Indiana’s five-game winning streak was snapped with an 85-60 loss to Iowa on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The loss dropped the Hoosiers to 13-4 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play.
Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Hawkeyes:
Indiana’s early turnovers set the tone
Entering Saturday’s game in Iowa City, Iowa had turned its opponents over 233 times in 15 games, an average of 15.5 per game. Taking care of the ball is essential to winning, particularly on the road in a challenging environment.
From the opening tip, it was apparent Indiana’s carelessness with the ball would be a theme. The Hoosiers had seven turnovers in the first five and a half minutes, setting the tone for a disastrous performance.
The turnovers came from various sources. Mackenzie Mgbako lost the ball in the game’s opening minute, Oumar Ballo had three turnovers in 73 seconds from the 18:10 mark to the 16:57 mark and Trey Galloway made two bad passes. At the 14:38 mark, Ballo had his fourth turnover in less than six minutes when he traveled.
By halftime, Indiana had committed 12 turnovers and trailed by 10 points. The Hoosiers would not get closer in the second half, resulting in an embarrassing 25-point loss.
For the game, Iowa outscored the Hoosiers 24 to 10 in points off of turnovers. IU’s sloppiness with the ball also led to no shortage of opportunities for the Hawkeyes to get out in transition. Iowa outscored IU 26 to 2 in fast break points.
Hoosiers offer little resistance defensively
Iowa is again one of the best offensive teams in the Big Ten in year 15 of the Fran McCaffery era.
On Saturday, the Hawkeyes had their way against a hapless Indiana defense. After holding their previous five points under 1.02 points per possession, Iowa scored 1.18 points per trip against the Hoosiers.
This is the fourth time Indiana has surrendered at least 1.18 points per trip this season. The other three contests were IU’s previous losses: Louisville, Gonzaga and Nebraska.
Iowa shot 54.2 percent overall and 11-for-24 on 3-pointers, good for 45.8 percent.
The Hawkeyes grabbed nine offensive rebounds and scored more second-chance points than IU. They finished with 12 second-chance points, compared to nine for the Hoosiers.
Mackenzie Mgbako’s struggles continue
Mackenzie Mgbako, last season’s co-Big Ten freshman of the year, struggled for the second straight game.
The 6-foot-8 forward went scoreless in Wednesday’s win against USC and had only six points on 2-for-6 shooting with two turnovers in Saturday’s loss.
Mgbako has played just 31 minutes total in the last two games.
While Mgbako’s overall numbers this season look solid, his efficiency has plummeted in Big Ten play. Mgbako is 8-for-27 (29.6 percent) on 3s in conference games and 12-for-29 (41.4 percent) on 2s.
The rest of his performance also suffers when Mgbako isn’t engaged offensively and making shots. He’s been an involved rebounder and willing defender at times in his sophomore season. But when he doesn’t get going offensively, that disappears.
Indiana was never in the game in the second half
As has been the theme for the Hoosiers under Mike Woodson over the last three-plus seasons, Indiana was never competitive when it mattered in Saturday’s game.
The Hoosiers are now 35-31 in regular season Big Ten games under Woodson since his arrival in the 2021-22 season.
According to Zach Osterman of The Indianapolis Star, 12 of those 31 losses have been by at least 15 points. Five have been by at least 20 points and 16 have been by double figures.
When Indiana loses games, it is not competitive more often than not. This season, all of IU’s losses have come by at least 16 points and by an average of 21.5 points.
The regular blowouts also damage IU’s metrics. The Hoosiers fell six spots in KenPom with last night’s loss and four spots in the NET rankings.
The road just gets tougher from here
After failing its first test in this important stretch of 11 straight Quad 1 games, Indiana’s road gets tougher beginning Tuesday.
The Hoosiers host Illinois on Tuesday in Bloomington and then play four of their next five games on the road. In the next eight games, KenPom has IU as the underdog in every game.
Illinois is coming off a stunning 82-72 loss at home to USC on Saturday. For the second straight game, the Illini were without star freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis.
The Illini swept a two-game road trip to the West Coast and beat Penn State by 38 before the USC loss. Indiana is 11-0 at home this season.
After the Illinois game, Indiana goes to Ohio State and Northwestern before hosting Maryland. After that, IU’s next four games are even tougher: at Purdue, at Wisconsin, Michigan at home and at Michigan State.
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
Filed to: Iowa Hawkeyes
