Hoosiers' Season Ends With Another Ugly Loss to Nebraska In Big Ten Tourney Quarterfinals
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Indiana couldn't figure out how to defend Nebraska in two blowout losses during the regular season, and it was more of the same Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament. The Cornhuskers hit 14 three-pointers — including 12 in the first half — to blow out the Hoosiers 93-66.
The ugly loss ended Indiana's season with a 19-14 record and snapped its five-game winning streak. The have no shot at an NCAA Tournament bid —they needed to at least reach the finals here to have a chance — and also won't accept a postseason bid to the NIT Tournament.
So, it's over. And it hasn't been pretty, especially on Friday night.
"We just didn't have any answers from a defensive standpoint because we were just not real good tonight,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. "They were very good tonight offensively as well as defensively.
"I just I don't think we executed. We did a poor job in executing offensively. I thought our intentions were great when we came out because it was back and forth, but when it got to 33-27, we dropped the rope, and they went in big at halftime and we just never recovered.''
Friday's game was a quick 40-minute synopsis of all that was wrong with the Hoosiers this season. They couldn't defend the three, couldn't make many themselves, had another game where they got very little out of their best players and got nothing from their bench during meaningful minutes.
The game started to turn in a 30-second window late in the first half. After three free throws by Indiana freshman Mackenzie Mgbako, the Hoosiers were down just six points at 33-27 with 3:29 to go. They got a stop, but then C.J. Gunn, a career 24.6 percent shooter from distance , hurried a three that missed. Tominaga nailed a three, and then Cupps rushed a layup attempt that missed badly, and Tominaga hit another three to make it 39-27.
By the time the half ended, Nebraska had banged out a 17-0 run to end the half with a 50-27 lead. And the game, basically, was already over. Nebraska had 12 first-half threes, four early by Brice Williams and four more later by Keisei Tominaga. Both finished with 23 points
"They just started knocking down threes, and we started losing people defensively,'' said Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson, who played his last college game. "Tominaga started getting hot (in the 17-0 run), and it was 'call it a day' from there.
Indiana got no closer than 18 points in the second half, and Nebraska's lead was as huge as 33 at one point. And despite that late first-half flurry, Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg said the message was very clear at halftime to not let Indiana back in the game.
''We didn't want to see what happened in Bloomington a few weeks ago, when they cut a 20-point lead to three in about nine minutes,'' Hoiberg said. "The message was to remember what happened in Bloomington. We knew they were capable, but we did a good job of building the lead back up. We did all the things that made us successful in the first half.''
Indiana shot only 25 percent in the first half, and was just 2-for-9 from three, getting outscored by 30 points from long range. Indiana big men Kel'el Ware and Malik Reneau, the two guys who have carried this team through most of the year, were unproductive. Ware didn't have a basket in the first half — he finished with just eight points, half of his average — and Reneau fouled out in just 22 minutes of playing time, also a recurring problem.
Both had trouble finding good shots inside, and struggled to figure out Nebraska's fronting double teams. Nebraska, now 23-8, advances to its first-ever Big Ten Tournament semifinal game.
"Malik and Ware have seen double teams all year from the back side, from the top side, from what we call the soft spot up top to the ball,'' Woodson said. "They've been double-teamed all ways you can double-team, but they didn't read well tonight. They didn't read the back side, and we were forcing things early to the point where we just didn't make the right play.''
Woodson's frustration finally boiled over in the second half. He was ejected after two second-half technical fouls called by official D.J. Carstensen.
Gunn hadn't played at all in Indiana's last two games, but with senior Trey Galloway out with a knee injury and Anthony Leal spraining an ankle in the first half, Gunn saw plenty of action. He played 24 minutes and was able to put up 15 shots, leading the Hoosiers with 17 points. Mgbako had 16 points, with 14 coming in the first half.
Indiana has been a horrible free throw shooting team all year, but they made all 13 attempts on Friday.
And now, it's back to the drawing board for the Hoosiers, who made the NCAA Tournament in each of Woodson's first two seasons, winning a game both years. This year, with no postseason, was a failure.
Now they'll have to hit the transfer portal very hard to rebuild this roster, and they'll also have to work to retain the 10 players on their roster who have eligibility remaining. Galloway and Leal have said they will be back, but it's a crap-shoot from there.
"The bottom line is we've got to get better,'' Woodson said. "From a talent standpoint, this summer will be spent watching a lot of film on players because we're going to lose some players, I'm sure, and we're going to have to build around the core guys that are coming back.
"We've just got a lot of work to do this summer to get better. I don't want to sit here this time next year and not be playing in the tournament.''
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- ANTHONY LEAL 'A TRUE PRO': Anthony Leal's playing time has been up and down across his four-year career, but he's learned the value of never wavering daily approach, preparation and mentality. Thursday's 61-59 win over Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament revealed why that's been so important for the senior guard from Bloomington. CLICK HERE
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