Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson: 'Our starting guards were awful tonight'
LINCOLN, Neb. — Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson didn't pull any punches when he was asked the reasons behind the team's struggles in a 86-70 loss to Nebraska on Wednesday night.
"Our starting guards were awful tonight," Woodson said.
The Indiana (10-4; 2-1 Big Ten) tandem in question at Pinnacle Bank Arena was Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway. Johnson was playing his first game back from the ankle injury he aggravated in a win over Harvard back on Nov. 26.
Indiana basketball's starting guards were ineffective all night against Nebraska
Johnson was in the starting lineup and played 15 minutes. He didn't score any points (0 for 3 from the field) with three assists and four turnovers. Galloway was one of three players in double-digits with 10 points (4 of 10), but his pair of 3-pointers came with Nebraska nursing a comfortable lead in the final minutes.
He also had three turnovers with IU putting up a season-high 19 as a team.
It was in stark contrast to the production Nebraska got from its staring backcourt with starting point guard Jamar Lawrence putting up 12 points and three assists while shooting guard Keisei Tominaga had 28 points (9 of 15) and four 3-pointers.
The two combined for only one turnover in 57 minutes.
Their play particularly in the second-half allowed Nebraska to take firm control of the game and extend the lead to 80-58 with 5:23 to go.
Not the first time Mike Woodson has voiced his frustration
Woodson wasn't quite so harsh earlier this season the first time he publicly stated Johnson and Galloway were underperforming. He told reporters his guards were "outplayed" in a 77-57 loss to UConn in the Empire Classic back in November.
He highlighted the team's lack of ball movement on offense, 3-point defense and lack of contributions rebounding the ball.
With opposing teams emphasizing the 3-point shot against the Hoosiers, Woodson needs his guards to be able to gather long rebounds more consistently, a problem that showed up once against on Wednesday night against Nebraska.
"I can’t have my starting guards play 26, 28 minutes and get one rebound apiece," Woodson said, in November. "That just can’t happen. Hell, I can get a rebound at 65 years of age probably, stumble into one. They’ve got to help rebound the ball.”
Indiana won the overall rebound battle, but Johnson and Galloway combined for just three of the team's 36 rebounds while Nebraska tied a season-high with 32 3-point attempts.
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: Indiana coach Mike Woodson calls out guard play after Nebraska loss
