Quick Hitters: Key takeaways from the Indiana basketball 80-61 season-opening win over SIUE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana basketball opened up its season with a 80-61 win over SIUE on Wednesday night to kick off year four for Mike Woodson.

While it was a win, it wasn’t always pretty as Indiana struggled midway through the first half, needing a 15-3 run to take a 12-point lead into the half. Every time Indiana tried to expand its lead in the second half, SIUE would respond.

Here are some quick takeaways from IU’s win.

Mackenzie Mgbako’s confidence: One thing is clear — Mackenzie Mgbako is a different player than a year ago. The Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year was phenomenal on Wednesday and played up a level in every aspect of his game from a year ago. At halftime, Mgbako had 19 points on 8-of-10 from the field — finishing with 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting, 4-of-5 from three and adding nine rebounds. He totaled 25 points in his first five games combined last year. He was scoring in numerous ways on Wednesday — off of 3s, in transition and attacking off of the dribble. What was best about his performance was the confidence, aggressiveness and yet how under control he was the entire night. Rarely forcing anything, he picked his spots and moments and allowed his teammates to set him up on the perimeter as well. What stood out even more than his scoring was his attentiveness defensively and on the glass — the two biggest weaknesses from a season ago. His sophomore jump through one game was noticeable in a major way.

Rebounding an issue: IU’s rebounding hasn’t typically been an issue with the likes of Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kel’el Ware but Wednesday showed that there are some real flaws in that aspect for the Hoosiers. Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau are effective on the glass, but it doesn’t always show. Ballo lacks true lift off of the floor and was getting out jumped numerous times on the night. But, when both were off the floor, there was a major concern with the inability for guys like Langdon Hatton and Luke Goode to be the support Indiana needed on the glass. SIUE finished with 16 offensive rebounds — a 16-9 advantage on the night. Ballo, himself, was out rebounded 9-6 by SIUE’s center. Indiana had good production from Mackenzie Mgbako, but there was a trend of ball-watching from a lot of the perimeter players, something that can’t happen. It’s one game, but IU had a clear size advantage all over the floor with size, but didn’t utilize it.

IU wants to play fast … but doesn’t always have to: Indiana wants to play fast and that’s going to help this team out tremendously throughout the season, but there were too many times Indiana forced the pace and issue. With 16 turnovers on the night, numerous were live ball due to sloppy decision making. Whether it was going 1-on-4 and trying to make a fast break out of nothing, or passing ahead, trying to squeeze the ball through numerous hands — Indiana played with too much quickness at times. There needs to be an ability to push the pace without looking to score automatically, but more to open up its secondary action as the defense is slow to get back. It’ll take time as the new-look team gets used to each other, but Wednesday definitely had its ups and downs when it came to transition play.

Second unit jitters … Maybe?: This was an issue in the exhibition game against Tennessee for Indiana basketball, but thoughts were that was because there was no Bryson Tucker and Trey Galloway to help that second unit. Well, they were back on Wednesday and there was still a lot to be desired from the reserves. Mike Woodson spoke all offseason about the depth and talent they have off of the bench but it’s still to be determined how deep IU will and can go consistently from game to game. 10 players saw minutes in the first half but that was trimmed down to a very deliberate seven-man rotation after halftime. Tucker saw just five second-half minutes, while Gabe Cupps saw just one. Trey Galloway was very productive off the bench with six points and nine assists in 17 minutes. Outside of Galloway, however, the rest of the bench was just 1-of-8. Guys like Luke Goode and Bryson Tucker need to be able to provide valuable minutes off the bench in the scoring column from time-to-time in order for this team to reach its full potential.

Perimeter defense was very strong: Led by the play of Kanaan Carlyle, the Indiana basketball perimeter players were locked in defensively for the majority of the game. Even when the offense was stalling, the perimeter players for Indiana basketball made sure to stay active. Numerous times the shot clock would get inside three seconds, causing a last-second heave. There were some letdowns, but for the majority of the night, Carlyle, Myles Rice and Trey Galloway were making it extremely difficult on any SIUE player. Most of the action for SIUE came off of chaotic and broken plays. IU’s ability to have three very solid guard defenders with good length will be something to monitor throughout the season — but on night one, it was there.

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