Indiana men’s basketball beats South Carolina: Three things we learned

Something clicked

Indiana men’s basketball made a statement today in its first game against a high major opponent. South Carolina hadn’t been lighting the world on fire entering the game, but the Hoosiers were only favored to win by six according to KenPom.

One of the biggest reasons for the score differential today was Indiana’s ability to completely shut down the Gamecocks’ best player, Collin Murray-Boyles. South Carolina’s leading scorer was held to just two points before he fouled out today.

The offense finally got going too, with each of the starting guards reaching double digits for the first time this season. We’ll see if they can play at this level consistently, but Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle finally looked comfortable in the new offense with their new teammates.

With their confidence and production, we got a glimpse into just how good this Indiana team can be this year.

Here are three things we learned:

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The Backcourt

It wasn’t surprising that neither Carlyle nor Rice looked sure of their roles in Indiana’s first two games, but a lot seemed to have changed in the six days since the Hoosiers last suited up.

Rice came out of the gate like his hair was on fire, scoring 17 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. He was doing it all, driving to the rim, creating and hitting 3-pointers for himself, and finding teammates in transition. The pace and energy he brought were instrumental in helping Indiana avoid another slow start.

Carlyle also had a good first half, scoring seven points in the first 20 minutes and knocking down a big 3-pointer. His season-high entering the game was six points, which he doubled by the end of today’s game, going 2-5 from deep and adding two assists.

Before South Carolina made halftime adjustments to slow the game down, these two were really helping Indiana push the pace for transition buckets. Seven of Indiana’s nine fastbreak points came in that first half, including Rice’s lob to Carlyle.

Overall, the way they played today allowed Indiana to push the tempo and play a more perimeter-oriented offense that fans have been clamoring for over the last two seasons. Not to mention how their athleticism caused significant problems for South Carolina’s offense.

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The Rotation

Mike Woodson shortened his bench much quicker this year than in year’s past, relying on just eight players for the entirety of this matchup. Luke Goode, Trey Galloway, and Bryson Tucker were the only players to come off the bench today.

Once Indiana is on more solid footing analytically, Woodson should be able to go deeper into the bench. Until then, getting these guys reps and building their chemistry will be the quickest way to get this team where it needs to be.

The talent and mix of abilities in Indiana’s top eight is why this team was ranked in the preseason poll and jumped a few spots after wins against lesser opponents. There are just so many ways this team can score.

In addition to the two starting guards reaching double figures, Mackenzie Mgbako had 17 points and Malik Reneau had 13. Oumar Ballo was quiet offensively, but grabbed 13 rebounds, including 10 on the defensive end.

Not many teams are going to have the talent at every position to match Indiana, so guys will continue to get chances to exploit matchups as they did today.

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The Gameplan

After being post-centric in the first two games and for periods of the exhibitions, Indiana’s offense looked like the guard-oriented unit we expected with the portal additions. We saw more ball screens, off-ball cuts from guards, and kickouts for secondary drives.

This is a big part of the reason that Ballo only finished with seven points, but Indiana was able to attack the interior when it needed to. Once Murray-Boyle got into foul trouble, Woodson got the ball into Reneau, who was able to draw fouls and convert on free throws.

South Carolina got off a lot of 3-pointers today, but that was probably pretty close to what Indiana wanted. The Gamecocks entered the game shooting under 30% from 3-point range, worse than 200th nationally.

Credit to the players for stepping up as individuals, but the staff deserves credit for putting them in the position to do so and attacking South Carolina’s weak points when needed. Keeping the lineup short and sticking to this plan gave Indiana yet another win that should boost its team metrics.