The Bubble didn’t burst
After getting off to a slow start and being down one of its leading scorers, Indiana had a gutsy comeback in the second half to complete the season sweep of Penn State with an 83-78 win.
Like the last time these teams met, Indiana got hot from 3-point range. The Hoosiers went 10-15 from deep, with the help of a 4-5 night from Trey Galloway, who started at the point guard spot today.
It wasn’t a perfect or dominant performance, but Indiana needed the win and got it. The focus now turns to getting healthy and winning on the road at Washington.
Here are three things we learned:
Still Alive
Besides the wins over Purdue and Michigan State, the most important part of Indiana’s tournament resume was the absence of any losses outside of the first quadrant. That made this Quad Two game against Penn State a must-win.
It wasn’t by enough points to really help Indiana analytically, so expect similar rankings in the NET, Kenpom, and Bart Torvik national rankings when it’s all calculated. But a win is a win, and this one keeps Indiana’s postseason hopes alive momentarily.
As we said in the preview, this is the first time Indiana has won consecutive games since January. Being able to avoid that letdown game after the win over Purdue, which appeared to be Indiana’s fate at points tonight, was huge for the Hoosiers.
There are things to improve on going forward, but for now, let’s celebrate the fact that the remaining games finally mean something.
The Lineups
With Malik Reneau out due to injury, Mike Woodson had to change his starting lineup once again. Tonight, the starters were Trey Galloway, Luke Goode, Anthony Leal, Mackenzie Mgbako, and Oumar Ballo.
This was interesting for a few reasons.
First, the decision to start just one true guard. Anthony Leal is a reliable ball handler, but doesn’t have a fast enough first step to be a true offensive initiator.
Rather than start Galloway alongside another guard, like Myles Rice, who was a huge part of Indiana’s win over Purdue, he went with a big small ball lineup of two wings, a wing/4, a big, and a guard.
Which brings us to the second point – Mackenzie Mgbako being back in the starting lineup. This makes sense if Woodson only really trusted one guard, especially since Bryson Tucker hasn’t checked in lately, but doesn’t shed light on his absence last game.
The Guard Play
If not for some timely shooting, it would have been a long night for Trey Galloway and Myles Rice, who combined for 10 of Indiana’s 14 turnovers. Trey balanced it out with nine assists, but Rice’s assist to turnover ratio tonight was 1:2.
Rice got it going as a scorer in the second half, which was key to Indiana’s run that allowed them to regain the lead late. But then he missed a pair of free throws late that gave Penn State a shot to tie it.
Penn State has some of the best on-ball defense in the conference, so Indiana isn’t going to see something that pesky and aggressive for the rest of the regular season. It’s still a problem that’s plagued Indiana all year with no obvious answer in sight with just three regular season games to play.