Indiana Struggles Through Another Scoring Drought in Shaky 74-65 Win Over Chattanooga

Indiana had another long scoring drought in the second half, and nearly let a big lead slip away before closing out Chattanooga 74-65 on Saturday at Assembly Hall. Malik Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako led the Hoosiers with 14 points each.

Indiana's Malik Reneau (5) scores between Chattanooga's Garrison Keeslar (24) and Frank Champion (5) during Saturday's win. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana had more than a week to fix some things before Saturday's nonconference game with Chattanooga, and coach Mike Woodson said he felt good about what they got done during those practices.

But the end result sure didn't look like the Hoosiers got any better. They beat Chattanooga 74-65, but had only a four-point lead in the final minute against the upset-minded Mocs, who were 15.5-point underdogs.

Indiana got the win, but it wasn't impressive at all. Woodson wasn't real happy about it either. The Hoosiers are 9-3 right now, but nowhere near where they need to be for Big Ten play, which starts Jan. 2. So, of course, there was talk of getting this team ''over the hump.''

"Well, we've just got to keep working at it,'' Woodson said. "Man, we prepared all week for this team. We worked on a lot of things, and I didn't see a lot of good things from my work that we put in this week. That's kind of discouraging.

"The bottom line is we got to keep working through it and keep pushing guys and get them better. That's my job to do that.''

Indiana hadn't played since last Friday, when they allowed a 17-1 run to end the game in a loss at Nebraska. A long scoring drought has been a nightmarish theme to this season, and it's happened in all three losses to Louisville, Gonzaga and Nebraska.

It happened again Saturday, too. Chattanooga, who is ranked No. 177 at Kenpom.com, led most of the first half, but the Hoosiers went on a 10-3 run to take a 41-38 lead to the locker room. The Hoosiers came out firing too, and were up by 13 points (61-48) at the 12:37 mark.

But then the Hoosiers went nearly 10 minutes without a basket, and the Mocs reeled them in, cutting the lead to 65-61 with 3:09 to go. It's a problem that just won't go away.

"That's two games in a row we've had stretches like that,'' Woodson said. "I don't know if guys are just looking over their shoulders based on the Nebraska game. We didn't play bad in Nebraska. Just that last six-minute mark — (actually 6:51, going 0-for-12 from the field) — where we couldn't make shots.

"(Saturday), we started down that same road again, you know, looking, and not being sharp offensively. As a coach, I got to get us over that hump, get them comfortable knowing you're going to be in close games (in the Big Ten) and you've got make plays coming down the home stretch.''

Indiana was able to close it out. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako, who led the Hoosiers with 14 points, scored on a layup with 2:50 to go, and then Malik Reneau, Myles Rice and Trey Galloway all scored on three straight possessions.

Disaster averted.

Reneau also had 14 points, and he and Mgbako were the only two Hoosiers in double figures. Oumar Ballo and Bryson Tucker had nine each, and Galloway and Kanaan Carlyle had eight.

The Hoosiers will disperse for Christmas now for a few days, and then get back to work on Dec. 26. They have one more nonconference game, on Dec. 29 against Winthrop at Assembly Hall. Then it's 18 straight Big Ten games, starting on Jan. 2 at home against Rutgers.

Indiana started the season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press preseason poll, but they have been unranked since losing twice in late November in the Bahamas. There are still a lot of questions of how good they actually are. They sit at No. 56 in the Kenpom rankings on Saturday.

The players aren't worried. They know they need to get better, but the confidence is still there. Reneau was disappointed a good week of practice didn't carry over. They still allow too many there-pointers — Chattanooga made 10 — and they get lost too often on switches.

"Yeah, we definitely didn't show what we did for the last week of practice, because I feel like we had great practices this week,'' Reneau said. "We still have to put the practices into the game and execute how we execute in practice and everything will be smooth sailing.

"Definitely, the defensive side is the side we need to focus on the most and keep working at that and getting better. But I feel like this break will help us out and clear our minds and we'll come back ready to work and get ready for Big Ten play. I wouldn't say we're worried. I feel like we're in a good space. We definitely got to improve on a lot of things coming up, but this break will definitely give us a chance to clear everybody's minds, and, like I said, get back to it and come back with a spark when we come back from that break.''

Mgbako agreed.

"Yeah, I'm not concerned at all,'' he said. "We had a great week of practice, but it didn't translate as much as we wanted it to. But if we continue to build on what we cemented already, it's going to show in the end.''