BLOOMINGTON — IU basketball picked up an early season signature win over South Carolina at Assembly Hall on Saturday afternoon.
The No. 16 Hoosiers (3-0) closed out an 87-71 victory over a Gamecocks team (3-1) that made the NCAA tournament last year. This was the first time they scored 80 or more points in three straight games since hitting the mark during the first six games of the 2022-23 season.
Indiana took South Carolina’s best player Collin Murray-Boyles out of the game — he fouled out with just two points (1-of-4) and four turnovers — and got the performance from its starting backcourt of Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle of the year.
Rice led IU with a season-high 23 points and was one of five IU players in double-digits. Carlyle also had a season-high 12 points and his impressive defensive intensity set the tone for the Hoosiers.
IU bigs send Collin Murray-Boyles back to drawing board
South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles got off to a hot start through his team’s first three games with 20.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
His biggest contribution Saturday was an escalating series of frustrated faces as he tried to do battle with IU’s Malik Reneau. He was in foul trouble throughout the game and looked completely out of sorts whenever he had the ball in his hands.
He picked up fouls on back-to-back possessions trying to defend Reneau in the paint with 15:34 to go in the game and went to the bench. He couldn’t do anything to slow down IU’s momentum when he came back onto the floor a few minutes later and fouled out with 8:16 to go.
IU guard Myles Rice gets in a groove early
Rice had more points in the first half (17) than he had in the first two games combined (16). It was the first time since the team’s exhibition win over Tennessee that Rice was shooting the ball with confidence and he closed out of the half by burning a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
It made him just as effective running the point as he was playing off the ball. There were times when Trey Galloway and Carlyle took over the ball-handling duties while playing alongside Rice. That kind of versatility will make IU all the more difficult to defend.
He wasn’t as sharp in the second half, but part of that was the disjointed flow of the game. The teams combined for 32 fouls and 44 free throw attempts in the final 20 minutes.
IU forward Mackenzie Mgbako shouts down the competition
After Mackenzie Mgbako drained a 3-pointer, he shouted down the South Carolina that left him open. It wasn’t the only time he got a little vocal with the Gamecocks, but don’t take that brash demeanor as a bad thing.
Mgabko is growing into IU’s go-to scoring threat and the program is better for it. The confidence he’s showing goes hand-in-hand with his improved focus on both ends of the floor and shooting. He’s shooting 65.8% through three games and 63.6% from 3-point range.
He finished the game with 17 points and six rebounds.
IU’s sub-optimal substitution patterns continue
Mike Woodson’s insistence on hockey-like line changes tripped the Hoosiers up after taking a 17-5 lead. He went with a small lineup featuring Myles Rice, Trey Galloway, Bryson Tucker, Luke Goode and Malik Reneau that missed seven straight field goal attempts. It’s nothing new, but the mass substitutions have produced similar results going back to last season.
It’s understandable Woodson wants to get minutes for his bench, but it wouldn’t hurt to be slightly more strategic about how he goes about it and avoid robbing his team of well-earned momentum.
The starters got IU back on track before the end of the half — Rice hit Carlyle for an alley-up with an incredible pass from near mid-court that nearly blew the roof off of Assembly Hall — to push the lead back to double-digits.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
