Did Woodson find something?
Indiana men’s basketball notched its third straight Big Ten game of the season, finally finding some momentum after struggling through non-conference play.
With USC and Rutgers having down years so far, the quality of the wins over this span leaves something to be desired. What stands out is how Indiana has won – without Malik Reneau, who left the Rutgers game in the opening minutes with a leg injury.
The Hoosiers were able to beat Penn State and Rutgers behind a pair of their best shooting games of the season, going 9-23 and 12-27, respectively. Last night, though, the shots weren’t falling for anyone but Luke Goode and Indiana still won comfortably.
One consistency across the streak has been the play of Oumar Ballo, who has averaged nearly 22 points per game since Reneau went down. He’s also played more than 30 minutes per game, proving he has the conditioning and skills to be the team’s primary center.
Despite being one of Indiana’s leading scorers recently, Ballo hasn’t been the focal point of the offense in the way we’ve come to expect bigs to play in Mike Woodson’s offense. He sets screens up top and can handle the ball around the perimeter, but doesn’t have the ball dumped into him automatically at the start of every possession.
The result? Space! Lots of it.
Like I wrote after the last game, the two wings, Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode, have been two of the biggest beneficiaries of this spacing. Mgbako finally cooled off last night, but Goode remained red hot (lol), going 4-5 from deep to move to 10-15 over the last three games.
Even with the rest of the team struggling from deep, Indiana was able to take better advantage of its athleticism and driving ability with just one big on the floor. Myles Rice and Bryson Tucker turned in 19 and 9 points, respectively, without either hitting a 3-pointer.
Indiana has also looked better in the unquantifiable parts of the game over this win streak.
The win at The Palestra saw Indiana handle pressure defense that has sunk it so many times the last few seasons. Last night, the Hoosiers overcame a slow start, built a lead, then held on without letting the Trojans back into the game.
However badly Indiana needed the wins, the team now finds itself succeeding largely because of a single-big style of play that its head coach has staunchly avoided through the first three years of his tenure.
It’s a situation that presents more questions than answers, especially with Reneau’s return date unknown. All we can do is take the wins and enjoy the ride.