‘It’s still my job to get them over the hump’: Lack of late game execution continues to haunt Indiana basketball in conference play

For the fourth time in the last six games, Indiana basketball has dropped a game by five or less points.

It’s been a similar storyline consistently for Indiana as the program continues to fail to close out games in the second half. This was the case tonight, as Indiana suffered a tough loss to UCLA, 72-68.

Going into tonight’s contest, UCLA had displayed poor performances when leaving the west coast in conference play. Mick Cronin and his team were 0-4 in Big Ten conference games outside of the west coast, having lost to Illinois, #24 Michigan, Nebraska and Rutgers.

An atrocious first half from Indiana allowed UCLA to run into halftime with a ten point lead. The poor half showcased Indiana shooting just 32.1% from the field with an even worse 15.4% from beyond the arc.

Strong second half performances from Luke Goode and Malik Reneau allowed Indiana to shake off its troubles on the back half of the game as the team cut UCLA’s lead to just two points in the final minutes.

With UCLA leading by two with 0:31 on the clock, Anthony Leal stole the ball, giving Indiana an entire shot clock to run their offense and create an effective play.

Instead of using the shot clock to their advantage, Myles Rice attempted a contested mid range shot, which he couldn’t get to go.

Rice’s shot selection was very questionable, as Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson confirmed it was not the shot he had intended Rice to put up.

“We didn’t execute that particular play because that’s not the play I drew up in timeout. So that was a botched play, but the ball ended up in his hands. You tell guys, you’re in the penalty, you’ve got to take advantage of your speed or whatever in terms of getting downhill, and he settled.”

Mgbako was able to revive Indiana’s pulse, grabbing the offensive rebound from Rice’s miss, putting up and missing an open layup. The uncontested layup would have been the game tying basket had it gone in.

UCLA failed to squeeze the rebound from Mgbako’s miss, swatting the ball out of bounds, giving Indiana another chance on offense to run a play.

Mgbako had the ball in his hands on Indiana’s inbound play, failing to recognize Rice, who was left open under the basket. Mgbako passed the ball in to Reneau and immediately sprinted to the corner, where he was left completely open for the pass back from Reneau. Just like the last play, Mgbako missed the open look, except this time the shot would’ve won the game for Indiana had Mgbako knocked it down.

Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson expressed his frustration on his team leaving behind several opportunities to either tie or win the game.

“It’s a tough loss. We executed, but we just didn’t finish. I thought, after they missed the one and one, we came back and got a good look, Mack got an offensive rebound, point blank layup, and we don’t get it. Then we get a wide open three. We got exactly what we were looking for on the play, and that’s a shot that he normally makes. He just didn’t make it.”

Indiana continues to defend the narrative of being unable to execute in late game situations.

A handful of recent games for Indiana have ended with the same story – the inability to close out tight games.

Woodson looked back at Indiana’s recent losses, discussing the pain in dropping several competitive games in the final minutes.

“Nine out of ten times, you make the plays that you need to make. The fact that we’ve lost them, it’s been guys are searching. I’m searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line. I’ll never put it on the player. I’ll take the responsibility. Even though I don’t make the shots or miss the defensive assignments, it’s still my job to get them over the hump.”

After defeating #11 Michigan State on the road on Tuesday, a win against UCLA tonight would’ve served as a major statement from Indiana.

The team’s next opportunity to prove themselves will come next Sunday, in what could be the team’s biggest game of the year, facing Purdue at home.

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