No. 17 ranked Indiana Basketball took the win against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to start their season.
The Hoosiers defeated the Southern Ilinois-Edwardsville Cougars Wednesday night in Assembly Hall. This marks their second time playing them, the first in 2016.
The home opener brought a handful of excited fans to the venue. It has been a long-awaited 2024-25 season. Indiana starts their season 1-0, as predicted as they went into the game as a 26.5-point favorite.
Takeaway #1: Mackenzie Mgbako dominates on offense, breaking his career record
Sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako shined offensively during Wednesday’s game. He broke his previous 24-point record by dropping 31 points 19 halftime. He put down 13 points in a 4-minute window in the first half. In the last five years, this is the third most points scored at Assembly Hall.
When SIUE tied the game up 27-27 late in the first half, Mgbako propelled the teams’ momentum, scoring a 3-pointer followed by a steal and a three-point play.
“He puts in the work and he is very efficient,” said graduate student Trey Galloway. Indiana basketball head coach, Mike Woodson, feels confident that Mgbako’s performance helped secure the win.
“I thought that he was the only one that truly played pretty good offense tonight,” said Woodson.
When asked about his performance, Mgbako credited the team, “I was just going with what the team gave me… moving the ball, finding the shots and just taking them.”
Also on his offensive presence, Mgbako stated that “Playing with my offense, with my team and just being aggressive,” kept him in the game.
Takeaway #2: Offensive identity missing
Going into the season-opener, Indiana basketball lacked a deep offensive presence. This trend followed them during Wednesday’s game as the Hoosiers went 2-for-11, not counting Mgbako’s 4-for-5 performance. The team recorded 37.5 percent from behind the arc.
SIUE had a 7-0 run leading to the 27-27 tie game that appeared in the first half. This was broken by Mgbako’s three-3-point show.
“I don’t know. Still searching,” said Woodson, when asked about Indiana’s offensive identity for this team.
The team had a 52.9 scoring percentage, going 11-18 in layups, 5-5 in dunks, 40 points in the paint, and 12 fastbreak points.
Although redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice had five turnovers, Woodson acknowledged that three of them happened because nothing was there. Looking forward, he feels confident in Rice’s abilities.
“Good point guards, great point guards, they figure out how to make players better around them and then still figure out how to go score the basket… He can score the ball, there’s no doubt about that,” said Woodson.
Takeaway #3: Boxing out and rebounding need work
Overall, Indiana’s defense was able to show up, however bringing the ball down on rebounds was a struggle.
Woodson agreed that on Wednesday night they “couldn’t keep them off the glass… I gotta get us boxing out and getting better in that area.”
He did point out the defensive effort from sophomore guard, Kanaan Carlyle and Galloway.
“There’s enough to spread the wealth all around the team if guys play the right way and I just didn’t think we played the right way tonight,” said Woodson.
Indiana ended the game with 43 rebounds, only 9 of those being offensive. Will the Hoosiers be able to capitalize in this area quickly? Time will tell.
Next up for Indiana (1-0): vs. Eastern Illinois (1-1) – Nov. 10 at Noon EST
Next up for SIU-Edwardsville (1-1): at Illinois (1-0) – Nov. 8 at 8 p.m.