Unaware of the impending danger beside him, Indiana men’s basketball senior guard Trey Galloway took a dribble behind his back to cut toward his left.
Morehead State University freshman guard Eddie Ricks III, reading Galloway from the start of his maneuver, crept behind and snatched the ball away, pushing it up the court with no Hoosier on the horizon.
With about six seconds left in the first half of Indiana’s 69-68 win over the Eagles on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall, Ricks beat out the winding clock with a ferocious flush — one that drew boos from the crowd and proved a frustrating end to a futile period of Indiana basketball. The Hoosiers entered the break down 36-25.
“I’ve been preaching all year, you can get beaten by any team,” head coach Mike Woodson said after the game. “I thought at the start of the game we were flat — like we didn’t even want to be out there.”
Coming into Tuesday’s contest, Morehead State held an 0-24 all-time record against current Big Ten teams and had lost to Penn State and Purdue this season by 23 and 30 points, respectively.
According to a report from Inside the Hall this summer about Indiana’s “buy” game contracts, the Hoosiers paid the Eagles’ program $95,000 to participate in the game. And until a 20-4 run over the final 8 minutes, the Hoosiers were on the fringe of one of their most catastrophic losses in recent memory.
The escape act came on the heels of a 4-point loss to No. 2 University of Kansas on Dec. 16 that seemed to spark optimism in Indiana’s future outlook after the Hoosiers led most of the game. Before that game, the Hoosiers received a 28-point thumping at the hands of Auburn University.
After Ricks’ slam to end the half, Indiana trailed by 11 points. The Eagles had four steals to the Hoosiers’ 0 and dominated the offensive glass. Perhaps the most jarring figure, though, was an affliction that has plagued Indiana all season: 3-point shooting.
Morehead State was firing from beyond the arc from the outset, and it seemed content to continuously chuck long range shots and play from there. The Eagles shot 5-of-18 from deep in the first half, holding a 15-point advantage over the Hoosiers in that department, who’d sunk none of their six attempts.
“We really struggled with the pick and roll up top,” Woodson said. “Then (Lathon) got away. He made some tough shots... he was basically the hottest player on the floor.
Finishing with a game-high 30 points on 11-of-21 shooting — 6-of-10 from 3-point range — Morehead State graduate guard Jordan Lathon proved virtually unguardable for Hoosier defenders.
He drained a handful of miraculous shots, most notably a step back triple midway through the second half. Lathon was fouled on the jumper by Indiana sophomore forward Malik Reneau, and Lathon proceeded to complete the 4-point play to push the Eagles ahead 61-46.
Lathon’s mettle, primarily in the first half, contrasted sharply with Indiana’s backcourt. Freshman guard Gabe Cupps attempted just one shot in the first half, and he didn’t register a point until the 9:47 mark in the second half — a wild and heavily contested layup.
The circus shot is good! AND-ONE ? @IndianaMBB pic.twitter.com/EOUgTqpeFf
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 20, 2023
Galloway settled in offensively in the latter segments of the game, finishing with 11 points and converting a pair of threes. But generally, Cupps and Galloway struggled to create much output.
“We have to create our own energy, especially coming out the gate in the game, and this won't be a problem all year, trust me,” senior forward Anthony Walker, Indiana’s leading scorer said. “We will pick our energy up. This was definitely a lesson.”
Compared to Lathon, who seemed to relish one-on-one scenarios and producing his own shot, the performance of Indiana’s backcourt did little to quell the pressing questions about their potential.
Even when Indiana knocked down a 3-pointer, which it did just three times Tuesday night, Morehead State fired back a quick response.
With just over nine minutes to go in the game, Galloway squared up and hit a triple, but Eagle senior guard Drew Thelwell squashed any modicum of momentum with his own make on the other end.
Coming into the matchup, the Hoosiers averaged 3.7 made 3-pointers per game. Its opponents, on the other hand, converted 8.4 a contest. Morehead State’s blitz of long balls — it shot 10-of-34 from deep — was relatively consistent with how teams have attacked Indiana this season.
And it nearly paid off.
“We were awful,” Woodson said. “Our fans don’t come out to see stuff like that. I was very disappointed. We got it going late in that seven-minute mark is when we really dug in and did what we needed to do.”
Follow reporters Will Foley (@foles24) and Matt Press (@MattPress23) and columnist Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
