In the season opener of Indiana head coach Mike Woodson’s fourth season at the helm, the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars 80-61.
The Hoosiers jumped out to a 20-9 lead just over seven minutes into the game, but after a slew of turnovers and second-chance points, SIUE tied the game at 27-27 with 4:48 to go off a Ray’sean Taylor 3. Mackenzie Mgbako took over as the half came to a close with the Hoosiers leading 42-30. Steady play from Mgbako and Malik Reneau in the second half held off SIUE as the Hoosiers outscored them 38-31 in the second half to begin the season 1-0 and drop the Cougars to 1-1.
Below are three takeaways from the season opener:
Mackenzie Mgbako is the Hoosiers’ best all-around offensive weapon
Mgbako led all scorers in this game with 31 points, including 19 in the first half, while shooting 13-for-17 and 4-for-5 from 3. Coming into his sophomore season, a clear direction has been placed into Mgbako’s game and that is scoring and being a spark of energy in the halfcourt. After leading Big Ten freshmen with 12.2 points per game last season, Mgbako started this season off strong with career highs in points (24 previous), field goals made (eight previous), and only turned the ball over once.
Not only does Mgbako have a chance to lead the team in scoring, it’s clear that he has matured offensively and taken his skills to another level. He scored in a multitude of different ways tonight. Three-pointers in the halfcourt, backcut dunks, tip-in rebounds, and a thunderous transition and-one, but the efficiency that he did it with was the most impressive part. As mentioned above, he shot at a 76.4% clip and his shot selection was far improved from some of the questionable shots he took last year.
Woodson seems to have given him the green light to take smart shots, but to also push the needle offensively when stagnation sets in, something that Mgbako didn’t allow to stick for long tonight.
If Mgbako continues to play like he did Wednesday, and his teammates continue to put him in opportunistic spots, then a spot on the All-Big Ten is a surefire possibility.
Kanaan Carlyle wants to guard the opposing team’s best guard (Myles Rice might not let him)
On two straight possessions with under a minute to go in the first half, Kanaan Carlyle put SIUE’s leading scorer Taylor through the ringer. A roar overcame Assembly Hall as Carlyle forced Taylor east and west for 20 plus seconds on both possessions, while Taylor did everything in his power to go north and south. A pass from Taylor, signaling a waving of the white flag on that possession, was instantly followed by a holler and energetic flex from Carlyle.
Taylor ended the game with 17 points but shot 7-for-22 for the Cougars, a clear indication of the pestering he felt from Carlyle throughout multiple possessions. Out of halftime, however, Myles Rice had returned to guarding Taylor, and much to the dismay of Taylor, nothing had changed.
Rice has his combination of extremely quick hands and feet and uses that fast twitch quickness just as much on defense as he does on offense. Rice and Carlyle combined for three steals and 13 stops — a statistic that evaluates the amount of possessions where the opposing team didn’t score — with Rice or Carlyle as the primary defender
Rice has been focused on getting the Hoosiers out and running in transition, something that Woodson has discussed since Media Day this fall. With the emphasis on transition (12 fastbreak points), some games it may favor the Hoosiers allowing Carlyle to try and create an off-night for the opposing team’s best guard, but Rice isn’t going to give up that honor lightly.
Turnovers and offensive rebounds need to be a point of improvement as the season continues on
When facing a team that may not be on the same level of talent, turnovers and second chances can be the driving force behind an upset bid.
That was the formula that SIUE tried to execute Wednesday, and was able to in some facets.
SIUE forced 16 turnovers, but only scored 14 points following those turnovers.
SIUE also collected 16 offensive rebounds, but tacked on 13 more points as a result.
The Hoosiers committed 32 errors and suffered only 27 points as a consequence, which as the season continues, will not be the same trend. Woodson postgame, when asked about the turnovers and the rebounding said, “a lot of that is because we didn't execute…we got to rebound better, we gave up too many offensive rebounds.”
Indiana forced 12 turnovers and turned that into 23 points on the other end which is a positive sign for Woodson’s group, as well as the 14 second-chance points they scored with their nine offensive boards.
There are many things that aren’t controllable in a season opener, but blocking out and rebounding are within the controllable realm and Woodson deems his team’s effort Wednesday unacceptable.
“I just give them credit from a team standpoint, they wanted it a little more than we did, and that’s something that can’t happen,” Woodson said.
Against a team like SIUE these mistakes can be had and a victory is still possible, but when the team gets into the stronger parts of the non-conference schedule and into Big Ten play, the result might not be the same.
