Indiana men’s basketball dominated the beginning of Sunday’s game against Michigan State.
The Hoosiers ran out to a 20-5 lead within seven minutes in at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana was making the right plays and showing strong effort on both ends, and the Spartans looked lost.
But then, Trey Galloway got hurt. He moved with a bit of a limp after he scored a fastbreak layup around five minutes into the game, and he went to the bench a few minutes later. The senior then went back to the locker room and didn’t return for the rest of the game.
Galloway said during his senior day speech on the court after the game that he’d be OK and will play in the Big Ten Tournament — though that should be taken with several grains of salt before any further examination occurs.
Indiana would stretch its lead to 17 points in the next several minutes after Galloway checked out, but the guard’s absence changed things. Michigan State settled into the game, and the Hoosiers lost their offensive momentum without their best distributor.
This was the typical moment where the game would turn on Indiana and start to get away.
But this isn’t the same IU team that lost five out of six games in February. These Hoosiers had shown resilience over the last two weeks and seen it pay off with three straight wins. They battled through adversity again Sunday, and made it four straight, with a 65-64 triumph over MSU.
“I think this is a different team going down the stretch,” sixth-year guard Xavier Johnson said after the game. “The old team of a couple games ago would’ve probably quit. I don’t think we take punches well. But now I think we really do take the punches well. We want to hit back and win games. It’s coming down to the point where it’s March.”
Indiana kept fighting, even as Tyson Walker got rolling. The Hoosiers had very few answers for the Michigan State standout, though he did miss the last shot of the game that would’ve put his team back on top with just seconds remaining.
IU kept fighting, even when Michigan State went ahead early in the second half. The Hoosiers have been on both ends of these sorts of runs — it wasn’t a new position for them. Head coach Mike Woodson called timeout when MSU took a 41-36 lead four minutes into the half. But he wasn’t particularly concerned about the response he’d get from his players.
“I thought we would play through it (when Michigan State made its run),” Woodson said. “I just expressed (during the timeout), ‘Hey, you seniors, this is your last go-round. Relax. We’re okay.’ We came out and we scored a bucket and we were able to take the lead. It was back and forth, but we made the plays that we needed to make to secure it.”
The Hoosiers stayed in this game because of their character.
But ultimately, while he wasn’t the only one making clutch plays, Indiana won this game because of Kel’el Ware.
The Oregon transfer dominated inside, scoring 28 points on a 13-for-19 clip, with 12 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. The only slight on the sophomore’s afternoon was his own fault — his 1-for-6 mark at the foul line. That shooting effort nearly lost the game for Indiana. But Ware won this game for his team with everything else he did. Michigan State couldn’t stop Ware, and the Hoosiers kept going back to him.
And he kept delivering, the way he has for so much of this season.
“After that first month, he’s been a totally different player,” Woodson said. “I got to give tribute to your coaching staff and how they work, and we pushed him and his teammates believe in him and I believe in him. He’s been phenomenal, been playing unbelievable, which is kind of nice to see.”
This game was emblematic of Ware’s season. He was really solid in the first half. But in the second half, he played at an All-Big Ten level.
Ware scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half — in other words, when Michigan State turned it into a back-and-forth game. IU needed every single one of the sophomore’s points.
Since conference play restarted in January, Ware is averaging 16.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. Purdue star Zach Edey is the only other player averaging a double-double in Big Ten games this year. The sophomore has battled some injury troubles this season, but he’s rarely — if ever — let it impact his game.
Ware entered Indiana from the transfer portal last offseason after a disappointing freshman season at Oregon. When he moved schools, critics questioned his motor and his work ethic. Ware set out to prove people wrong on those claims from the start of this season.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo saw Ware as a freshman, as the Spartans faced the Ducks last season. Count Izzo among those impressed with the leap Ware’s made this year and the job Woodson did helping him achieve it.
“(Woodson) did a hell of a job with Ware. Deserves a lot of credit,” Izzo said. “I played against Ware last year, wasn’t very good. Kind of like our kid, Booker. I think (he’s gained) strength, and I think he’s tougher. And I think early in the year, he was OK, but the last half of the year, he’s been a force to be reckoned with. I give Mike a lot of credit and Ware a lot of credit on that.”
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