In front of a raucous candy stripe-clad crowd, Indiana men’s basketball fell to No. 2 Kansas 75-71 Saturday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Senior guard Trey Galloway led the Hoosiers with 28 points and graduate guard Kevin McCullar Jr. topped the Jayhawks with 21.
Like against Auburn University on Dec. 9, the Hoosiers’ transition quickness gave way to early leads against the Jayhawks. Indiana jumped out to an 8-2 advantage after a crafty fast break layup from senior guard Trey Galloway, which jolted the Hoosier faithful into a frenzy.
Kansas junior forward KJ Adams Jr. caused trouble for Indiana down low. He poured in 6 points in the six minutes to keep Kansas in striking distance, but 6 straight points from Indiana freshman forward Mackenzie Mgbako pushed the Hoosiers ahead 18-11 with 12:52 to go in the half.
Indiana’s offensive production slowed as the half wore on — the Hoosiers went over five minutes without a field goal during the period. Still, unlike long segments against Auburn, Indiana sustained its ferocity on both ends of the floor.
The Hoosiers carried a 5-point lead into the under-eight-minute timeout and found success thwarting Kansas senior center Hunter Dickinson — the Jayhawks’ big man shot just 4-of-11 in the first half.
Just when Kansas cut Indiana’s lead to 3 with a little under seven minutes to go, the Hoosiers unleashed a lightning-quick 8-0 run. Mgbako drained a triple to punctuate the barrage and force a Jayhawks’ timeout while extending Indiana’s lead to 11.
Galloway, who led all scorers with 13 points at the half, tallied a trio of consecutive buckets to keep Indiana ahead amid Kansas’ comeback attempts. With the Assembly Hall crowd as lively as it’s been all season, Indiana trotted into the locker room with a 40-32 lead at the break.
Despite falling into some foul trouble early in the second half — sophomore forward Malik Reneau and Mgbako each picked up their third foul in the first three minutes — Indiana remained in command.
Mgbako and Galloway drained back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Hoosiers a 48-37 advantage roughly four minutes into the period and force a Kansas timeout. The Jayhawks temporarily crept within a single-digit deficit, but a pair of free throws from sophomore center Kel’el Ware put Indiana back up by 10 with a little over 13 minutes remaining.
After a somewhat sluggish offensive start to the period, Indiana and Kansas started to trade buckets around the midway point. The Jayhawks quickly took the upper hand in that fight and a second-chance layup from Dickinson cut Indiana’s lead down to 3.
Kansas redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. drained a wide-open triple to pull within 1 shortly thereafter, but Indiana freshman guard Gabe Cupps responded with a contested layup on the other end.
Dickinson dropped in a turnaround hook shot to give Kansas a 62-61 edge with 4:53 remaining, and continuous lead-changes ensued from there. Knotted at 64, McCullar knocked in a deep 3-pointer to put the Jayhawks ahead 67-64.
With just over a minute to go, Harris knocked in a layup to put Kansas ahead by 5, but Galloway sunk a triple on the other end. Galloway missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 23 seconds remaining, and the Jayhawks were able to hold on from there.
Despite Galloway’s career-high 28 points, the Jayhawks late surge was enough to topple the Hoosiers. With the loss, Indiana moved to 7-3 on the season.
Next, the Hoosiers host Morehead State University on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be available for viewing on Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Will Foley (@foles24) and Matt Press (@MattPress23) and columnist Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
