Home Sweet Home: Hoosiers Get Back on Track, Cruise Past Minnesota 74-62
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — So bad one night, so good the next. Welcome to Indiana basketball.
The Hoosiers, fresh off a real stinker of a loss at Rutgers, were back at home on Friday night, and they led wire to wire, knocking off the Minnesota Golden Gophers 74-62. They got ahead early, and kept piling on, with their front line leading the way.
Freshman forward Mackenzie Mgbako led all scorers with 19, and Kel'el Ware had 17 points and 14 rebounds. Malik Reneau had 16 points — 14 of which came in the second half — as the Hoosiers raised their record to 12-5 on the season and 4-2 in the Big Ten. They're a perfect 3-0 at home in league play, with arch-rival Purdue up next at Assembly Hall on Tuesday.
It was a big win for a team that's looked awful on the road the past couple of weeks, but gets re-energized at home to get back to their winning ways. They started out aggressive on both ends and never let their foot off the gas.
"I thought the scouting report was perfectly fit going into the game, and they followed it right from the start," Indiana coach Mike Woodson said.
"I guess this is our safe haven at home. We've got to somehow convert how we play here on the road. Well, it's the road. It's been tough for everyone in the conference, not just us."
And how do we explain that Jekkyl & Hyde personality of this team? Kel'el Ware had a good idea. It's all about playing hard. They did that Friday, and didn't on Tuesday. It really can be that simple.
"You see the intensity from this game and the Rutgers game,'' Ware said. "If we bring out the intensity we had at the start of this game, throughout the game, every game, we'll be good.
"The last few days of practice has been hard, going after each other, because we've got to get better. You guys saw a glimpse of that tonight and we've just got to keep bringing it every game."
The Hoosiers were great for about 27 minutes, and they had a new look when the game started.
For the first time in his Indiana career, sixth-year senior guard Xavier Johnson played in a game off the bench. He was ejected from Tuesday's game at Rutgers, so freshman Gabe Cupps got the start. Woodson didn't go into detail, saying that Johnson's discipline was handled ''in-house.''
Johnson entered the game at the 12:44 mark to a smattering of boos from the Assembly Hall crowd that is growing tired of his antics. He played six minutes in the first half, and failed to score, missing both shots. Cupps played 16 minutes and also didn't score, missing all three shots plus the front end of a one-and-one at the line.
Indiana got off to a great start, and was up 28-12 at the 10-minute mark. Mackenzie Mgbako had a great first half, scoring 14 points. Kel'el Ware had 10 and Trey Galloway had seven on 3-of-3 shooting in just seven minutes. He picked up two early fouls.
Minnesota went on am 11-0 run to get back in the game though, but the Hoosiers had a nice answer, going on a 13-8 run to close out the half. They had a 41-31 lead at the break.
They continued to be efficient to start the second half, going on a 13-2 run to take a 21-point lead at the 13:53 mark, forcing Minnesota coach Ben Johnson to call a timeout. They got to 60 at the 13:02 mark, but then only scored seven points in the next 10 minutes. The Gophers had struggles of their own offensively, though, and never got closer than 11.
Mgbako's 19 points were a career high.
"These young guys, they take a while to develop,'' Woodson said. "It's just not that easy to walk into college basketball and be great. He's continued to work.''
Indiana is back home on Tuesday for the first of two showdowns with in-state rival Purdue. The game starts at 7 p.m. ET, and will be the third game of the year that is streaming only on Peacock.
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- LIVE BLOG: Welcome to our live blog for Indiana's matchup with Minnesota, where we'll provide updates, highlights and thoughts on the game from press row at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
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- HOW TO WATCH: Here's how to watch Friday night's Indiana-Minnesota game, with TV information, the point spread and over/under, the coaching matchup, series history, predicted score, stats, rankings and more. CLICK HERE
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- JACK ANKONY COLUMN: Indiana suffered arguably its worst loss in three seasons under Mike Woodson, a 66-57 defeat at Rutgers which included Xavier Johnson getting ejected, 18 turnovers and 39.75% shooting. The Hoosiers looked like a collection of players, not a team, who lacked a leader. CLICK HERE
