Mackenzie Mgbako’s hands dropped to his knees. His eyes glanced toward the hardwood. Moments later, while walking back to Indiana men’s basketball’s huddle, the sophomore forward covered his face with his hands.
On the night of Valentine’s Day, the Hoosiers’ heart, which mended in Tuesday’s 71-67 upset win at No. 11 Michigan State, broke once again.
Trailing by 2 points in Friday night’s game against UCLA, Mgbako missed a put-back layup with nine seconds left and an open 3-pointer from the left corner with six seconds remaining. The air fell out of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana’s final push, in a second half full of them, crumbled in agonizing fashion.
The Hoosiers (15-11, 6-9 Big Ten) suffered a 72-68 loss to the Bruins (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten), marking their sixth loss in the past seven games — four of which have come by 5 points or fewer.
“It's a tough loss,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “We executed, but we just didn't finish. Mack got an offensive rebound, point blank layup, and we don't get it. Then we get a wide open 3. We got exactly what we were looking for on the play, and that's a shot that he normally makes. He just didn't make it.”
Woodson rattled off the losses: Northwestern, Maryland, Purdue, Michigan. All were winnable, he said. Indiana lost those games by a combined 18 points. It had shots to take the lead inside the final 10 seconds in two of them. Friday night’s loss to UCLA added another to both tallies.
If the Hoosiers had won one or two of those games, Woodson said they’d feel good about themselves in close games. Instead, they keep faltering.
Nine out of 10 times, Indiana makes the plays it needs to win such games, Woodson said. But the Hoosiers succumbed to that pesky outlier far too often this season.
And Woodson still doesn’t know why.
“I wish I had the answer,” Woodson said. “Guys are searching. I'm searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line. I'll never put it on the player. I'll take the responsibility. Even though I don't make the shots or miss the defensive assignments, it's still my job to get them over the hump.”
Woodson, who is stepping down at the end of the season, only has his job for five more guaranteed games. Indiana is still fighting for its right to play in the Big Ten Tournament, and any hopes of sparking a push to March Madness dwindle after each soul-snatching defeat.
The bigger problem?
Indiana’s late-game execution woes can’t be pinned on one specific issue. Defensive lapses, missed shots, inconsistent timeout decisions and a lack of go-to threat have cost the Hoosiers in crucial moments.
Mgbako’s two misses in the final 10 seconds followed two other sequences that left Woodson frustrated.
Indiana trailed 65-61 with three and a half minutes remaining. Less than a minute and a half later, the Hoosiers’ deficit reached 70-63. They had a chance to make two critical stops. They failed both times.
Still, Indiana had a chance.
With just over one minute left and the Hoosiers trailing by 5 points, redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice pump faked on a 3-pointer, drove to the left elbow and took a contested midrange jumper. He failed to connect.
Woodson called timeout. He tore into senior forward Luke Goode and, after Goode shared words with fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway, gave Galloway an earful as well. Woodson admitted Rice settled for his shot, but he was more frustrated his team didn’t execute the play he designed the timeout beforehand.
It was a botched play, Woodson said — the type a team can’t afford when it’s trying to complete a 13-point comeback against an opponent who had won seven of its last eight games.
But Indiana digging a 35-25 halftime deficit didn’t do itself any favors either, Woodson said.
“We just played so poorly the first half and spotted them 10 points, and they had a lot to do with that,” Woodson said. “But I thought we played Indiana basketball the second half and made plays coming down the homestretch, made free throws.”
In Woodson’s final season at the helm, Indiana basketball has, more often than not during Big Ten play, meant finding ways to lose winnable games.
The Hoosiers have nine days to reset before hosting rival Purdue, which sunk Indiana’s upset hopes with 6 points in the final 15 seconds Jan. 31 in Mackey Arena.
When Indiana re-watches its film from the first meeting at Purdue, it will find a handful of plays late that thwarted its chances. When the Hoosiers re-watch Friday night’s loss to UCLA, they’ll see much of the same.
Will it change moving forward? Add that to the list of questions Indiana doesn’t have an answer to at this time.
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.
