Indiana is exposed again with an 89-73 loss to Gonzaga in Battle 4 Atlantis

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Indiana came to the Battle 4 Atlantis needing quality non-conference wins. But it could return to Bloomington without a loss after an 89-61 loss to Louisville on Thursday and an 89-73 loss to No. 3 Gonzaga on Friday.

The Hoosiers stayed tough against Gonzaga for a while. They trailed 33-31 with 8:11 left in the first half, but Gonzaga went on a 16-0 run in about five minutes. The Bulldogs closed the half with a 24-8 run and rallied for the win 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 hurt the Hoosiers against Louisville, and against Gonzaga they were able to nearly cut those 23 errors in half. But Indiana’s defense continued to be far too porous inside and allowed 46 points. The Hoosiers were also overwhelmed on the glass as Gonzaga outscored them by a 42-27 margin.

With this loss, Indiana (4-2) completes the Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday at 11:00 a.m. ET against the loser of the Providence-Davidson game, which begins on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Indiana’s final lead against Gonzaga was 18-16 with 13:15 left in the first half, thanks to consecutive three-pointers from Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode. The pro-Indiana crowd made a lot of noise in the 3,500-seat Imperial Ballroom, which had a low ceiling that contained noise well.

Indiana maintained that momentum over the next five-plus minutes. Gonzaga had no answer for Ballo, who once played for the Zags, made his first eight field throws and had 19 points at halftime.

“It was difficult. “Obviously 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 in great shape. I’m happy for him. That right-handed hook went tonight, but we were okay with it. We just didn’t want to leave them too much between us and the basket. And for the most part, we adjusted our coverage about halfway through the first half, and after that adjustment, I don’t think we gave them much room between us and the basket for the most part.”

Indiana could turn to Ballo for easy points whenever it wanted in the first half. But when he wasn’t on the field, there was no way the remaining Hoosiers could score. Aside from Ballo’s 8-for-9 shooting in the first half, Indiana managed just 4 of 22 shots from the field. Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle and Trey Galloway combined for just three points in the entire game against Louisville on Wednesday, and they had just six points in the first half against Gonzaga.

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

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

“We track the kills, so three stops in a row, and I think we had three kills in a row.” Few said. “So it’s obvious – if we can do that to you and go out and run, then 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 to as many 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 three-pointer from the left wing.

Woodson believes the players have lost confidence in their defensive duties and that he needs to restore that.

“A lot of it is because we believe in each other and our rotations and the areas we played in protecting the paint and getting out (to the 3-point line),” Woodson said. “And we have been very poor in that category in the last two games.”

Normally, Woodson didn’t play Ballo for more than seven minutes at a time. And with Malik Reneau picking up two fouls and sitting out the final 13 minutes of the first half, Woodson switched to Langdon Hatton, a transfer from Bellarmine. Hatton played four minutes spread over three segments and scored four points on 4-for-6 free throws, one block, one steal and zero rebounds in the first half.

Reneau exited at 5:34 and did not return. Ballo played 16 minutes in the first half but couldn’t do it all on his own. Woodson said he would consider handling Reneau’s foul situation differently in the future.

“I don’t like to guess, but maybe we need to think about playing Malik with two fouls early to see if he can do it,” Woodson said. “We’ve struggled with that the last few years when he got into foul trouble. We tried this before and he picked up a third or fourth foul and now you really have to sit him out. “So we just have to keep working and try to get through it.”

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

“It’s a big problem we had,” Woodson said. “A lot of this is because we don’t put bodies on bodies to block them out, and that has to stop. We have to make our guys competitive from a rebounding perspective. I thought we rebounded pretty well against Louisville, but going into tonight’s game, you don’t recover. That was probably the difference in the ballgame tonight.”

In the second half, Gonzaga kept Indiana at bay. Indiana cut Gonzaga’s lead to just 15 points with 10:16 to play, but the Bulldogs immediately responded with a 4-0 run. There weren’t any big runs by either team in the second half, but Gonzaga had built a big enough lead by halftime that it no longer mattered.

The last 20 minutes were full of fouls and free throws. Indiana and Gonzaga combined for 12 fouls in the first 6:20 of the second half, and seven players from both teams had four fouls (8:29).

Indiana didn’t take full advantage of being in the bonus for so long, as it shot 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) was struggling and I have to help him come back somehow,” Woodson said. “You know, get his confidence back and get him back in the position where he feels comfortable guarding the ball because that’s where the defense starts. And I just think the two guards that we played at the top in those two games somehow managed to control the game. I thought Kanaan did a good job early, but we have to get the same from Myles. We need to 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 needs to step up.”

When Woodson traveled to the Bahamas, Indiana’s defense was on the right track, but the perimeter defense was exposed in two games. He was upset with Indiana’s defense against Louisville, and the Hoosiers struggled on that side again Thursday. Six Bulldogs finished the game with double-digit points and point guard Ryan Nembhard controlled the balanced performance with 13 assists.

“We’re not connected defensively right now and I thought that showed again in the first half,” Woodson said. “In the second half we played a lot better defensively and I thought we understood each other a little better defensively. But you can’t recognize good teams like Gonzaga and Louisville the way we do.”

Indiana still has a chance to save its trip to the Bahamas. But it may not be the success that Battle 4 Atlantis was hoping for. According to analytics site Bart Torvik, Providence is ranked 78th nationally and Davidson is ranked 146th.

Woodson had no complaints about the way Ballo played Thursday, but said he had to get the supporting cast to hit their stride. He said at the start of the season that this was his most talented team in the four years he coached his alma mater. And despite back-to-back big losses, he still believes Indiana can be a competitive team.

“We have to get to where we’re competing against quality teams like Gonzagas and Louisville,” Woodson said. “And we will get there, we just have to keep working at it.”