Early in the season, as Mackenzie Mgbako had some initial trouble settling in at the collegiate level, Indiana head men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson preached patience.
He repeatedly advised fans and media alike to give the five-star freshman time, reminding everyone that not all touted recruits come to college and immediately thrive. That was definitely the case for Mgbako. Through his first five games with IU, he shot just 32 percent from the field and 7.7 percent from 3-point range for 5.0 points per game.
Mgbako still has room to improve, but he’s made a lot of progress.
“For a freshman, and where we started with this young man and where he is today, I’m happy as hell,” Woodson said on his radio show Monday. “He’s improving, right in front of us.”
Since those first few weeks of the season, the Gladstone, N.J. native has become one of Indiana’s best shooters and best scorers. Mgbako has racked up 20 or more points in three of the last five games, while shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from 3-point range.
The freshman came up big for Indiana on Sunday at Maryland, scoring a career-high 24 points, with 18 in the second half, on the way to a comeback victory.
During a media availability over Zoom on Tuesday, Mgbako cited his confidence as the biggest difference for him over the last several games.
“It’s just come from letting the game come to me and not forcing anything,” Mgbako said. “Just playing within the system and just being confident in myself and my teammates to just make the right play.”
The improvement stretches beyond the last five games, though. Mgbako’s scored in double-figures in 12 of the last 14 games, averaging 14.9 points per game in that span. He’s IU’s third-leading scorer on the season, going into the Minnesota game, at 12.0 points per game.
He’s the team’s highest-volume 3-point shooter — only Mgbako and Trey Galloway have attempted more than 50 threes all season. And although Indiana’s free-throw shooting woes are one of its biggest flaws this season, Mgbako has shot a solid 81.2 percent at the stripe — by far the best mark on the team.
But he seems to be particularly thriving, offensively, late in the season, as he’s developed physically and mentally. Mgbako has become more comfortable offensively as he’s learned more about what he needs to do before receiving the ball to set up his looks. And he’s become stronger through the season — and is putting it to good use.
“He’s very strong,” Woodson said. “He’s gotten more and-ones this year than probably anybody on our team. So I’m pleased with that. You’ve got to have somebody on your team that can break somebody down and go get fouled, and he’s a pretty good free-throw shooter. So that helps. You get fouled, you’ve got to go to to the line and make them.”
But Mgbako’s biggest weakness all season has been defense, and that remains the case.
The freshman mostly played zone defense at Roselle Catholic, so it’s taken time for him to adapt to the man-to-man defense Indiana runs. Mgbako acknowledged he’s improved defensively since he arrived in Bloomington, but said he’s still not where he needs to be. He felt he’s progressed with his off-ball defense, but has a lot of work to do guarding the ball.
Woodson, like he said early on, noted it can take time for freshmen to really settle in on defense.
“He still has a ways to go, in terms of his defense. We’re just trying to get him where he’s comfortable on the floor defensively,” Woodson said. “Cause sometimes plays happen so fast for these young guys, they don’t see it. And as you go through the Big Ten, you’ll start to figure that part of it out.”
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