Mackenzie Mgbako's 31 points carry IU basketball to season-opening win over SIUE

Mackenzie Mgbako’s 31 points carry IU basketball to season-opening win over SIUE

Posted by Admin November 7, 2024 Basketball

BLOOMINGTON — It wasn’t always pretty, but IU basketball closed out a 80-61 win over SIU-Edwardsville to open the season at Assembly Hall on Wednesday night.

Sophomore forward MacKenzie Mgbako hit his fourth 3-pointer with 5:44 left to give IU a 20-point lead for the first time. Mgbako, who had a career-high 31 points, was one of four Hoosiers in double-digits alongside Malik Reneau (15), Oumar Ballo (15) and Myles Rice (11).

While the No. 18 Hoosiers (1-0; 0-0) never trailed, they had to keep their starters on the floor through the end of the game with SIUE doing just enough to hang around.

Here’s what stood out in the win:

IU basketball sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako cooks SIUE

Mgabko played with a confidence in Wednesday night’s season-opener fans didn’t get to see until midway through last season.

As a true freshman, he struggled through the month of November averaging just 7.2 points per game on 39.5% shooting and 11.1% from 3-point range, but he turned the page on the slow start and won co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Mgbako was IU’s best player by a wide margin to start out his sophomore campaign with his first 30-point game on 13-of-17 shooting and eight rebounds. He got going early with 13 straight points over a four-minute span that gave IU a 19-9 lead with 13:04 to go in the first half.

He flexed his versatility by knocking down a 3-pointer, throwing down a two-handed slam on a fast break and dropping in a little fadeaway from the corner after grabbing an offensive rebound.

After SIUE tied it 27-27 with 4:48 to go in the half, Mgbako got the team back on track with another flurry of offense coming out of a timeout.

He drained a 3-pointer with a defender in his face and had a three-point play all in the span of 17 seconds to help IU close out the first half on a 15-3 run.

As SIUE flirted with making it a game in the second half, Mgbako took over one final time. He hit 3-pointer with 10:33 and got loose multiple times cutting the basket for easy looks at the rim.

IU basketball’s new-look bench sputters in debut

Indiana coach Mike Woodson saw an 11-point first-half lead nearly evaporate after he went deep into his bench in the first half.

He went to a lineup featuring Gabe Cupps, Trey Galloway, true freshman Bryson Tucker, Illinois transfer Luke Goode and Bellarmine transfer Langdon Hatton that struggled to keep SIUE off the glass and cut the lead to 24-20.

Woodson wants to get guys minutes during the nonconference portion of the schedule, but figuring out what lineups work best together is a work in progress.

By the time he sent his starters back in the game, they lost any sense of rhythm and had three straight turnovers at one point.

Woodson also tinkered with smaller lineups with Reneau playing at the five multiple times with various supporting players, but IU’s interior defense struggled without Ballo on the floor and that was partly why the Hoosiers struggled with putting the game away.

IU basketball guard Trey Galloway moves to sixth man role

Indiana fifth-year guard Trey Galloway came off the bench Wednesday night for the first time since a game on Jan. 8, 2023 against Northwestern. He started every game for IU during the 2024-24 regular season.

It wasn’t a surprising move considering Woodson’s comments during the offseason about players needing to make sacrifices given the influx of talent from the transfer portal and IU’s improved backcourt depth.

Galloway lent a helping hand in recruiting many of those new faces and hosted them on their visits to Bloomington.

At IU Media Days back in September, he told reporters he would be fine with whatever role the coaches came up with for him. He checked into the game for the first time with 14:51 to go in the first half and was the first player off the bench for Woodson.

Galloway led the team with nine assists and six of those came in the second half. He was the team’s primary point guard over the final 10 minutes.

Indiana had eight scholarship players play 10-plus minutes that included Galloway (15), Goode (17) and Tucker (12) off the bench.

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.