Five takeaways from Indiana’s loss to Illinois – Inside the Hall

Indiana suffered its second straight 25-point loss, falling 94-69 to Illinois on Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The loss dropped the Hoosiers to 13-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten.

Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Illini:

Defense sinks Indiana in first half

The Hoosiers were competitive in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s game at Assembly Hall. After a Myles Rice layup, the Hoosiers trailed 10-8 with 17:08 remaining.

But as the Illini went on a run, Indiana had no defensive answer. At the time of the under-12 media timeout, Illinois’ two-point lead had grown to 15. It would only grow from there as the Illini extended the lead to 30 points on a Kylan Boswell layup with 4:51 left.

Unlike Saturday in Iowa City, the Hoosiers did not respond when the opponent threw an opening punch.

Despite shooting less than 50 percent in the first half, Illinois scored 60 points. In the first 20 minutes, the Illini scored 8 of 19 in 3 seconds, 10 of 12 from the free throw line and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, which turned into 17 second chance points.

The 28-point halftime deficit for the Hoosiers was the largest for Indiana in a home game in the last 25 seasons.

The struggles continue for Mackenzie Mgbako

For the third straight game, Indiana sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako failed to reach double figures.

The 6-foot-9 forward from Gladstone, New Jersey, shot 1 of 10 from the field and finished with four points in 19 minutes.

It was also the third consecutive game in which Mgbako played less than 20 minutes.

Over the last three games, Mgbako is 3 of 24 from the field overall and 0 of 11 from 3-point range. He is averaging 3.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in the previous three games.

Although Mgbako is still shooting 50 percent from 2 and 36.4 percent from 3 for the season, his numbers have exploded against Big Ten opponents. He’s shooting just 36.1 percent from 2 and 26.7 percent from 3 in conference games.

Indiana’s 3-point shooting continues to decline

After shooting 12 of 27 from 3 against Rutgers and 9 of 23 against Penn State, Indiana’s 3-point shooting has taken a significant step back over the last three games.

The Hoosiers shot just 4 of 18 (22.2 percent) in Tuesday’s loss to Illinois. That followed a 4-of-16 (25%) performance against Iowa and a 6-of-21 (28.6%) performance against USC.

Over the last three games, Indiana is 14-for-55 from beyond the arc, or just 25.4 percent.

After 18 games, the Hoosiers now rank 274th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at 31.4. That would be the lowest 3-point shooting percentage for an IU team since the 2018-19 season, when the Hoosiers shot 31.2% from distance.

In Big Ten play, IU is making just 30.5 percent of its 3-point shots, which ranks 13th in the conference.

Indiana falls to 1-5 in Quad 1 games

In its first two games of 11 in a row against competition considered Quad 1 for NCAA Tournament purposes, Indiana has recorded two 25-point losses.

Each of IU’s five losses came by at least 16 points and IU’s average margin of defeat this season is 22.2 points.

From here, the road gets even tougher. On Friday, Indiana will travel to Ohio State. The Buckeyes desperately need a win after starting Big Ten play 2-4. On Tuesday night, Ohio State lost 70-68 to Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.

After that, Indiana travels to the Northwest next Wednesday. The Wildcats have worn IU’s number for the past few seasons. The Hoosiers haven’t beaten Northwestern since the 2020-21 season, Archie Miller’s last in Bloomington.

Overall, four of Indiana’s next five games will be on the road. The Hoosiers are 2-4 overall in games away from Assembly Hall this season.

Kasparas Jakucionis dominates in return of two-game absence

Illinois freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis showed no rust after missing the last two games with a forearm injury.

The 6-foot-6 guard from Lithuania scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half of Tuesday’s win for the Illini.

A projected lottery pick in June’s NBA draft, Jakucionis finished with 21 points, five assists and three rebounds in 33 minutes.

He shot 7 of 13 from the field, including 3 of 7 on 3s and 4 of 5 from the free throw line.

After Saturday’s stunning loss to USC at the State Farm Center, this victory kept Illinois in the Big Ten title race. The Illini, one of KenPom’s top 10 national teams, remain just two games behind Michigan and Michigan State in the loss column of the conference standings.

Filed at: Illinois Fighting Illini