The biggest test of the Hoosiers' young season was taken care of handily as Indiana controlled the tempo en route to their 87-71 win over South Carolina.
Indiana trailed for a mere three minutes and 10 seconds of game time as South Carolina opened with a 4-0 lead. The Hoosiers would not look back as four of the five starters scored in double figures, and one off the bench did as well.
Myles Rice
In the first two games of his Indiana career, Myles Rice was 5-for-10 from the field, 1-for-3 from beyond the arc, and had scored 16 points in the contests, 11 of which came in Indiana’s win over Eastern Illinois last week. With more stress from head coach Mike Woodson to shoot the ball, the Washington State transfer rose to the occasion.
Rice had the hot hand the moment the ball was tipped, as he cashed his first three jumpers, two of which came from downtown. The first gave Indiana a 5-4 lead which they would not give up the rest of the game.
Much of Rice’s offense came in the first half as at the break, he had 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field along with 3-for-4 shooting from 3.
“I thought Myles played well,” Woodson said, “he shot the ball great.”
In the second half, the Gamecocks better prepared for him as Rice would go 1-for-3 from the field, but contributed a perfect 4-for-4 performance from the charity stripe down the stretch as he scored 23 on the afternoon.
Rice was in more of an attack mode in the first half than compared to the first two games as he got to his spots, and was creating his own looks as well. This was Rice’s seventh career game scoring 20 or more after having six performances as such last season at Washington State.
Mackenzie Mgbako
The sophomore season for Mgbako has started with a bang as in all three games, the wing has scored in double figures. They haven't been just fringe double figures as well, as Mgbako’s totals through three games are 31, 18 and now most recently a 17-point performance.
There is an aggressiveness to his game this season that has been a huge jump from his freshman year to now. Mgbako was consistently putting the ball on the floor and attacking the rim, as he went 6-for-7 from the charity stripe along with 5-for-8 from the field.
“I feel the most confident in my shot capability…I think if I play within what the team gives me I can make the right reads,” Mgbako said on his early season success and confidence.
Mgbako is 25-for-35 from the field through the first three games which comes out to 71% from the field. He is playing a confident, efficient game all while taking a good amount of shots in the process.
It has not just been scoring where Mgbako has stood out either as he has been an aggressor on the glass collecting at least seven rebounds in every contest so far. Especially in a physical game like this one, where 44 combined fouls were called between the two teams, Mgbako grabbed seven boards and matched that physicality.
Kanaan Carlyle
Two of Indiana’s transfers reached a season-high as Carlyle scored 12, and like the others, on good efficiency, going 5-for-9 from the field.
“It was nice to see Kanaan make some shots as well,” Woodson said.
Carlyle was 2-for-11 from the field heading into this one, but it was a complete 180 as the Stanford transfer was connecting on his jumpers while also hitting two three-pointers as well. It’s still so early in the season for Carlyle and this whole Indiana team, but seeing him have his best performance in the toughest game up to this point shows promise.
One of Carlyle’s 3-pointers did happen to be one of the more improbable ways to get three points as well.
Malik Reneau
Reneau had a bit of a tougher road to the 10-point-plus club as the forward was a bleak 1-for-5 from the field in the first half. South Carolina had gameplanned pretty well against the bigs of Indiana especially early as almost all of Reneau’s takes were smothered.
While the junior would go on to be 5-for-15 from the field, Reneau had a bigger second-half role scoring 13 of his 15, hitting a 3 on a designed play, and also a strong 4-for-5 shooting from the free-throw line.
While Reneau would have four fouls, this game did have 44 total foul calls again, so it was rare to see anyone on the floor not in foul trouble.
Trey Galloway
Galloway's day scoring-wise did not consist of as many field goals comparatively, but the fifth-year senior was a perfect 6-fpr-6 from the foul line. Four of Galloway’s makes came in the final 76 seconds of the game to keep Indiana up double figures.
When Galloway’s name was called on offensively, he contributed as he knocked down the lone 3-pointer that he took.
Galloway played the minutes down the stretch to seal the game, adding that veteran presence and poise to this talented squad.
Moving forward
Indiana is 3-0, taking care of business so far, and the Hoosiers return to a buy game in the next outing against UNC Greensboro this upcoming Thursday.
There were other contributors as Oumar Ballo had seven points and 13 boards, and Bryson Tucker was able to get on the board a few times in his minutes scoring four.
Having five guys reach double figures in very different ways shows the versatility this team has on offense, especially with three out of the five being guards. Especially in a game where Indiana scored 87 and Mike Woodson felt they had not even played all that well offensively, there is some early-season hunger to this team that looks ready for the tough competition in the Battle 4 Atlantis starting Nov. 27.
