Indiana Shows All Its Warts In Ugly 66-57 Loss at Rutgers

Almost nothing went right for Indiana in an ugly 66-57 loss to Rutgers on Tuesday night. They missed free throws at an epic clip, had 18 turnovers and gave up 19 offensive rebounds in their second horrible road performance in a row.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Halfway through the season, it's become obvious that Indiana has several flaws that will occasionally be a problem.

But for the first time all year, ALL of their flaws showed up in a same game. They were downright ugly — and dirty, too — in a brutal 66-57 loss to a Rutgers team that was winless in the Big Ten.

Not any more.

For Indiana, who's now 11-5 on the season and 3-2 in the Big Ten, there were all sorts of problems. Let us count the way:

• TURNOVERS: A week ago, they committed 19 turnovers in a road loss at Nebraska. On Tuesday night, they had 18 more, including 11 in the first half. 
• FREE THROWS: Indiana isn't a good free throw shooting team, averaging 68.3 percent coming into the game. But on Tuesday, they made only 4-of-15 free throws, a pathetically horrible 26.7 percent. It was so bad that even Mackenzie Mgbako, who came into the game with 34 made free throws in 36 attempts, missed three himself. His percentage dropped from 94.4 percent to 87.8
• REBOUNDING: After giving up 22 offensive rebounds to Ohio State on Saturday, they let Rutgers get 19 more on Tuesday. In total, they were outrebounded 51-40.
• GUARD PLAY: Much like last year, Indiana's guards had a rough night at Jersey Mike's Arena. Xavier Johnson, Trey Galloway and C.J. Gunn played a combined 78 minutes, and went 7-for-24 from the field and a combined 2-for-12 from three. Gabe Cupps only played six minutes and had a basket, but he was a minus-9 during one of Rutgers' several runs.
• AND LASTLY, DIRTY PLAY: Johnson, a sixth-year senior who should know better, was ejected early in second half when he hit Rutgers' forward Antwone Woofolk straight in the groin area. He received a Flagrant 2 foul and was sent to the locker room.

It was that bad.

"When you look at the turnovers, the rebounding, the missed free throws, it all piled up," Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after the game. "With the turnovers and the rebounds, I'm surprised we were even that close. 

"And it didn't help that X was taken out of the game based on something he shouldn't have done."

Looking for at least a sliver of something good? Well, 7-foot center Kel'el Ware scored 13 points and had 17 rebounds and three blocks. Malik Reneau and Mgbako each had 13 as well. 

As you'd expect from the two worst-shooting teams in the Big Ten, this game was ugly from the start. Indiana's biggest first-half lead was seven (20-13) but Rutgers battled back and went to the locker room with a 30-27 lead when Derek Simpson banked in a 30-footer at the buzzer.

Indiana never led in the second half, but got it to one at 39-38 on a Reneau basket with 11:41 left. But then Rutgers went on a 12-0 run to blow the game open, taking a 51-38 lead. Indiana went nearly six minutes without scoring before Mgbako scored on a layup with 5:35 remaining. 

They got no closer than six the rest of the way. 

This was very similar to last year's loss at Rutgers, when the Hoosiers lost 63-48. This is their fourth straight loss to the Scarlet Knights dating back to 2018.

The Hoosiers are back at home on Friday night to take on Minnesota.

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