
Woodson and his team will have a chance to turn things around, as the team hosts two non-conference games coming up against Chattanooga and Winthrop.
Indiana won’t face another Big Ten team until January, hosting Rutgers on January 2, 2025.
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