INDIANAPOLIS — The cycle repeated. Then it happened again.
Three missed shots, three offensive rebounds and a missed free throw delivered an empty end to a possession full of opportunities for Indiana men’s basketball.
At the time, the Hoosiers trailed Oregon by 7 points with four minutes remaining. They saw similar deficits three other times in the second half. In each instance, Indiana responded with a basket.
This cycle didn’t repeat again.
The Ducks led by 7 points, then 9, then 11 before the Hoosiers scored again. Indiana trailed by double digits for the final minute and a half. The Hoosiers, once on the doorstep of a possible NCAA Tournament-clinching victory, had no more answers.
Indiana (19-13) saw its Big Ten Tournament run end before it ever left the starting blocks, falling 72-59 to Oregon (24-8) on Thursday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“We were right in it,” fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway said postgame. “Multiple times, we kept cutting the lead. But you've got to give them credit, they were able to make big time shots. The execution on defense, we just had some miscues that we can't have. They made some tough ones. Just got to give them credit.”
The game slipped away from Indiana at the end of the first half. The Hoosiers scored only 2 points over the final four minutes, and Oregon used a 10-0 run in the last two and a half minutes to take a 37-29 lead into the break. Indiana head coach Mike Woodson dubbed it a “big momentum builder” for the Ducks.
But the Hoosiers scored 6 unanswered points out of halftime, trimming their deficit to 2 points. That’s when the cycle officially started.
Oregon grew its lead to 6 points. Indiana trimmed the margin down to 1 point. The Ducks took it back to 7 points. The Hoosiers cut it back to 2 points.
Back and forth, then again, and again and again. Each time Indiana drew close, the crimson-colored crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse tried to will its team forward. And time after time, Oregon broke the fans’ collective heart.
“It's kind of frustrating when you make a little bit of a run, and then the next thing you know, they make one or two baskets and then extend the lead a little bit,” sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo said postgame.
Oregon’s runs coincided with Indiana’s scoring droughts. The Hoosiers had seven two-minute spells with no points — not lengthy droughts, but enough to open the door for the Ducks to capitalize. At each point, they did.
Indiana shot only 36.2% from the field and 4 of 16 from distance. The Hoosiers were 5-for-10 shooting at the foul stripe. Their offensive struggles, senior forward Luke Goode noted postgame, also had plenty to do with Oregon’s stingy defense, which boasts a pair of All-Big Ten Defensive Team selections in senior center Nate Bittle and fifth-year senior guard TJ Bamba.
Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said Oregon defended the Hoosiers differently than most, particular in the post with Ballo and junior forward Malik Reneau.
“I thought they had a lot to do with it, although we missed a lot of chippies around the rim with Ballo and Malik,” Woodson said of Indiana’s offensive struggles. “I thought that was a big difference. Them not leaving Goode and (sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako) and giving you the looks that sometimes we've been accustomed to getting with those two guys, you got to make plays around the rim.”
The Hoosiers made only 13 of 27 layups. Opponents have often double-teamed Ballo and Reneau, leaving open shooters on the perimeter. Oregon took a different approach, and Indiana’s wings struggled.
As a result, Indiana lacked scoring options. The Hoosiers had only three players score in double figures: Reneau had a team-high 19 points, Galloway tallied 15 points and Mgbako added 12 points.
Indiana’s players summarized the collection of offensive woes as a lack of execution.
“I think when we go on our little scoring droughts, it's definitely just execution where you've got to go out there and execute the play at a high level,” Reneau said. “We failed to do that in a couple of spots, and they got steals, blocks, et cetera, and they came down court and was able to execute on their side. So, we've got to be able to execute and defend on our side too.”
Woodson described it as “the little things,” like missing front ends of a one-and-one and failing to get stops on defense thereafter.
Fifth-year senior guard Anthony Leal said postgame Indiana needed to force more empty possessions for Oregon. Instead, the Ducks made big shots that slowed the Hoosiers’ runs.
Mgbako viewed Indiana’s inability to sustain runs through a different lens.
“There’s a lot of things you can pinpoint,” Mgbako said. “We just had to play a little bit harder. They had a little bit more juice than us I feel like.”
Leal and redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice disagreed, noting energy swayed from each team as they traded runs. Leal added it’s a part of basketball, and the Hoosiers didn’t run out of steam so much as Oregon made more shots.
Regardless of the validity of Mgbako’s statement, Indiana primarily feels effort isn’t why it lost.
“I mean, yeah, they had a little bit more energy than us,” Ballo said postgame. “This game is just, like, toughness. Sometimes, it's not even about the energy. It's just about execution and putting the ball in the hole. You can have the best energy, but if the other team is playing good defense, making stops and scoring on offense, energy won't really be a big factor.”
Rice said games like Thursday’s are why he plays basketball — a matchup of two teams playing well in March that turned into a “heavy battle.”
The Hoosiers fell short Thursday, but they left Gainbridge Fieldhouse without many regrets.
“That's the duality of basketball, man,” Rice said. “Sometimes when you're playing, you're hitting those shots and you're feeling great. But then when you're on the receiving end of it, it's not that good. But you just shake their hand, man. We made them use a lot of the shot clock. Got the ball out of their key players’ hands. They just hit some timely shots.”
Leal aptly described Indiana’s loss as a game of runs. Mgbako said such games come down to unwavering strength, and Indiana prioritized punching first and not letting up until the clock hit zero.
The Hoosiers lifted themselves from the mat several times — but they couldn’t sustain Oregon’s final push.
“It's tough,” Goode said. “When you get it within a one, two possession game, and they come down and hit a big shot, that's the momentum killer that everybody talks about. So, momentum is a big thing in the game. We come down and get a 5-0, 6-0 run, and next thing you know, they hit a couple threes and big shot. And it’s right back to where it began.”
Indiana now enters a weekend full of waiting, sweating and hoping before its NCAA Tournament fate is announced at 6 p.m. Sunday. At stake is a chance to keep playing for Woodson and a barrage of seniors staring down the end of their time in college.
The Hoosiers had a similar opportunity Thursday — but as runs kept stalling and shots quit falling, they failed to get over the oft-referenced hump.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
