LIVE BLOG: Follow Along As Indiana Plays Oregon In The Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament

No. 9 seeded Indiana tries to cement its NCAA Tournament credentials as it takes on No. 8 seeded Oregon in the Big Ten Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Indiana and Oregon warm up before their Big Ten men's basketball tournament game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 13, 2025. / Todd Golden | Hoosiers On SI

INDIANAPOLIS - Welcome to the Indiana live blog at the Big Ten Tournament. We're in the house at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Indiana needs to win today to solidify its NCAA Tournament credentials. The bubble is fickle, so no reason to leave anything to chance.

Here's the latest update from ESPN's Joe Lunardi. Indiana is still right on the razor's edge.

• Strange that the Big Ten doesn't have an availability report as I write this. They're usually sticklers for having those out three hours ahead of time. Part of the reason they do them in the first place is because of legal sports betting. It (theoretically) cuts down on any chicanery. No one on Indiana seemed to be missing that wouldn't have been expected to play during warmups.

• Indiana is 3-0 in rematches so far this season for what that's worth. The Hoosiers were certainly most impressive in their second game against Purdue. Indiana earned wins over Penn State and Ohio State. Not sure those performances were any better than their previous matchups with those teams, but they got the job done and that's what matters.

• Unlike the women's basketball tournament, the upper levels are open in the Fieldhouse for the men's tournament. So the crowd is likely bigger, but it doesn't seem like it as fans are really spread out. Naturally, Indiana has a significant majority of the crowd.

• Oregon, lest anyone forget, has won seven in a row. The Ducks are 2-1 in rematches, having been swept by UCLA. If you are aware of ELO rankings, they started as a method to rank chess players, but they can be used for any sport, the Ducks are darlings with a ranking of No. 19. ELO tends to give weight to "hot" teams.

• B-Swift is in the house for some non-team specific hype! I kid. The Big Ten tries to generate some in-house enthusiasm. Nothing wrong with it.

• Indiana fans probably aren't too familiar with Oregon coach Dana Altman. I saw him up close and personal when I covered the Missouri Valley Conference and he was head coach at Creighton. Helluva coach and he's been very adaptable to the times. In some ways, he was ahead of the curve in terms of emphasizing the 3-point line. His teams have always been pretty proficient in that department. Ten years ago, we would have been on the "hot boards" for the Indiana job, but he's 66 years old and has a good thing going out west.

• Both head coaches are 66. Who said this is a young man's game?

• Starters - Indiana: Oumar Ballo, Anthony Leal, Mackenzie Mgbako, Luke Goode, Trey Galloway.
Oregon: Jackson Shelstad, Keeshawn Barthelemy, TJ Bamba, Nate Bittle, Brandon Angel. No surprises for either team.

• Oregon's got their duck mascot in the house, as you'd expect. How cool would it be if Indiana had a bison walking around? I'm pro-Bison. Speaking of which, you know the commercial where the guy brings duck to a cookout at an Oregon football game? I wouldn't care one bit. Duck is good and I'd eat it anyway ... though I'm not so sure how to grill it.

• Indiana wearing its default red jerseys as the designated road team. My theory, totally unproven, that the Big Ten prefers teams to wear their default uniforms is still alive in my head. Indiana wore its sharp black jerseys in the game at Oregon on March 4. The Indiana women wore their black unis against Oregon in the Big Ten Tournament last week. Oregon has kept it normal too with their default home whites. Based on football, I have this notion in my head that Nike has hundreds of uniform combinations at the ready for the Ducks no matter what sport it is.

• An anomaly of Oregon's win streak is that opponents have shot 71% at the line. There's no such thing as free throw defense, so that's kind of an odd stat. Not an anomaly is Oregon's 235-208 edge in rebounds and 104-82 advantage in assists over the seven-game streak.

• In its last eight games, Indiana has averaged 8.6 turnovers per game. Obviously a trend that needs to continue. And it needs to continue now as its just about time to get started.

• Mike Woodson got a warm cheer from the Indiana faithful in pregame intros. Let's get this going.

• Your officials today: Jeffrey Anderson, Michael Reed, Kelly Pfeiffer.

• Indiana 10-9, 15:29 1H. Slow start, good response from the Hoosiers. Two turnovers on the first two possessions led to easy Oregon buckets, but Indiana found its rhythm afterwards.

• Indiana 17-13, 11:37 1H. Bear with us. Internet has crashed here at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Very difficult to get any kind of signal. If we bow out for a bit, that's why.

Anyhow, Indiana's Trey Galloway and Mackenzie Mgbako have five points each, including Indiana's two 3-point makes. Indiana sharing the ball very well with all seven of their buckets assisted. Oregon off to a slow start from the 3-point line at 1 of 4.

• Indiana 19-15, 10:10 1H. Game stopped briefly as Oregon's Kwame Evans was down on the floor stunned for a bit. Hoosiers used a four-on-five to their advantage as Oumar Ballo scored.

• 23-23, 648 1H. Indiana's guards did a very good job of making life miserable for Oregon's shooters at the 3-point line. Harried shooters and made them uncomfortable. Oregon started 1 of 6 from 3-point range, but Brandon Angel got the Ducks untracked with a pair of 3-point makes. Angel and Kanaan Carlyle were on the floor at the same time, both Stanford transfers, though they're not guarding one another.

Indana has still assisted on each one of its buckets - 10 in all.

• 27-27, 3:42 1H. Oumar Ballo is doing a nice job on Nate Bittle in the scoring department. Bittle is 0-for-3 from the field. He does have three assists. Oregon briefly inched ahead 24-23, only to have Indiana score two straight buckets. Jackson Shelstad evened things back up again with a 3-point make. Shelstad is off to a good start. He's 4 of 6 from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range for a game-high 10 points.

Indiana's assist streak ended, but the Hoosiers still have an excellent 11 assists on 12 buckets. Trey Galloway has five assists already. Four Hoosiers (Mackenzie Mgbako 7, Malik Reneau 7, Oumar Ballo 6, Trey Galloway 5) have five points or more.

• Oregon 35-29, 1:06 2H. Trouble for Indiana. Until Jackson Shelstad finally missed one, the Ducks had made five straight 3-pointers. Even on the one Shelstad missed, he snared the long rebound and made a long two.

• Oregon 37-29, :21.6 2H. Indiana calls a timeout as Oregon is on a 10-0 run. Indiana hasn’t scored in 2:24 and the Ducks have fed off of the Hoosiers misses.

• Halftime: Oregon 37, Indiana 29. Was a solid half for the Hoosiers until the final three minutes. The Ducks score the last 10 points of the half – eerily familiar given that it’s what Oregon did in Eugene last week to end the game. Trey Galloway’s 3-pointer on Indiana’s final possession of the half was short of the mark. It was a 13-2 run going back to the 4:05 mark. The Hoosiers didn't score in the final 2:45 of the half.

Indiana is shooting 34.2% from the field while Oregon’s late hot streak got the Ducks to 50% for the first half. Jackson Shelstad (12 points) and Brandon Angel (10 points) are hurting Indiana. The Hoosiers have 18 points in the paint, but are just 2 of 9 from 3-point range.

• Oregon 37-35, 18:29 2H. Hoosiers get the start they needed as they score six straight out of the chute. Oregon with a turnover and just one shot before Dana Altman called a timeout to settle Oregon down. Trey Galloway scored two of Indiana's buckets and Anthony Leal had the other.

• Oregon 41-37, 15:26 2H. Indiana threw the first punch, but couldn't get over the top as they got within two with a few chances to tie it. Indiana might be in better shape if not for some sloppiness from Oumar Ballo under the rim. Fumbled one ball and missed a point blank shot too. Ballo is just 4 of 11 from the field. The Ducks have been sloppy too with three turnovers since halftime.

• Oregon 47-40, 13:19 2H. Oregon opens the gap up again with a 6-0 run. Indiana fans inside the Fieldhouse were peeved when Malik Reneau had a shot blocked off the backboard by Nate Bittle. Watching live I agreed that the shot might have been coming down, but TV replay seemed to show otherwise.

• Oregon 50-47, 10:22 2H. As you'd expect an 8-9 game to be, this one is tight. Indiana chopped Oregon's seven-point lead down to two, but then the Ducks rebuilt the lead to five again. Indiana has a 12-4 edge in the paint and the Ducks are 0-for-4 from 3-point range in the second half.

Mackenzie Mgbako has three fouls and is off the floor at the moment. He's at plus-13, the only Hoosier in double digits in that category, so he can't stay on the bench for too long.

• Oregon 56-54, 7:18 2H. The pattern continues. Good Oregon run that isn't sustained followed by Indiana response. This time, Trey Galloway hit a deep-ish 3-pointer to cut down on the Ducks' seven-point lead and then Myles Rice found Malik Reneau for a nice reverse layup on Indiana's next trip. All to play for.

• Oregon 61-54, 3:06 2H. Indiana has missed its last six shots, but it's also little things that are creating the dying by a thousand cuts vibe. Anthony Leal missed the front end of two one-and-one's. TJ Bamba made a pretty fortunate hook shot on a decently-guarded play at the end of the shot clock. Those have hurt just as badly as the missed shots have.

Oregon is just 1 of 7 from 3-point range, but the one they hit, by Jadrian Tracey, was a killer as it give Oregon a five-point lead when the Hoosiers had built up some momentum and had the partisan Indiana crowd going.

• Oregon 65-54, 2:13 2H. Costly sequence for the Hoosiers. After Jackson Sheltad made a pair of free throws to put the Ducks up by nine, Oumar Ballo turned it over on a bad pass out to the perimeter. Jadrian Tracey fed Shelstad for a layup and now the Hoosiers are in desperate trouble.

• Oregon 65-56, 1:57 2H. Malik Reneau ends Indiana's dry spell with a layup. Indiana has little choice but to trap on the inbounds pass and the Hoosiers forced the Ducks to use a timeout on the inbounds.

• Oregon 70-58, 1:04 2H. Keeshawn Barthelemy may have applied the dagger as he hit a corner 3 at the end of the shot clock to put the Ducks up 12.

• Oregon 72-59, :42.3 2H. Oregon's pep band is trying to fire up the small contingent of Ducks fans in the house. Hoosiers fans are sitting in disappointed silence. Going to be a long wait to Sunday.

• FINAL: Oregon 72, Indiana 59. The Hoosiers had their fate in their own hands, but they've surrendered that with the one-and-done exit from the Big Ten Tournament.

Boos come down from some corners of the Indiana fans in the Fieldhouse. Not a majority of fans, but it was noticeable.

Shots didn't fall for the Hoosiers. They were 38.7% in the second half, a slight improvement from the first half. Free throws were a big problem. Indiana was 4 of 7 in the second half and 5 of 10 in the game. If it felt like the Hoosiers were playing uphill for most of the game? They were.

Malik Reneau led Indiana with 19 points. Trey Galloway had 15 points, nine assists and five turnovers. Mackenzie Mgbako had 12 points, but he sat for long stretches with foul trouble. Was that advisable? Not so sure it was.

Jackson Shelstad had 18 points for Oregon. TJ Bamba had 17 points. Brandon Angel had 14 points, something you wouldn't expect.

Indiana will have its eye on the bubble for the remainder of the weekend. It didn't have to be that way, but here we are.

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