Indiana Exposed Again With 89-73 Loss to Gonzaga in Battle 4 Atlantis

No. 14 Indiana lost its second game in as many days in the Bahamas, 89-73, Thursday against Gonzaga in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Indiana coach Mike Woodson said his team is disconnected defensively, and their rebounding struggles have to stop soon.

Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman (11) celebrates a 3-pointer against Indiana during the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – Indiana came to the Battle 4 Atlantis needing to pick up quality nonconference wins. But after an 89-61 loss to Louisville Thursday and an 89-73 loss to No. 3 Gonzaga Friday, it may head back to Bloomington without one.

The Hoosiers hung tough with Gonzaga for a bit. They trailed 33-31 with 8:11 left in the first half, but Gonzaga ripped off a 16-0 run in about five minutes. The Bulldogs closed the half on a 24-8 run, and coasted to victory in the second half. 

Indiana center Oumar Ballo scored 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting, but the rest of the Hoosiers shot just 16-for-46, or 34.7%, from the field. Turnovers plagued the Hoosiers against Louisville, and they nearly cut those 23 mistakes in half against Gonzaga. But Indiana’s defense continued to be far too porous inside, allowing 46 points in the paint. The Hoosiers also got outworked on the glass, with Gonzaga outrebounding them, 42-27.

With this loss, Indiana (4-2) wraps up the Battle 4 Atlantis 11 a.m. ET Friday against the loser of the Providence versus Davidson game, which tips off Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Indiana's last lead against Gonzaga was 18-16 at the 13:15 mark of the first half, thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode. Inside the 3,500-seat Imperial Ballroom, which traps noise well with a low ceiling, the pro-Indiana crowd made plenty of noise. 

Indiana maintained that momentum through the following five-plus minutes. Gonzaga had no answer inside for Ballo, who once played for the Zags and made his first eight shots from the field and had 19 points by halftime. 

“It was hard. Clearly he’s gotten a lot better since we had him, what was that, six years ago?” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “So he’s older, and he’s got himself in great shape. I’m happy for him. That right-handed hook was going tonight, but we were okay with that. We just didn’t want to give them a whole lot of things between us and the basket. And for the most part, we adjusted our ball-screen coverage about halfway through the first half, and for the most part, after that adjustment, I think we didn’t give them a whole lot of stuff between us and the basket.”

Indiana center Oumar Ballo (11) shoots over Gonzaga forward Braden Huff (34) during the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Indiana could go to Ballo for easy points whenever it wanted for much of the first half. But when he was off the court, scoring production from the remaining Hoosiers was nowhere to be found. Excluding Ballo’s 8-for-9 shooting in the first half, Indiana made just 4-of-22 shots from the field. Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle and Trey Galloway combined for just three points all game Wednesday against Louisville, and they had just six points in the first half against Gonzaga. 

Gonzaga began to pull away with 7:39 left in the first half, starting with a Michael Ajayi jumper. By the 3:15 mark, Gonzaga had scored 16 straight points, turning a 33-31 advantage into a commanding 49-31 lead. 

Few attributed Gonzaga’s run to offensive pace and defensive stops.

“We keep track of kills, which is three stops in a row, and I think we had three consecutive kills in a row.” Few said. “So that’s obviously – if we can do that to you and get out and run, that’s when we’re at our best.’’

During that stretch, Indiana went 0-for-8 from the field and turned the ball over three times. Gonzaga’s lead grew as large as 21 points in the first half after Indiana’s defense completely lost Gonzaga forward Ben Gregg on three straight possessions. Gregg scored two easy baskets inside and hit a 3-pointer from the left wing.

Woodson thinks players have lost confidence in their defensive responsibilities, and he’s got to restore that.

“A lot of it is our believing in one another and believing in our rotations and being in the areas where we’ve played to protect the paint and to get out [to the 3-point line],” Woodson said. “And we’ve been very awful in that category the last two games.” 

Gonzaga guard Khalif Battle (99) and Indiana guard Trey Galloway (32) during the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Woodson typically hasn’t played Ballo for more than seven minutes at a time. And with Malik Reneau picking up two fouls and sitting for the final 13 minutes of the first half, Woodson turned to Langdon Hatton, a transfer from Bellarmine. Hatton played four minutes, split across three segments, and had four points on 4-for-6 free throw shooting, one block, one steal and zero rebounds in the first half.

Reneau subbed out at the 5:34 mark and didn’t return. Ballo played 16 minutes in the first half, but he couldn’t do it all on his own. Woodson said he will think about handling Reneau’s foul situation differently moving forward.

“I don’t like to second guess, but maybe we gotta start thinking about playing Malik with two fouls early to see if he can get through it,” Woodson said. “The last few years we struggled with that once he got into foul trouble. We tried that before, and he’d pick up a third one or a fourth foul and now you really gotta sit him. So we just gotta keep working, try to work through it.’’ 

Gonzaga took a 57-39 lead into halftime. Perhaps the most dominant aspect of the Bulldogs’ first-half performance was their rebounding, where they had a 26-13 advantage. Gonzaga grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, which led to 17 second-chance points in the first 20 minutes of action.

“It’s a major problem that we’ve had,” Woodson said. “A lot of it is we’re not putting bodies on bodies to block out, and that’s gotta stop. We gotta get our guys competing from a rebounding standpoint. I thought we rebounded against Louisville pretty well, but then you go in tonight’s game and you don’t rebound. That was probably the difference in the ballgame tonight.”

In the second half, Gonzaga kept Indiana at an arm’s length. Indiana trimmed Gonzaga’s lead to as few as 15 points with 10:16 to play, but the Bulldogs immediately responded with a 4-0 run. There were no large runs from either team in the second half, but Gonzaga had built such a large advantage by halftime that it didn’t matter.

The final 20 minutes were filled with fouls and free throws. Indiana and Gonzaga combined for 12 fouls in the first 6:20 of the second half, and seven players across both teams had four fouls 8:29 to play.

Indiana didn’t take full advantage of being in the bonus for so long, as it finished 15-for-22, or 68.2%, from the free throw line. The Hoosiers didn’t shoot well from 3-point range either, 4-for-18, or 22.2%. 

Aside from Ballo and Mgbako, who scored 13 points, it was a quiet day for many Hoosiers. Starters Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle and Reneau had just six points each, while Galloway, Luke Goode and Bryson Tucker combined for 11 points off the bench.

“[Rice] has struggled, and I gotta somehow help him get back,” Woodson said. “You know, get his confidence back, and get him back to where he feels comfortable guarding the ball, because that’s where it starts defensively. And I just think the two guards we’ve played out front these two games have kind of had their way in controlling the game. I thought Kanaan did a good job early on, but we gotta have that from Myles as well. We gotta get better guard play, because if we plan on making a run or making a good run in the Big Ten, then our guard play has gotta pick up.”

A pass sails over the head of Indiana guard Kanaan Carlyle (9) during the Battle 4 Atlantis. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Woodson felt Indiana’s defense was on-point when it traveled to the Bahamas, but its perimeter defense has been exposed through two games. He was upset about Indiana’s defense against Louisville, and the Hoosiers struggled again on that side Thursday. Six Bulldogs finished with double-digit points, and point guard Ryan Nembhard controlled the balanced effort with 13 assists. 

“We’re not connected right now, defensively, and I thought the first half, it showed again,” Woodson said. “The second half, we played a lot better from a defensive standpoint, and I thought defensively we connected a little bit better. But good teams like Gonzaga and Louisville, you can’t spot them like we did.”

Indiana has one more chance to salvage its trip to the Bahamas. But it may not be the resume-boosting type of win it hoped to get in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Providence is ranked 78th nationally and Davidson is 146th, according to analytics site Bart Torvik. 

Woodson had no complaints with the way Ballo played Thursday, but said he has to get the supporting cast clicking on all cylinders moving forward. He said going into the season that this was his most talented team through four years coaching his alma mater. And despite back-to-back big losses, he still feels Indiana can be a competitive team.

“We gotta get where we’re competing against top-notch teams like the Gonzagas and Louisvilles,” Woodson said. “And we’ll get there, we just gotta keep working at it.”