Indiana men’s basketball fell to 0-2 in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament on Thursday afternoon, falling to No. 3 Gonzaga 89-73 in Nassau.
Mike Woodson and the No. 14 Hoosiers faced defeat for the second time in the 2024-25 season, tying its most points given up this season.
“We’re not connected right now defensively,” Woodson said. “Good teams like Gonzaga and Louisville, you can’t spot them like we did. It’s hard to come back against good teams like that, but our guys didn’t quit.”
Just under three minutes into the game, Indiana had been down 8-0. Oumar Ballo got fouled in the paint and headed over to the candy stripe to shoot two. Missing the first, Ballo drained the second with Mackenzie Mgbako and Gonzaga’s Graham Ike fighting for the rebound early.
Mgbako and Ike were both charged with a Flagrant 1 foul, after Ike had apparently told Mgbako to “watch your mouth,” and Mgbako retaliated with an elbow to the back of Ike’s neck.
With both sides of the court unhappy with the call, the Hoosiers took advantage. Four minutes later, Mgbako banked a three, and Indiana had its first lead of the game over the No. 3 team in the nation.
From then on, the Hoosiers began to lose their grip of their dominant run, as Gonzaga closed out the first half with a 41-21 run to give itself a 57-39 lead at halftime.
“We hit that dry spot right before the half that gave them the cushion. Second half, I thought we competed,” Woodson said. “Unfortunately, you’ve got to play two halves, and we weren’t able to put two halves together tonight.”
The Bulldogs held the 42-27 rebounding advantage over the Hoosiers, with IU only getting a hold of seven offensive boards on the day.
Indiana’s 27 rebounds is the lowest the cream and crimson have seen this season, with the Bulldogs taking advantage with a total of 29 defensive rebounds — more than the Hoosiers had gotten a hold of all game.
“(Rebounding) is a major problem that we’ve had,” Woodson said. “A lot of it is we’re not putting bodies on, bodies to block out and that’s got to stop. We got to get our guys competing from a rebounding standpoint.”
Poor rebounding and poor shooting, Indiana saw many of its recurring issues in its downfall to the Bulldogs. Its biggest flaw of all has been its inability to maintain composure and momentum in all 40 minutes of a game.
Despite holding the 34-32 scoring advantage in the second half, the Hoosiers had completely lost their opportunity to keep themselves in this game.
“A lot of it is our believing in one another and believing in our rotations and being in the areas where we played to protect the paint,” Woodson said. “We’re not giving ourselves a chance there, because we’re not in a position to protect the paint, and guys have lost a little confidence in that area. I got to get it back.”
The Hoosiers now shift their focus towards walking out of The Bahamas with at least one win in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
Indiana falls to 4-2 on the season, and will next face the loser of Davidson and Providence on Nov. 29, back at Imperial Arena at 11 a.m.
