Hoosiers Use Late Rally to Pull Away From Miami of Ohio, 76-57

Indiana won its sixth straight nonconference home game on Friday, using a 14-0 run late to pull away from Miami of Ohio. The Hoosiers are 7-2 heading into Big Ten play on Monday, and they've still got a lot to clean up.

Indiana center Oumar Ballo (11) scores past Miami forward Eian Elmer (0) during the Hoosiers' win Friday night in Bloomington. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana never trailed Friday night against Miami of Ohio, but the Hoosiers also never really felt comfortable. They won 76-57, but it wasn't until a late 14-0 run that the outcome was no longer in question.

It's a familiar refrain for the 7-2 Hoosiers so far this season. They won for the sixth straight time at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, cruising through a very soft home nonconference schedule, but they still haven't been able to put together a complete 40-minute game. They were sloppy for stretches, committing 16 turnovers, but won anyway.

It hasn't bitten them so far. Not yet. But that fear of letting games slip away down the road? Oh yeah, it's definitely there.

"Once we start playing Big Ten games, it's plays like that that can put you in a hole,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. "The turnovers, that's something we have to fix. We're taking too many chances on passes that just aren't there.

''I think we had four turnovers coming down the stretch of that first half that gave them the opportunity to get back into the game. You go in (to the locker room at halftime) up three. .You've got to give them credit because, again, we controlled it early, but we let it slip away. These are growing pains, man. When you get a team down, you just got to keep stepping and building. We just didn't do that early on.''

Indiana jumped out to a quick 14-3 lead but was never able to gain complete control of the game. Their lead would bounce from 11 to 5, then 12 to 4 and then 9 to 2. They led by just three at halftime, 39-36.

The first 10 minutes of the second half was similar, and with 10:09 to go in the half, the Hoosiers led only 55-50. But then the Hoosiers went on a 14-0 over six-plus minutes to finally pull away. The lead got to 20, and finiahed at 76-57. Miami scored only 21 points in the second half, and just just 7-of-30 from the field in the final 20 minutes.

"I'll take it,'' said Woodson, who was upset in the 28-pointwin over Sam Houston on Tuesday when the Hoosiers gave up 46 points in the second half. "We've still got work to do, man. Even though they went six minutes without scoring the ball, they still had good looks. The looks came on our inability to not switch correctly. You know what I mean? We screwed up so many switches tonight, I thought.

"Those are things that I just got to get us right. When you switch, that means you got a body on a body. Nobody's breaking free for easy shots. We got to clean that up. That's something that we got to continue to work on and practice to get better.''

The Hoosiers got a big game from 7-foot center Oumar Ballo, who had 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, 18 rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes of action. The 18 boards were a career high, and the six assists tied his best. He had six on Jan. 28, 2023 in an Arizona win over Washington.

"My teammates did a good job of trying to find me, and I tried to take advantage of that,'' Ballo said. "Yeah, the coaches have a lot of trust in me to make the right play. That's why ball screen situations, the ball is in my hand a lot, and I have to make the right read. Fortunately for us tonight, the shots were falling, so I'm happy with the result.''

Woodson was thrilled to see Ballo's stat line, and his impact on the game.

."I'm pleased with his play. This is really the first time Ballo, in his career, has been featured (on the offensive end). He's such a big load. We had the size advantage tonight, and I thought we took advantage of it.'

Malik Reneau led the Hoosiers with 19 points, many of them coming on passes from Ballo. Point guard Myles Rice had 17 and Trey Galloway, who made his third straight start with Kanaan Carlyle out, added 13.

Dynamic wings Mackenzie Mgbako and Bryson Tucker did nothing. Both were 0-for-4 shooting through the first 36 minutes. Mgbako finally scored at the 3:41 mark, and Tucker didn't score at all. Mgbako, the team's leading scorer, finished with just four points

"It wasn't just Mackenzie. Our perimeter play, I look at the big picture in how the ball is being moved and if we're switching correctly. We gave up (12) offensive rebounds and it's too many,'' Woodson said. "Again, he didn't have a good night. I ain't taking anything. Mack has been playing pretty good basketball for us. He had a tough night. We'll bounce back. We'll start back on the practice floor tomorrow, get him back going, get him ready for Monday.''

Indiana starts Big Ten play on Monday with a home game against Minnesota (6:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network). There's still a lot to clean up, Galloway said.

"There's a lot of miscues that we had that we shouldn't have. If we clean those up, it takes away a lot of those buckets that they got,'' Galloway said. "Overall just really kind of focusing on that and making sure we clean up everything with that. It's little things, but we got to make sure we take care of that.

"Yeah, I mean, it's here now. The Big Ten is real. Anybody can win on any given night. You got to be prepared and practice with urgency and with a purpose. I think that's our biggest focus, is getting back to work tomorrow and getting ready for Minnesota because that's our first game. But we got to take it one game at a time because every team is a good opponent and you got to focus on each team.''

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