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    • What we learned from IU's season-opening win
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    What we learned from IU's season-opening win

    Kathleen William Posted on

    BLOOMINGTON – It wasn't always pretty, but IU Basketball finished with an 80-61 victory over SIU-Edwardsville to open the season on Wednesday night at Assembly Hall.

    Sophomore forward MacKenzie Mgbako hit his fourth three-pointer with 5:44 left to give IU a 20-point lead for the first time. Mgbako, who scored a career-high 31 points, was one of four Hoosiers to score in double figures, along with Malik Reneau (15), Oumar Ballo (15) and Myles Rice (11).

    While the No. 18 Hoosiers (1-0; 0-0) never trailed, they had to keep their starters on the floor until the end of the game, with SIUE managing just enough to hang on.

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    This is what stood out in the win:

    IU basketball student Mackenzie Mgbako cooks SIUE

    Mgabko played in Wednesday night's season opener with a confidence that fans didn't see until the middle of last season.

    As a true freshman, he struggled through the month of November, averaging just 7.2 points per game on 39.5% shooting and 11.1% from 3-point range, but he turned things around after the slow start and was co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

    Mgbako was by far IU's best player early in his sophomore season with his first 30-point game on 13 of 17 shooting and eight rebounds. He got going early with 13 straight points over a four-minute span, giving IU a 19-9 lead with 13:04 left in the first half.

    He showed off his versatility by knocking down a 3-pointer, hitting a two-handed slam on a quick kickoff and making a small fadeaway from the corner after an offensive rebound.

    After SIUE made it 27-27 with 4:48 left in the half, Mgbako got the team back on track with another attack after a timeout.

    He fired a 3-pointer with a defender in his face and scored three points in 17 seconds, helping IU close the first half with a 15-3 run.

    As SIUE flirted with making a play in the second half, Mgbako took the lead one last time. He hit the 3-pointer with 10:33 to play and broke away several times by cutting through the basket for a look at the rim.

    IU Basketball's redesigned bench sputters in debut

    Indiana coach Mike Woodson saw his 11-point first-half lead nearly evaporate after sitting deep on the bench in the first half.

    He switched to a lineup with Gabe Cupps, Trey Galloway, true freshman Bryson Tucker, Illinois transfer Luke Goode and Bellarmine transfer Langdon Hatton, who struggled to keep SIUE off the glass and cut the lead to 24-20.

    Woodson wants to get the guys minutes during the non-conference portion of the program, but figuring out which lineups work best together is still a work in progress.

    When he sent his starters back into the game, they lost all sense of rhythm and at one point had three turnovers in a row.

    Woodson also tinkered with smaller lineups, with Reneau playing with different support players at the five spots several times, but IU's interior defense struggled without Ballo on the field, and that was partly why the Hoosiers struggled to win the game .

    IU basketball guard Trey Galloway takes on the sixth man role

    Indiana fifth-year guard Trey Galloway came off the bench Wednesday night for the first time since a Jan. 8, 2023 game against Northwestern. He started every game for IU during the 2024-24 regular season.

    This wasn't a surprising move considering Woodson's comments in the offseason about players having to make sacrifices given the influx of talent from the transfer portal and IU's improved backcourt depth.

    Galloway helped recruit many of these new faces and hosted them during their visits to Bloomington.

    At IU Media Days in September, he told reporters that he was happy with whatever role the coaches had in mind for him. He made his first appearance in the game with 14:51 left in the first half and was the first player to come on as a substitute for Woodson.

    Galloway led the team with nine assists, six of which came in the second half. He was the team's primary point guard for the final 10 minutes.

    Indiana had eight scholarship players play more than 10 minutes, including Galloway (15), Goode (17) and Tucker (12) as substitutes.

    Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek Click here to read all of his coverage.

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    Kathleen William
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