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Indiana men’s basketball got a substantial win in conference play on Sunday against Penn State in the Palestra. It was an interesting game, all things considered. Here’s three things:
Oumar Ballo
With Malik Reneau still recovering from the injury he suffered early against Rutgers, Oumar Ballo was once again asked to shoulder the majority of the center minutes for Indiana. For the second game in a row, he dominated.
Ballo led Indiana with 25 points and 13 rebounds despite being limited by foul trouble for a big stretch in the second half. Most importantly, he went 7-11 from the charity stripe, punishing Penn State for trying to slow his offensive production by fouling.
As the sole center on the court, Ballo’s role and spacing become more straightforward. Offensively, he doesn’t have to share the spots in the paint from which he’s extremely efficient. Defensively, he knows it’s his job alone to grab the rebound.
After catching some flak online for his absence against Winthrop, Ballo has bounced back with two of his best games of the year, proving why he was considered a top portal prospect.
The Backcourt
Entering the season, people were so high on this particular Indiana team because the addition of Kanaan Carlyle and Myles Rice appeared to have addressed the lack of backcourt talent that’s plagued Indiana of late.
Adding to the optimism was the thought that a healthy Jakai Newton could provide some valuable depth, alongside Gabe Cupps in a role more appropriate for the sophomore guard. The biggest question mark was how Trey Galloway would fit in.
Now 15 games into the season, Indiana is without Cupps and Newton. Carlyle fell out of the starting lineup and has struggled to even carve out a role even on the bench.
Suddenly, Indiana’s shot creation and ball movement come down to just Galloway and Rice. With either or both on the bench, Indiana struggles.
Carlyle has a chance to turn things around still this year, but Cupps and Newton are unlikely to be factors in any meaningful way. However well Galloway and Rice play, Indiana’s chances of living up to preseason expectations probably depends on Carlyle finding some level of consistency.
Another Win
The only thing Mike Woodson and Indiana can do at this point is win basketball games and they’ve now strung together two straight Big Ten games. Today’s win came in a game Indiana was projected to lose, nonetheless.
One thing that’s plagued Woodson over his tenure has been the inability to tally enough quality wins, particularly Quad 1 games – in which Woodson is sub .500 – to set Indiana up for postseason success. Today’s win at Penn State was a Quad 1 win.
Woodson’s teams have also been hurt by an unwillingness and an inability to shoot the 3-pointer while also failing to defend it. Indiana went 9-23 from deep today and held Penn State to 3-21.
Two games isn’t enough to get Woodson off the hot seat, but there have been things to like in each of the last two wins. All we can hope is that things keep trending up.