Indiana suffered its second straight 25-point loss, falling 94-69 to Illinois on Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Meeting Corridor. The loss dropped the Hoosiers to 13-5 total and 4-3 within the Massive Ten.
Listed here are 5 takeaways from the loss to the Illini:
Protection sinks Indiana within the first half
The Hoosiers had been aggressive within the opening minutes of Tuesday’s sport in Meeting Corridor. After a Myles Rice layup, the Hoosiers trailed 10-8 with 17:08 to play.
However because the Illini went on a run, Indiana had no reply defensively. By the under-12 media timeout, a two-point Illinois lead had ballooned to fifteen. It could solely develop from there because the Illini stretched the result in 30 factors on a Kylan Boswell layup with 4:51 remaining.
In contrast to Saturday in Iowa Metropolis, the Hoosiers wouldn’t reply when the opponent threw an preliminary punch.
Regardless of capturing lower than 50 % within the first half, Illinois scored 60 factors. Within the opening 20 minutes, the Illini went 8-for-19 on 3s, 10-for-12 from the free-throw line and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, which become 17 second-chance factors.
The 28-point halftime deficit for the Hoosiers was the most important for Indiana in a house sport within the final 25 seasons.
Struggles proceed for Mackenzie Mgbako
For the third straight sport, Indiana sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako failed to succeed in double figures.
The 6-foot-9 ahead from Gladstone, New Jersey, shot 1-for-10 from the sector and completed with 4 factors in 19 minutes.
It was additionally the third straight sport wherein Mgbako performed lower than 20 minutes.
Over the past three video games, Mgbako is 3-for-24 from the sector total and 0-for-11 on 3-pointers. He’s averaging 3.3 factors and 4.3 rebounds within the earlier three contests.
Though Mgbako remains to be capturing 50 % on 2s and 36.4 % on 3s for the season, his numbers have cratered towards Massive Ten opponents. He’s capturing simply 36.1 % on 2s and 26.7 % on 3s in convention video games.
Indiana’s 3-point capturing continues to regress
After capturing 12-for-27 on 3s towards Rutgers and 9-for-23 towards Penn State, Indiana’s 3-point capturing has taken a big step again within the final three video games.
The Hoosiers shot simply 4-for-18 (22.2 %) in Tuesday’s loss to Illinois. That adopted a 4-for-16 (25 %) efficiency towards Iowa and a 6-for-21 (28.6 %) mark towards USC.
Within the final three video games, Indiana is 14-for-55 from past the arc, simply 25.4 %.
Via 18 video games, the Hoosiers now rank 274th nationally in 3-point capturing proportion at 31.4. That will be the bottom 3-point capturing proportion for an IU crew for the reason that 2018-19 season, when the Hoosiers shot 31.2 % from distance.
In Massive Ten play, IU is making simply 30.5 % of its 3-pointers, which ranks thirteenth within the convention.
Indiana falls to 1-5 in Quad 1 video games
Via its first two video games of 11 straight towards contests thought of Quad 1 for NCAA event functions, Indiana has a pair of 25-point losses.
Every of IU’s 5 losses have come by a minimum of 16 factors and the common margin of defeat for IU this season is 22.2 factors.
The street solely turns into harder from right here. On Friday, Indiana travels to Ohio State. The Buckeyes desperately want a win after beginning Massive Ten play 2-4. On Tuesday night time, Ohio State fell 70-68 to Wisconsin on the Kohl Heart.
After that, Indiana travels to Northwestern subsequent Wednesday. The Wildcats have had IU’s quantity in latest seasons. The Hoosiers haven’t overwhelmed Northwestern for the reason that 2020-21 season, Archie Miller’s final in Bloomington.
Total, 4 of Indiana’s subsequent 5 video games are on the street. The Hoosiers are 2-4 total in video games away from Meeting Corridor this season.
Kasparas Jakucionis is dominant in return from a two-game absence
Illinois freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis confirmed no rust after lacking the final two video games with a forearm damage.
The 6-foot-6 guard from Lithuania scored 19 of his 21 factors within the first half of Tuesday’s win for the Illini.
A projected lottery choose in June’s NBA draft, Jakucionis completed with 21 factors, 5 assists and three rebounds in 33 minutes.
He shot 7-for-13 from the sector, together with 3-for-7 on 3s, and 4-for-5 from the free throw line.
After Saturday’s gorgeous loss to USC on the State Farm Heart, the win saved Illinois within the hunt for the Massive Ten title. The Illini, a prime 10 crew nationally in KenPom, stay simply two video games again of Michigan and Michigan State within the loss column of the convention standings.
Filed to: Illinois Preventing Illini
