Indiana Bounces Back With 89-73 Win Over Providence in Battle 4 Atlantis 7th-Place Game

Mackenzie Mgbako, Trey Galloway and Malik Reneau stepped up after two losses and led Indiana to an 89-73 win over Providence in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Indiana forward Mackenzie Mgbako (21) looks to score against Providence during the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – Indiana didn’t have the week it wanted in the Battle 4 Atlantis but salvaged a win in Friday’s seventh-place game.

The Hoosiers defeated Providence, 89-73, and didn’t trail for the final 35 minutes. Indiana’s front court duo of Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo were the only reliable scorers in the first two games, but several other Hoosiers showed up in a crucial way Friday.

Mackenzie Mgbako led the way with 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Reneau finished with 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting. And Trey Galloway had his best game of the season, scoring 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and a trio of 3-pointers. 

Indiana pushed the pace early, with 14 fast-break points in the first half, against a Providence team whose previous game didn’t end until almost 10 p.m. Thursday. The Hoosiers also made the most of their height advantage offensively, scoring 38 points in the paint. 

With this win, Indiana finishes seventh out of eight teams in the Battle 4 Atlantis, going 1-2 with two bad defeats, an 89-61 loss to Louisville and an 89-73 loss to Gonzaga. The Hoosiers are 5-2 and head back to Bloomington with a game against Sam Houston Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson remains concerned with the Hoosiers’ defense, rebounding and how hard they’ve played. But he had positive takeaways from an offensive standpoint.

“I set a lot of staggered screens, looking for Luke and Mack coming off, just changed it up a little bit and they delivered, made some shots for us,” Woodson said. “Everything looks good when you’re making shots, and I thought the ball moved and didn’t get stuck. Our pick-and-roll play was pretty good as well as our post-up play. So it all went hand in hand when you’re making shots from the perimeter. It makes it a lot easier for our post-up guys and our pick-and-roll play.”

Indiana Hoosiers guard Trey Galloway (32) shoots against Providence in the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

After a back-and-forth start, Indiana gained some breathing room with a 7-0 run, beginning at the 13:38 mark. The game was tied 13-13, and Mgbako ignited the run with an and-one. Myles Rice, Langdon Hatton and Bryson Tucker contributed to the run, too, providing a much wider range of scoring production compared to Thursday.

Less than halfway through the first half, six Hoosiers had scored. That was a drastic change from Thursday’s loss to Gonzaga, when Indiana got 19 of its 39 first-half points from Ballo. Indiana's largest lead of the first half was 12 points after a 3-pointer from Mgbako with 7:01 before the break. 

But just as Indiana distanced itself, Providence immediately responded with a 7-0 run to cut the Hoosiers lead to 33-28 with 5:30 left in the half. Jabri Abdur-Rahim had five of those points, as Indiana’s defense lost him on a 3-pointer. 

Reneau subbed out at the 14:36 mark after picking up his second foul, but Woodson said Thursday he’d consider playing Reneau more with two fouls. He sat Reneau for the final 13 minutes against Louisville and held him out for nearly 10 minutes against Providence. But he re-entered for about three minutes toward the end of the first half and helped the Hoosiers take a 44-34 lead into halftime. 

Indiana’s transition game was at its best during this week’s three-game stretch during the first half against Providence. The Hoosiers scored 14 of their 16 total fast-break points in the first half. Rice perfectly lofted a pass to Reneau in stride for a layup, and Galloway was smart to beat the Providence defense with a bounce pass to Mgbako on a fastbreak. 

“That was a big emphasis coming into the game,” Woodson said. “They didn’t finish up, probably didn’t leave the building ‘til about 10:30-11 p.m. last night. We knew that and so we tried to capitalize on that a little bit in terms of pushing the pace a little bit.”

Indiana's bench celebrates against Providence during the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Indiana looked ready to blow out Providence at the beginning of the second half, as the Hoosiers jumped out to a 60-41 lead with 16:17 to play. The run was sparked by Reneau’s dominance inside, converting and-ones on two straight possessions.

Galloway heated up in the second half, scoring 13 points in the first eight minutes. Woodson was glad to have him back at his best after a shaky start to the season, though he declined to address whether Galloway would remain in the starting lineup. Kanaan Carlyle missed Friday’s game with an undisclosed injury, and Woodson considers him day-to-day.

“[Galloway] played great today,” Woodson said. “Trey’s situation has been gauged based on how he’s feeling. Yesterday he played 29 minutes, and I was holding my breath that he could get up this morning and tell me that he felt fine, because we hadn’t heard that a lot. This morning, he got up and said it was probably the best he’s felt in a long time, and that was good news to my ears, knowing that Kanaan wasn’t going to play. And it’s easy to slide him into the starting lineup, because I’ve been with him. I know him. He knows me. And he did a lot of good things to help us win tonight.”

But Providence wouldn’t go away easily. The Friars fought back with a 12-3 run over the next three minutes, and they inched back to a nine-point deficit with 9:06 left in the game. A contest that teetered toward a blowout all of a sudden felt like it had a long way to go. 

Desperately needing to avoid a blown lead, Indiana went back to its advantage in the post. Ballo and Reneau teamed up to lead Indiana on a 7-0 run, gesturing “too small” to the Friars as they ran back on defense. That put the Hoosiers ahead by 18 points with 4:04 to play, essentially sealing the victory.

Woodson was frustrated with Indiana’s defense in losses to Louisville and Gonzaga, but he saw improvement Friday. Providence shot just 39.1% from the field, though that didn’t dispel his concerns entirely. 

“I think when you get your butt beat like we did for two games, you better be connected,” Woodson said. “You know, I thought we were connected tonight. I still think defensively, we gotta clean up some things and we gotta rebound the ball better. I mean, those two areas are huge. Make no mistake about it. I mean, we shot the ball well offensively. But defensively, I still think we’re a little behind, especially these last three games that we played.”

The size disparity between Indiana and Providence could have led to an advantage for either team, but Indiana took control of the game with its taller lineup. Indiana starts three players at 6-foot-9 or taller, including Mgbako, Reneau and Ballo. At times that has led to smaller lineups, like Providence’s, with four starters at 6-foot-6 or shorter, having an advantage in quickness and beating Indiana down the court.

Indiana’s defense got burned a few times on the perimeter, as Providence shot 10-for-30 from 3-point range, but it stopped the Friars from running. Providence finished with just five fast-break points, and it couldn’t hang with the taller Hoosiers in the half court. Indiana finished with 38 points in the paint, but opponents’ offensive rebounding continued to be an issue. 

Providence grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 21 second-chance points, though Indiana had a 38-36 rebounding advantage overall.

“It’s been a major concern,” Woodson said. “This dates back to last season, where we were a pretty big team last season and gave up a bunch of rebounds. We gotta get that fixed. I mean, that’s major moving forward. It’s not like we don’t talk about it. It’s not like we don’t do block-out drills and things of that nature. After a while, it comes down to heart and just guts.”

Indiana guard Myles Rice (1) brings the ball up the court against Providence in the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Indiana did enough to take down Providence, but starting point guard Myles Rice’s struggles continued. Through three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis, he scored just 11 points on 4-for-25 shooting. Woodson said Rice “might be a little gun shy right now,” but he’s confident he’ll return to form, like his pair of 20-point performances immediately before heading to the Bahamas.

“I’m not concerned. Myles is a tough kid,” Woodson said. “We’ll get him back. We’ll go home and regroup, and we’ll get him back going because he’s a major, major piece to the puzzle. And everybody that wears this uniform is a major piece. I just gotta get guys on the same page in doing what’s asked of them when they’re out there on the floor playing.”

Indiana needed a win Friday, perhaps for no other reason than to avoid going 0-3. Providence, now ranked 97th nationally by analytics site Bart Torvik, likely won’t be a win that will significantly help Indiana’s NCAA Tournament resume. The same could be said about its win over No. 66 South Carolina. 

But Indiana came to the Bahamas needing to pick up a quality win or two. And after missed opportunities in big losses to Louisville and Gonzaga – plus a remaining nonconference slate of Sam Houston, Miami of Ohio, Chattanooga and Winthrop – Indiana will have to rely on Big Ten play to carry nearly all the weight of its resume. 

What did Woodson learn about his team during a 1-2 run in the Battle 4 Atlantis?

“That we gotta play harder, get better,” Woodson said. “We’ll continue to practice and work hard. I gotta keep pushing them. I mean, Gonzaga, there’s a reason they’re a good team. They’re well-coached, and those guys play hard. Louisville played hard. We gotta get our guys playing at that level, because if we do, then we can put ourselves in position to beat really good teams.”

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