IU basketball trailed Eastern Illinois at halftime... then woke up and won by 35.

IU basketball trailed Eastern Illinois at halftime… then woke up and won by 35.

Posted by Admin November 10, 2024 Basketball

BLOOMINGTON — IU basketball bullied Eastern Illinois in the second half to make up for a lethargic start on Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall and win 90-55.

The No. 18 Hoosiers (2-0) used a 22-2 run coming out of halftime to take control after trailing at the break. They held EIU without a field goal for seven-plus minutes to push their lead to 30 points in the second half and held the Panthers to just 16.7% shooting (5 of 30) over the final 20 minutes.

It was the kind of easy win Woodson was hoping for against an opponent that was the lowest ranked team on IU’s schedule per KenPom (No. 333 out of 364 teams) and lost by 45 points last week to Illinois.

IU basketball’s offensive identity still MIA

Mackenzie Mgbako, who scored a career 31-points in the season-opener, had another strong performance — he had a team-high 18 points on 7 10 shooting with four assists — and IU was able to lean into its significant size advantage with Oumar Ballo (17 points and nine rebounds) and Malik Reneau (17 points and six rebounds) in the paint, but guys like Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle are still trying to find their place in the offense.

When should they push the pace or look for their shot? They look uncertain at times and that slight hesitation has tripped them up. Carlyle’s first points of the season didn’t come until their was less than five minutes to go on Sunday after missing two gimme layups.

Indiana basketball won’t be able to outscore teams 56-24 in the paint every night just on sheer size alone and have to make some strides before heading to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Trey Galloway is all smiles coming off the bench

Woodson hasn’t made it clear whether or not Galloway will return to the starting lineup once they build up his minutes, but he’s flourishing in the sixth man role. He had a team-high eight assists and gave IU instant energy off the bench once again. The veteran has embraced his role for the Hoosiers and his confidence has settled the team down whenever he’s on the floor.

It’s all the more impressive considering he wasn’t fully cleared from offseason knee surgery until late September and Woodson limited his workload in practice all the way through the team’s season-opener.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.