Indiana basketball's front court dominates Harvard in 89-76 win
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana basketball’s starting front court put on a show in Indianapolis for fans that made the trip to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to watch the team take on Harvard.
With starting point guard Xavier Johnson (ankle) sitting out the second half, Mackenzie Mgbako, Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau took over in a 88-76 win.
They combined for 63 points with Ware (28 points on 12 of 13 shooting) and Mgabko (18 points) each setting new career-highs. Ware also had eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
The fans erupted when Mgbako got the rebound off his own missed free throw on a potential 3-point play only to score a lay up and get fouled on the attempt. He made that free-throw attempt to give IU a 63-51 lead, its largest of the game with 13:07 to go.
Mgabko showed the confidence from the offensive end that’s been missing in his game this season.
Indiana shot 57% from the field to overcome Harvard’s early hot hand from the outside — it was 8 of 17 from 3-point range in the first half— and 27 points from the Crimson leading scorer Malik Mack.
The teams went toe-to-toe in the first half with the lead changing hands 10 times. The Crimson took a 40-39 lead going into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beater 3-point shot from Mack.
Indiana struggled breaking Harvard’s zone defense when it couldn’t get the ball inside for much of the half. The Hoosiers had 24 points from the paint and the combination of Ware and Reneau fueled a 9-0 run midway through the half. Reneau lobbed it up to Ware for dunks on back-to-back possessions out of a double-team.
The most encouraging development in the first half was Mgbako giving IU a spark in the early going with nine points (4 of 7 shooting) while playing a season-high 15 minutes in the first half.
Indiana 89, Harvard 76HARVARD (5-2): Ajogbor 2-3 2-2 6, Okpara 5-11 1-2 13, Lesmond 3-7 2-2 10, Mack 8-16 8-10 27, Pigge 2-8 0-0 4, Batties 4-10 0-0 10, Ace-Nasteski 1-3 0-0 2, Wojcik 0-0 2-2 2, Simon 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Nesbitt 1-2 0-0 2, Rich 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 15-18 76.
INDIANA (5-1): Mgbako 7-13 3-3 18, Reneau 8-14 1-2 17, Ware 12-13 3-5 28, Galloway 2-9 0-0 4, Johnson 1-3 1-1 3, Cupps 0-2 2-2 2, Walker 3-4 3-4 9, Banks 2-4 0-0 6, Leal 0-0 0-0 0, Sparks 0-0 0-0 0, Gunn 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 36-63 13-17 89.
Halftime_Harvard 40-39. 3-Point Goals_Harvard 9-26 (Mack 3-8, Batties 2-4, Lesmond 2-5, Okpara 2-5, Nesbitt 0-1, Pigge 0-3), Indiana 4-15 (Banks 2-4, Ware 1-1, Mgbako 1-5, Cupps 0-1, Galloway 0-4). Rebounds_Harvard 24 (Batties 10), Indiana 34 (Mgbako, Ware 8). Assists_Harvard 13 (Mack 3), Indiana 20 (Reneau, Galloway 5). Total Fouls_Harvard 16, Indiana 13. A_8,469 (20,000).
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: Recap: IU closes out 89-76 win over Harvard with strong second half
