Indiana suffered a 21-point loss to Purdue on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall, falling 87-66. The loss dropped the Hoosiers to 12-6 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten play.
Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Boilermakers:
Kel’el Ware and Mackenzie Mgbako were benched too long in the first half
Mike Woodson’s decision to auto-bench Kel’el Ware and Mackenzie Mgbako with two fouls in the first half was a decision that backfired.
Mgbako, who scored Indiana’s first seven points, went to the bench with the Hoosiers trailing 10-7 at the 15:30 mark.
Ware was sent to the bench with two fouls at the 13:40 mark and Indiana behind 11-9.
When Mgbako reentered the game at the 3:33 mark, Indiana trailed 39-25. Ware came back at the 2:14 mark with the Hoosiers trailing 43-25.
Benching a player with two fouls to save them for the second half can sometimes work. It didn’t work on Tuesday because Indiana fell too far behind before Woodson brought both players back.
“Again, it’s a long game, but we fell back so quickly, you know,” Woodson said postgame. “I figured I brought him back, I think, around the two or three-minute mark right around the half, and when I think back to it, I probably should have brought him back a lot sooner, but I didn’t.”
By the time Woodson brought Mgbako and Ware back, the game was already out of reach. Mgbako finished the game with two fouls and Ware had three.
Indiana bet big on Xavier Johnson and it isn’t paying off
Rather than securing portal guard help last spring, Indiana decided to roll with Xavier Johnson as its point guard for a third straight season.
Johnson’s injuries have been out of his control, but his on-court play and behavior have been disappointing.
The sixth-year guard, one of the oldest players in college basketball, picked up a flagrant foul for the second time in three games against Purdue.
Since returning at Nebraska on Jan. 3, Johnson has been effective in one of Indiana’s five games. He scored 18 points in a win against Ohio State on Jan. 6, but has combined for four points, six assists and 11 turnovers in IU’s other four games.
Tuesday’s performance against Purdue saw Johnson log 19 minutes and shoot 0-for-5 from the field. He had two rebounds, two turnovers, two steals, a blocked shot, no assists and three fouls.
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