Mike Woodson is not enthusiastic about Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON — An eight-day break — and a Saturday afternoon game against a Chattanooga team that was no match for its size and athleticism — seemed to be the right ingredients for the Indiana basketball team to bounce back from an ugly loss to Nebraska on Dec. 13 to get on your feet.

Instead, the Hoosiers struggled to get rid of the pesky Mocs and withstood a 74-65 victory in front of a sleepy Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall crowd that was always warming up after the Indiana football team’s loss late Friday in the College Football Playoff still recovering.

Aside from a few highlights, there wasn’t much to cheer about for Indiana fans, especially early on. The Hoosiers (9-3) were sluggish at the start, allowing Chattanooga (8-5) to score easily both inside and out, while the Mocs took a 21-14 lead after some brilliant shooting.

“We’ve been preparing for this team all week and working on a lot of things, but I didn’t see a lot of good in my work,” IU coach Mike Woodson said. “It’s discouraging, but the bottom line is we have to keep working at it, keep pushing the guys and get better.”

It’s a familiar refrain for the Hoosiers, who struggle to consistently play solid defense and hit shots from deep. Indiana shot 50% from the field for the seventh time this season, but hit just 5 of 20 (25% from 3-point range). Indiana has typically been a reliable team at the foul line (75% entering the game) and managed just 11 of 20 (55%) on Saturday.

The Indiana team nearly matched its starters with 19 points in the first half as the Hoosiers battled back to take a 41-38 lead at the break. Sophomore Kanaan Carlyle scored all eight points in the first half and was the reserve team. Freshman Bryson Tucker finished with nine points to lead the bench.

“Our bench was pretty good for us,” Woodson said. “They came in and played solid, I thought. They probably should have played them the whole game and used the starting unit. But at the end of the day, I have to get all the guys clicking when they’re playing on the floor. It’s still a work in progress, but there’s still a long way to go and I have to keep pushing.”

Mackenzie Mgbako and Malik Reneau led Indiana with 14 points each, with Reneau scoring 10 points in the second half, including a one-handed dunk that provided one of the day’s few highlights and gave Indiana its largest lead of the game yet, 61-48 12:37 left.

The Mocs weren’t going to take it easy, however, and went on a 17-8 run to get within 69-65 with just under two minutes left. Reneau gave Indiana a buffer with a second-chance putback, Myles Rice (4 points, 2 of 8 shooting) added a driving layup and Reneau found Trey Galloway (8 points, six in the second half) for a breakaway basket .

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Junior guard Honor Huff led Chattanooga with 20 points, shooting 6 of 12 from 3-point range.

“It’s just a matter of slowing the game down, going into our offense, looking for the open player and running the offense the way the coach wants,” Mgbako said. “I feel like if we slow down, we can do anything for ourselves in the half court.”

Indiana still has one non-conference game left before reaching the heart of the Big Ten schedule. The Hoosiers host Winthrop on December 29th before turning their attention to Rutgers on January 2nd.

“I felt like we had a great practice coming up this week,” Reneau said. “We still need to bring the practice (intensity) into the games and implement it the way we implement it in practice. Definitely we need to focus most on defense and keep working on it and getting better. I feel like this break will help us clear our minds so we can get back to work and ready for Big Ten games.”

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