After falling in two of its first three games to start the new year, a win at home for Indiana would put the team back on track heading into its biggest game of the season on Tuesday against rival Purdue.
The Hoosiers did just that, as they never trailed for a second against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, defeating them 74-62 Friday night in Assembly Hall. Although Minnesota entered the game on a seven-game win streak, Indiana opened up its scoring early and held a double-digit lead for the majority of the match.
“I thought the scouting report was perfectly fit going into the game and they followed it right from the start,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said. “We really defended the ball well. We didn’t let their guards really get away from us in terms of getting downhill, so we really focused on not giving straight line-drives where we had to help as much.”
It wasn’t the conventional opening for IU, as Gabe Cupps started in place of Xavier Johnson, who was ejected the previous match for a hit below the belt. Woodson said the minutes Johnson provided off the bench were positive and contributed to the successful outcome.
Though Johnson and Cupps were beneficial pieces for the Hoosiers, it was Trey Galloway and Mackenzie Mgbako who led the way. Galloway had 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, adding seven assists and a season-high four steals. Mgbako finished with a career-high 19 points while shooting 50% from the field.
“It started from the tip off,” Mgbako said. “I felt like once we started the game aggressive, it could carry over to our defense, and then defense creates offense. Just being aggressive on both sides of the floor is what created the win tonight.”
Indiana looked like a different team than the one that competed against Rutgers earlier this week — IU scored 17 more points with eight fewer turnovers. Each starter had a plus/minus rating of plus 16 or more against the Gophers.
“The last few days of practice, it’s been hard going at each other because we’ve just got to get better at offense and defense,” Kel’el Ware said. “Y’all seen a glimpse of that tonight and we’ve just got to keep bringing it every game.”
While practice helped IU get back to its winning ways, the biggest influence may have been returning to the team’s home court.
“It’s tough on everybody in the Big Ten on the road,” Woodson said. “It’s not just our team. Everybody is kind of having a tough time winning on the road. We’ve got to figure it out. Our safe haven is here at home.”
Another big difference was the rotations — Indiana played just nine players with only eight of them getting extensive minutes, and one of if not both Malik Reneau and Ware were on the floor at all times. Anthony Walker, who Woodson believes did a great job filling in for Ware and Reneau when necessary, steered the bench unit with nine points in 16 minutes.
It wasn’t a perfect game for Indiana, as the Hoosiers did a good job getting to the free-throw line, but left 11 points on the board with misses. Since the start of 2024, the Hoosiers are 45-for-77 (58%) from the charity stripe.
“Tonight, we didn’t make our free throws again, but we rebounded pretty well, and we didn’t turn it over,” Woodson said. “We kept our turnovers down. It was a solid game. But we’ve got to somehow convert how we play here at home on the road. That’s going to be the difference moving forward.”
Now 12-5, the Hoosiers will be back in action on Tuesday at Assembly Hall against Purdue in what will likely be the most intense environment of the season. Indiana has won three of the past four meetings between these historic rivals, and with Tuesday’s contest being a white-out for the students, Purdue will have its hands full on and off the court.
