BLOOMINGTON — Indiana men’s basketball was traveling down a familiar path Saturday against No. 2 Kansas.
The Hoosiers were rolling in front of a boisterous Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall crowd. This building gets this type of big-game atmosphere a few times every season, and this was, perhaps, its peak — even with students on break. This was IU’s last chance at a signature non-conference win this season, and it seemed like everything was going its way to make that happen.
But it all fell apart. Kansas came back for a 75-71 win. And it leaves Indiana (7-3) with a difficult quandary: embracing a moral victory versus rueing a missed opportunity.
“It’s really the first game that we’ve had — we’ve been in a lot of close games, even the early games we’ve had — and we didn’t cave. I thought tonight we didn’t make the plays defensively that we needed to make in a game like this. But it’s a game that we can definitely build on, especially after you come out of a game like the Auburn game,” IU head coach Mike Woodson said after the game. “I thought we played pretty well. You’ve got to tip your hat to (Kansas head coach) Bill (Self) and his team because they did everything they needed to do to secure the win down the stretch. We just didn’t get it done.”
In many ways, Indiana couldn’t have played much better Saturday, given the caliber of opponent.
Mackenzie Mgbako continued his run of improved offensive play, and Kansas’ turnaround really began when he checked out with 10:07 remaining with four fouls. He went 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and is showing more confidence in his shot with every passing game.
After allowing 104 points against Auburn last week, as Woodson alluded to, the Hoosiers played much better defensively for a lot of this game. IU held the Jayhawks to 0.865 points per possession in the first half, with a 35.3 shooting percentage from the field and more 3-point attempts than they normally take, without a ton of success. Kel’el Ware forced Hunter Dickinson into some difficult looks.
Trey Galloway, who’s endured some struggles early in this season, put up arguably the best performance of his IU career. He played as aggressively as you’ll ever see him, in a good way. Self said the Jayhawks tried to take away his right hand, but Galloway still repeatedly got to that side and beat them with it.
He scored a career-high 28 points on a 12-of-17 clip, with three rebounds, an assist, and five turnovers — though that’s a product of his aggressiveness.
“He was great. I told him after the game, he was great,” Self said. “28 isn’t a respectable number for us that we did a good job at all. He got the best of us. But I think he’s good.”
It wasn’t a perfect performance by IU — obviously, given the result. IU didn’t get much production from its bench in this game. Woodson shortened the rotation, as Payton Sparks and Anthony Leal didn’t see the court. Anthony Walker was solid, but Kaleb Banks struggled in his 16 minutes, and CJ Gunn didn’t really impact this game in his five minutes.
So that meant some of IU’s starters shouldered their heaviest workloads of the season so far. Gabe Cupps played 37 minutes, Galloway played 38, and Ware played 39. And fatigue kicked in as the game grew later. Ware, in particular, lost some of the edge he battled Dickinson with earlier in the game, and the Michigan transfer capitalized with some critical buckets in the paint down the stretch.
The Hoosiers also missed some opportunities to really extend their lead and put the game away. Indiana was up by double-digits for several stretches of the game, but it couldn’t keep its foot on the gas long enough to grow it larger than 13 points. Self called two timeouts in the first half, in a clear effort to combat the raucous atmosphere and keep his team in the game. But he said the Jayhawks weren’t at their best in that first half, and IU couldn’t take full advantage and run away with it.
“It’s a long game,” Self said. “I don’t think we played particularly well in the first half, but I think we made enough plays to keep it close. Indiana had a couple opportunities that got away from them because of our good fortune, not because of our good play. So we were fortunate on a couple of things. But also, that game could’ve been closer at halftime, too, if we had done just a couple things just a little bit better.”
And here’s the sobering reality for the Hoosiers. They had so many things going right on Saturday, in front of as good of an atmosphere as Assembly Hall will see all season. It’s an environment that’s led Indiana to big wins on so many occasions, and Saturday’s game seemed like it was heading that way.
But despite all that, IU still couldn’t finish this game out. The Hoosiers led by double digits with 11 minutes left in a deafeningly loud Assembly Hall, and they still lost.
Indiana may be good enough to win in Big Ten play. The conference is not as strong as it’s been in recent years, and this team is built in a way that can compete against those opponents. IU showed its mettle in winning at Michigan earlier in the month. But failing to close out a game like Saturday’s should raise concerns about what will happen in road games against better Big Ten teams than the Wolverines.
Realistically, the proper framing of this game likely sits somewhere in the middle of that sobering reality and a moral victory. In some ways, the Hoosiers should genuinely come away feeling good that they pushed one of the best teams in the country that hard. But coming that close to a season-altering win and seeing it slip through their fingers will sting, and it should.
IU will now be left with more work to do in conference play to make the NCAA Tournament. And come March, if this team is on the wrong side of the bubble, letting the Kansas game slip away may just be the reason why.
