Indiana basketball entered Friday night's contest having lost three straight games inside of Assembly Hall. In a Valentine's Day showdown, Indiana welcomed UCLA to Bloomington on Friday night looking to make it back-to-back wins.
The Bruins, behind a strong first half performance on the defensive end of the floor and seemingly having every answer down the stretch, defeated the Hoosiers, 72-68, in the lone meeting of the season between the two teams. With the loss, Indiana drops to 15-11 on the season and 6-9 in Big Ten play.
Here's how it happened in Bloomington.
UCLA SHUTS DOWN INDIANAÂ OFFENSE IN FIRST HALF
UCLA entered the Friday night clash as one of the nation's top teams on the defensive end of the floor—a trademark of head coach Mick Cronin's teams over the years.
The Bruins are not only the best team in the country at turning their opposition over, but they came into Bloomington allowing just 64.6 points per game—the 24th-best mark in the country. Per KenPom, UCLA ranks as a top 15 defensive unit in the country.
In the first half of Friday's showdown, the Bruins put their stout defense on full display, making everything difficult for the Hoosiers on that end of the floor.
The Hoosiers got out to a strong start on the offensive end of the floor. They converted on four of their first six field goal attempts, building an early 10-7 lead.
Forward Mackenzie Mgbako led the early scoring charge. He scored six points over the course of the game's first seven minutes, however he was forced to watch most of the half from the stationary bike back in the tunnel to Indiana's locker room after limping off the court at the 12:49 mark of the first half.
With Mgbako—the only Hoosier having much success on the offensive end of the floor—sidelined for the final 13 minutes of the first half, Indiana's offense struggled against the UCLA defense. After the Hoosiers' strong start to the game, they went just 5-of-22 from the field the rest of the first half.
As a team, Indiana shot 9-of-28 (32.1%) from the field and just 2-of-13 (15.4%) from 3-point range in the contest's opening 20 minutes. If it weren't for the Hoosiers managing to avoid turning the ball over much against the nation's most disruptive unit—Indiana turned it over just four times in the first half—the halftime scoreline could've looked much different.
GOODE, MGBAKO LEAD EARLY SECOND HALF SURGE
After going into the halftime break trailing by 10 points, Indiana came out strong to start the second period of play. The Hoosiers' run to begin the second half was sparked by Mgbako and fellow forward Luke Goode.
Goode and Mgbako accounted for Indiana's first 15 points of the second half, as the Hoosiers managed to cut the Bruins' lead down to as little as four points over the course of the first 5:42 of of the final half of play.
The early second half surge came after Goode struggled to find the bottom of the basket throughout the first half, while Mgbako watched mostly from the sideline.
Goode scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and 0-of-5 shooting from downtown in the game's opening frame. Meanwhile, Mgbako led the Hoosiers in scoring through the opening 20 minutes of the game, however he played just seven minutes after limping off the floor at the 12:49 mark of the first half with an apparent lower body injury.
Goode started a sweltering 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range coming out of the halftime intermission, while Mgbako added a three and a midrange jumper.
Despite a strong start to the second half, it seemed like UCLA had an answer anytime Indiana went on a run.
UCLA FINDS THE NECESSARY ANSWERS DOWN THE STRETCH
After Indiana got to within as few as four points early in the second half, UCLA found one of its many answers throughout the course of the final 20 minutes. The Bruins responded by extending their lead back out to double-figures at the 9:36 mark of the second.
Then, after five straight Indiana points to get back to within five, UCLA once again found an answer for one of the Hoosiers' mini-runs in the second half. A Bruin three and a midrange jumper quickly pushed the UCLA lead back to double-figures.
Just a few possessions later, guard Myles Rice countered with a contested top of the key 3-pointer to cut back into the UCAL lead. However, once again, UCLA had an answer. This time, the answer came in the form of an and-one.
Indiana's next attempt at fighting back into the game came just moments later. After Rice managed to slash his way to the basket for a layup, Reneau found himself all alone underneath the basket for a bucket that cut the UCLA lead down to six heading into the under-4 timeout in the second half—which sparked the Indiana faithful to get back into the game.
Coming out of the night's final media timeout, Reneau once again found himself wide-open down low, resulting in an easy bucket to pull the Hoosiers within just four points. That Indiana run prompted UCLA to take a timeout, leading by just four points with 2:33 to play.
Coming out of the timeout, the Bruins went right at Mgbako. Sebastian Mack converted an and-one to push UCLA's lead back to seven before Indiana turned the ball over the next time down the floor.
Indiana managed to get as close as two points in the final 60 seconds, but the Hoosiers failed to ever get over the hump in the second half on Friday night. An open look from three that would've given Indiana a one point lead with under 10 seconds to play didn't drop for Mgbako, as the Bruins survived being pushed to the brink by the Hoosiers.
Whether it was UCLA hitting a run-stopping three or forcing a back-breaking turnover, the Bruins seemingly had every answer down the stretch of the second half.
FINAL STATS
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