The Hoosier faithful inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall were already loud. Oumar Ballo made them even louder.
Just after senior forward Luke Goode’s midrange jumper, the sixth-year senior center poked the ball away, dove to the ground and slapped the ball off UCLA sophomore guard Sebastian Mack’s left leg. In a collective wave, the Indiana student section extended their right hands, then cheered as the referee blew his whistle and motioned in the same direction.
Fifth-year senior guards Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal immediately met Ballo to help him off the hardwood. Ballo’s other teammates stood near midcourt, eagerly awaiting to congratulate him.
As the Hoosiers walked to their bench for the under-16 media timeout in the second half, Goode turned to the crowd, gesturing for more noise. The crowd obliged.
It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t pretty, but it was a scrappy, winning play — a rarity for this Indiana men’s basketball team.
Ballo’s hustle culminated a dominant four-minute stretch for the Hoosiers. The only issue was Indiana (15-11, 6-9 Big Ten) failed to recreate that play for the rest of the game, falling 72-68 to UCLA (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) on Friday night in Bloomington.
“Any time you lose, it hurts,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “After coming off the Michigan State game, which was a great game for our young team and the ball club, and then to come in and not finish tonight, it hurts.”
Indiana’s 71-67 victory over the No. 11 Spartans on Tuesday in East Lansing, Michigan, granted the squad an opportunity to finish the season strong. But after the first 20 minutes of action Friday, the Hoosiers faced a 10-point deficit to UCLA, headlined by a nearly eight-minute field goal drought through the middle of the first half.
Even facing the double-digit margin, an Indiana comeback wasn’t an impossible reality. The Hoosiers overcame double-digit margins against Michigan and Michigan State, only securing a victory against the Spartans and not the Wolverines.
So, when sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing just over 30 seconds into the second half, the Hoosier faithful knew the comeback was underway.
The Bruins quickly brought their advantage back to 10, derailing Indiana’s plans. But Goode, who missed all five of his triples in the first half, nailed two baskets from beyond the arc, trimming the lead to 4 points.
Indiana and UCLA proceeded to trade a couple of baskets before Ballo, with every inch of his 7-foot-6 wingspan, ignited the crowd and brought Indiana back to a trajectory for victory.
Only, the victory didn’t come. And the Hoosier faithful — once raucous, excited and ecstatic — trudged out of the building after witnessing Indiana’s fourth consecutive home defeat, three of which came by 4 points or less.
With only five games remaining in the season, there’s likely not enough time for the Hoosiers to learn how to finish close games. Even if there was time, Indiana’s head coach has made it clear that this is one lesson his team cannot grasp.
“I wish I had the answer,” Woodson said about his team’s inability to close tight contests. “I'm searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line.”
From an outsider’s perspective, the situation is easily solvable: don’t succumb to large, early deficits. Instead of mounting a comeback, it could be a run to take control of the game.
Indiana held UCLA to 35 points in the first half, a respectable tally but not one deserving of a 10-point lead. The Hoosiers, due largely to the lengthy field goal drought and the fact their first 3-pointer arrived with just over four minutes remaining in the first half, couldn’t keep pace.
Until those four minutes to open the second half — the four minutes when Indiana truly looked like a basketball team.
Now, as Indiana approaches the final stretch of a disappointing season, the outlook is once again bleak. Any momentum it had from the win in East Lansing is now gone, with No. 7 Purdue next on the schedule.
However, a home bout with a detested rival may be exactly what Indiana needs.
The away contest Jan. 31 came down to the final moments of the game. If the Hoosiers could compete inside the hostile Mackey Arena, there's plenty of reason to believe they can do it in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
And if Indiana can channel any part of that four-minute stretch to open the second half Friday — whether it be the shooting, hustling or defending — then it may play longer into March than previously expected.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
