Did Indiana coach Mike Woodson’s early substitutions set stage for Auburn blowout?
ATLANTA — Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson has worked his full second unit onto the floor as a group in the first half of every game this season.
The strategy robbed the Hoosiers of their momentum in a 104-76 loss to Auburn on Saturday, a point Woodson himself made before defending his substitution patterns after the game.
“We overcame their physicality early,” Woodson said. “We made shots and got stops and got rebounds. I made some substitutions and I’m not putting it on our bench because when I put our starters back in the game, the game was tied.”
Indiana jumped out to a 22-10 lead in the opening minutes by going 4 of 4 from 3-point range.
Woodson took Kel’el Ware and Mackenzie Mgbako out of the game with 12:54 to go in the first half up 12 points. Malik Reneau came out of the game with 11:22 to go while Trey Galloway and Gabe Cupps split time as the point guard during that stretch.
By the time Woodson substituted his starting front court back into the game, Auburn had tied the game 26-26 and was in the midst of a 22-4 run that left the Hoosiers scrambling for answers.
Woodson was asked if he gave any consideration to just keeping Ware and Reneau in the game after the hot start.
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“Was there any thought of not taking them out?” Woodson said after a pause. “I kind of substitute pretty much the same way every game. You can’t just burn them. Bottom line, my starters got back into the game, it was probably a close, tie game.”
Going into Saturday’s game, Galloway (33.1) and Ware (31.0) were the only players on the team averaging more than 30 minutes per game.
While Galloway only played 22 minutes against Auburn, he’s taken on a heavier workload in recent weeks while Xavier Johnson has been dealing with an ankle injury. The only time Ware has played more than 35 minutes in a single game was the opener against Florida Gulf Coast.
Reneau is averaging 27.6 minutes per game.
“You can’t play them for 40 minutes,” Woodson said. “You got to play some of your bench guys. I believe in my bench games. It was my bench that helped us win the Michigan game.”
The Hoosers bench had 28 points earlier in the week against the Wolverines, just two points shy of their season-high. CJ Gunn, who hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Anthony Walker each had eight points while Payton Sparks and Kaleb Banks each had six.
Walker accounted for much of their production against Auburn with nine points and five rebounds.
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.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU coach Mike Woodson defends substitution patters after Auburn loss
