Is the Hoosier sharpshooter due for a sophomore surge?
Landing Mackenzie Mgbako was not easy.
Once the talented 5-star scorer decommitted from Duke, his shortened spring recruitment became a national storyline quickly. Names like Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana and others came up but it ended up coming down to the Hoosiers and the Jayhawks.
Mgbako ended up picking the Hoosiers in what struck some as a surprise.
He looked rough, frankly, in his first few games with the program. The defense wasn’t there, he had trouble finding his shot and overall offensive rhythm and sometimes had trouble staying on the court, especially in late game situations.
Coming in with such high expectations, his early performances raised some eyebrows. Mike Woodson was quick to jump to his defense.
“He’s a freshman,” Woodson said after a nonconference game against Harvard last season. “You guys expect so much from these young kids. It’s a learning process with him, coming out of high school and you go to college and you play college basketball.”
Mgbako went from that freshman who was still learning to one of Indiana’s most valuable players over the course of the 2024-25 season, ultimately winning co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
He came to Bloomington with a pretty clear goal of making it to the NBA, ideally after a single season. That didn’t prove enough, and he opted to remain with Indiana.
The Mgbako that has shown up for the Hoosiers through two games of the regular season much more closely resembles the one that helped spur a winning streak late last season than the one who was benched in crunch time against inferior competition.
It’s a small sample size, but Mgbako scored 31 points with 9 rebounds against SIUE in the season opener and 18 points with 7 rebounds against Eastern Illinois on Sunday. He wasn’t just a scorer in the latter either, compiling 4 assists in 27 minutes of play.
Offensively, Mgbako runs the floor in transition and drives to the cup with authority, his 6’9” frame allowing him to overpower and score over smaller defenders with finesse. He goes after rebounds with aggression, going for putbacks offensively or pushing the ball down the floor on defense.
He gets to his spots, typically at the wings, for easy looks from deep off of driving kickouts from Indiana’s guards. He’s shot 6-9 from 3 through two games and is capable of generating looks for himself if the situation calls for it.
On defense, Mgbako pretty clearly has a better handle of Woodson’s system and is more active than he was last year. It’s allowed the staff some flexibility with lineups, with Mgbako seeing much more significant time at power forward this season than last.
If he keeps up this momentum, he has a really good chance to lead the Hoosiers in scoring and finish the season with All-Big Ten honors. He’s already drawn more NBA eyes than he had coming into the season, with DraftExpress mocking him as a second-rounder in 2025.
The sky is the limit for Mgbako in 2024-25.