[Postgame 3-2-1] What We Learned From Indiana's Road Win at Minnesota

Here are three key stats, two observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 70-58 win in The Barn.

Last night, Indiana stuffed Minnesota down a gopher hole and did not let them out.

The Hoosiers used a dominant second-half performance to run away from the Golden Gophers, capturing their ninth conference victory and third straight.

Kel’el Ware carried the freight, scoring 26 points on 12-16 shooting, including a pair of makes from beyond the arc.

“I just thought it was a total team effort from the beginning,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “Our defense set the tone, and we rebounded the ball well.”

Indiana has one regular season game left against Michigan State on Sunday, and then will head into the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis.

Now here are three key stats, two observations, and one lingering question from Indiana’s 12-point win at The Barn.

Did you miss last night’s postgame show? Get caught up here:

3 Meaningful Stats

1. Indiana had 28 assists on 30 field goals.

At times this season, Indiana has struggled to take care of the basketball. But during this three-game win streak, the Hoosiers have been sharing the basketball at an improved rate. Last night’s rate was remarkable.

“Everybody was sacrificing the ball and playing unselfish,” Woodson said. “That helps a lot.”

Topping the list of unselfish play was Trey Galloway, who dished out 11 assists, continuing his late-season surge up the Big Ten’s assist column.

Xavier Johnson came off the bench and delivered an uneven performance, but made enough plays on both ends of the court to remind you of the extra dimension he brings this team.

Indiana had fourteen turnovers for the game last night, but it is difficult to be disappointed in that stat when the team finished with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2:1.

The Hoosiers will undoubtedly continue their winning ways if they are assisting on 60% of their made baskets — let alone last night’s 93.3%.

2. Elijah Hawkins went 1/10 from the field.

Indiana has had their struggles all year with shifty guards, but Elijah Hawkins was held in check in both games against the Cream and Crimson.

In the first game at Assembly Hall in January, Hawkins had a night to forget, scoring just 5 points on 2-12 shooting and 1-8 from deep.

It wasn’t much better last night for the junior from Washington, D.C., who came into the evening averaging nearly 10 points per game.

Hawkins scored just one basket and was 0-5 from behind the arc, finishing the game with three points.

Indiana’s defense has picked up in the last couple of games. Will it continue to show up in the stretch run for a team that has to make a deep Big Ten Tournament run — and maybe even win it — to even have a shot at an NCAA tournament bid?

3. Trey Galloway had another double-digit assist performance.

Last night’s eleven assists from Trey Galloway marked the third time in the last six games that the senior had double-digit helpers.

“He’s been solid all season for us,” Woodson said. “He’s done a lot of good things on both ends of the floor.”

Galloway added 13 points on 6-9 shooting, making layup after layup en route to the blowout victory in Minneapolis.

It has been a season of struggles for Galloway, but Trey has stepped up big time when his team has needed him most.

Trey might be playing in his final regular season on Sunday, though he does have his COVID year left if he chooses to use it. Although it has been a roller coaster of a career for the Culver native, he deserves a standing ovation for his contributions to the program.

Galloway could have easily left when Archie Miller was fired, but he kept his faith in Mike Woodson and contributed to the back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

2 Important Observations

1. Malik Reneau cannot get out of his own way.

It is hard to remember the last time Malik Reneau was not in foul trouble in the first half.

Last night, the sophomore picked up his second foul just under seven minutes into the game and forced Mike Woodson to sit him for the rest of the half.

There is no issue with Woodson keeping Malik on the bench for that long, especially because coming into last night’s game in Minneapolis, Reneau had four or more fouls in seven of the previous eight games.

Reneau struggled to get in rhythm last night, scoring just eight points in only nineteen minutes.

Luckily for Malik, his teammates picked up the slack in a huge way, guiding the rest of the team to their 17th victory of the season.

2. This is the best stretch of basketball Indiana has played all year.

Last night’s victory over the Golden Gophers marked Indiana’s third straight victory, and suddenly, Indiana is playing their best basketball.

This season has been a whirlwind, but something has clicked. The Hoosiers are playing noticeably faster, more confident, and more together.

“We can’t really focus on the past,” Trey Galloway said postgame. “We have to keep winning games.”

Indiana is still far away from achieving anything memorable or significant this season. But no matter how the season wraps up, this stretch of play to end the regular season will give the Hoosiers much needed momentum boost heading into an off-season when player retention and portal acquisitions are of paramount important.

1 Lingering Question

Has the 3-game winning streak opened up even the remote possibility of an NCAA Tournament berth?

You may recall how the 2019 Romeo-Juwan Hoosiers lost 12 out of 13 games before finishing the season on a 4-game win streak that started with a home win over Wisconsin.

Fast forward five years, Indiana is on a similar run, which started against Wisconsin, and things are once again looking up in Bloomington (if you squint hard enough).

The main difference between that year’s Indiana team and this year’s squad is their relative placements in the all-important NET rating. Indiana finished at 54 in the NET in 2019 and did not make the tournament.

After last night’s victory, Indiana just jumped back into the top 100. So there is a long way still to go, and not much time left. Any path to the NCAA Tournament starts with beating Michigan State on Sunday and almost surely involves making it to Sunday of the Big Ten Tournament.

Even that may not be enough if the Hoosiers don’t win, but at least these last three victories have given IU fans a reason to dream … and made an NIT bid a very real possibility.

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Thanks for reading!

Make sure you vote in the postgame polls for Game Ball and Hoosier Hustle Award, and leave your takeaways on last night’s game.

We’ll talk to you again on Thursday for AC Radio, and then on the Sunday for the IU-Michigan State game.

Go Hoosiers!

Josh Pos

Student Intern

The Assembly Call