Jack's Take: Indiana Needs Mackenzie Mgbako, But He's Nearly Unplayable Right Now

Indiana’s five-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako has been unplayable down the stretch in narrow wins over Florida Gulf Coast and Army, but the Hoosiers won’t reach their full potential without him.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Coach Mike Woodson benched highly touted freshman Mackenzie Mgbako in the final 15-plus minutes of Indiana’s first two games. And rightfully so.

If Woodson kept playing Mgbako, it’s possible the Hoosiers would have lost one or both of its games against Florida Gulf Coast and Army. He was making too many defensive mistakes, and the offense seemed to function more efficiently with three guards rather than three bigs: Mgbako, Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware.

Indiana was able to avoid disaster and sneak away with a 69-63 win over Florida Gulf Coast and a 72-64 win over Army, but not without legitimate concerns. That starts with Mgbako.

Mgbako might be the most talented offensive player on a team whose backcourt doesn’t have a go-to scorer. Indiana will never reach its full potential with Mgbako on the bench, and the only way for him to improve is by playing in games. But his recent performances have made him unplayable down the stretch against mid-major programs, and now his fit on this roster is unclear.

“[Mgbako] has to play harder and do the things that we want done on both ends of the floor,” Woodson said Sunday. “That might keep him in the game.”

Indiana looked without purpose offensively and lost defensively in its first two games, and Mgbako was a prime example. The path to playing time under Woodson starts on the defensive end. And despite his lack of offensive production through two games, Mgbako’s defense is even more concerning.

There wasn’t just one problem, either. Mgbako was too slow closing out to 3-point shooters. He got lost in switches and rotations. He was flat-footed, and often not in a defensive stance. He didn’t play with a sense of urgency or jump to the ball on defense.

These are common problems with freshmen adjusting to college basketball, and Mgbako has plenty of time to improve. He moves well for someone his size, and his wingspan provides the makeup of a solid defender, if he can learn his responsibilities. How much time it takes him to understand his role on defense will not only impact his current playing time, but also his long-term projections.

Defense is not just a problem with Mgbako, as Woodson is also demanding more from sophomores CJ Gunn and Kaleb Banks.

“I got to get them comfortable, number one,” Woodson said. “And they’ve got to figure out what the hell we're doing from a defensive standpoint.”

Indiana's Mackenzie Mgbako (21) shoots during the first half of the Indiana versus Florida Gulf Coast men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Mgbako hasn’t lived up to his billing on offense, either. In the season opener, he scored four points on 2-for-6 shooting in 19 minutes. He started again versus Army, but scored just two points on 1-for-2 shooting in 16 minutes. These performances were a stark drop-off and came as a surprise after he scored 14 and 15 points in the two exhibition games. Sure those were against inferior opponents, but Army was no powerhouse and entered the game 0-2 with double-digit losses to Marist and Stonehill College.

“[Mgbako needs to] continue to understand how the game is played,” Calbert Cheaney said Monday on the Inside Indiana Basketball radio show. “The college game is totally different from high school. Pay attention to the details of what coach [Woodson] wants him to do. He’ll be fine.”

Mgbako hasn’t been aggressive in looking for his own shot, and Indiana’s offense hasn’t seemed geared toward creating open looks for him. Despite his early season struggles, Indiana needs Mgbako to be a consistent scoring option, primarily because Galloway, the starting shooting guard, is not a volume shooter.

Johnson is similar in that way, and he’s also tasked with finding shots for others as the point guard. Indiana hasn’t gotten anything out of Gunn and Banks, and while freshman Gabe Cupps has exceeded expectations, it’s unreasonable to count on him scoring 10 points per game.

That makes Mgbako, perhaps the team's best 3-point shooter, vital to Indiana's success. But what he’s shown in the first two games is disappointing, and Woodson hasn’t been afraid to bench the five-star prospect.

As a whole, Indiana’s offense has looked stagnant playing a trio of bigs in the starting lineup. All three – Mgbako, Reneau and Ware – can shoot from the outside and handle the ball. They don’t need to operate strictly out of the post, but playing all three on the court at the same time has been clunky.

Woodson’s first adjustment has been the three-guard lineup, which closed each of the first two games. Cupps hit a crucial three with about two minutes left against Army, and he’s been more than capable on the defensive end. That lineup made the offense more fluid, and Woodson deserves credit for making this change. It’s not easy to bench a potential first-round NBA Draft pick like Mgbako, who at 6-foot-8 has skills uncommon in college basketball.

Woodson has been pleased with this lineup, but he’s not married to it.

“I'm going to play guys that want to play and play the right way,” Woodson said. “The last two games, that small lineup coming down the stretch was pretty good for us. I don't know if we'll live with it the rest of the season, but if they keep making plays down the stretch, I think it will be okay for us.”

That’s because he knows the potential scoring boost Mgbako could provide. Where Woodson’s dilemma continues, though, is figuring out where Mgbako best fits on this team. Woodson likes the three-guard lineup, but he also values the frontcourt of Reneau and Ware, who’s arguably been Indiana’s best player through two games.

The trio of Mgbako, Reneau and Ware has great defensive potential because of their length and athleticism, but that falls apart when they don’t know their responsibilities on that end. And that directly impacts the offense.

Woodson has emphasized running in transition, and that was seen through 55 combined fastbreak points in the two exhibition games. Yet Indiana had just nine fastbreak points against Florida Gulf Coast and four against Army. Woodson said Indiana hasn’t gotten stops or steals at the level it needs in order to push the pace.

That has forced Indiana’s offense to live in the half court, something Woodson has said multiple times already he does not want. He pushed for more ball movement, pick-and-rolls and fast break opportunities after the Army win.

Indiana's Mackenzie Mgbako (21) dunks during the Indiana versus University of Indianapolis men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023 :: Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

So where does Mgbako fit? The offense hasn’t moved well enough with him at small forward, and Reneau and Ware have earned 30-plus minutes in the first two games. Woodson hasn’t tried Mgbako at power forward yet, despite his size. Maybe that’s the fix, but it would mean less minutes for Reneau and throwing more information at Mgbako to learn. The other option is less time for Cupps or Galloway, which hasn’t been warranted yet, either.

This team, with six new scholarship players, was always going to be a work in progress. And it’s still only mid-November – way too early to panic. But Woodson and his team captains spoke candidly in the preseason about the struggles the Hoosiers could endure as they learn to play together, despite the individual talent. They proved to be right. Cheaney, Indiana’s all-time leading scorer and now director of player development, agrees.

"From a talent standpoint, it's better than last year's team,” Cheaney said. “We're bigger, we're long, we're a more versatile team. But obviously it doesn't mean a thing if you don't have chemistry."

Fortunately for Woodson, over 90% of the regular season remains. He has time to figure out rotations, and the players have time to build chemistry. But Woodson seemed frustrated at the Hoosiers’ lack of progress after the Army game.

Indiana’s schedule gets difficult quickly, with a solid Wright State team up Thursday, followed by UConn in the Empire Classic, two Big Ten games in early December, then Auburn and No. 1 Kansas.

If Indiana is going to make its third consecutive NCAA Tournament under Woodson, it needs Mgbako to produce on both ends. Starting now. 

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• GAME STORY: Three Hoosiers score in double figures, but Indiana often struggled as the offense looked stagnant and the defense gave up too many open 3-pointers against a weak opponent. CLICK HERE
• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Here's everything Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after the Hoosiers' 72-64 win over Army in the second game of the 2023-24 season. CLICK HERE
• WHAT JOHNSON SAID: Here's everything Indiana senior point guard Xavier Johnson said after scoring 19 points in the Hoosiers' 72-64 win over Army. CLICK HERE