IU’s Rice Sparkles

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

    The #13 Excel H Sports Ranked Indiana Hoosiers faced their first test of the season Saturday afternoon in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall as the South Carolina Gamecocks made their second trip to Bloomington and first since 1973 as the Hoosiers held off the Gamecocks 87-71 to improve to 3-0 on the season and Gamecocks fall to 2-2 on the season. Indiana leads the All-Time series 3-1 and it was first meeting between the two teams since November 8, 1998, when the Hoosiers beat the Gamecocks 76-55 in Indianapolis. Indiana won the previous meeting in Bloomington 84-71 December 22,1973 and South Carolina won the only matchup in Columbia on December 22, 1972, 88-85.

    Columbia, South Carolina Native Myles Rice led the Hoosiers with 23 points going 7-10 from the field, 3-4 from three-point range and 6-6 from free throw line. Mackenize Mgbako added 17 points, Malik Reneau scored 13 points, Kannan Carlyle added 12 points and Trey Galloway scored 11 points off the bench. Oumar Ballo pulled down 13 rebounds and scored 7 points. Freshman Bryson Tucker added 4 points, and Luke Goode did not score going 0-3 from three-point range. The Hoosiers finished 26-51 from the field for 51%, 8-17 from three-point range for 47% and 27-33 from the free throw line for 81%. The Hoosiers pulled down 34 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, 7 blocks, 7 steals, 28 points in the paint and committed 11 turnovers. The Hoosiers guard play has made a big difference with the additions of Rice and Carlyle in backcourt add to having Trey Galloway as a veteran presence. “That’s just the beauty about our team. You kind of have three different guards that can do everything.” Indiana Sophomore Myles Rice said after the game.

    Morris Ugusuk led South Carolina with 18 points off the bench hitting four of six three-point shots. Jamarii Thomas added 13 points, and Nick Pringle had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Myles Stute scored 11 points and hit three shots from beyond the arc. South Carolina’s leading scorer Collin Murray-Bowles was held to 2 points and fouled out. The Gamecocks finished 24-63 from the field for 38%, 8-29 from three-point range for 27% and 15-23 from the free throw line for 65%. South Carolina pulled down 34 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 26 points in paint, 26 bench points and committed 12 turnovers.

IU got off to a slow start missing their first three shots inside and three-point miss on the fourth attempt. South Carolina jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Myles Rice found Mackenize Mgbako inside who stuffed it home to get the Hoosiers on the Board. The Hoosiers went on 14-0 run and lead 14-4 and with 14:34 left in the first half. South Carolina ended the scoring drought with a free throw by Jamarii Thomas to make it 14-5 with 14:10 left in the half. Indiana maintained the lead throughout the first half with some beautiful finishes like Myles Rice throwing an alley-oop to Kannan Caryle and Freshman Bryson Tucker turning around and hitting a mid-range jumper after showing his handles. South Carolina cut the lead to three twice as Morris Ugusuk and Myles Stute kept the Gamecocks in the game by knocking down outside shots and Jacobi Wright scored on a layup at the buzzer as Indiana led 43-32 at halftime.

     Myles Rice led the Hoosiers with 17 points at halftime and Mackenize Mgbako added 12 points as Indiana was 16-31 from the field for 51%, 5-9 from three-point range for 55% and 6-8 from the free throw line for 75%. The Hoosiers pulled down 19 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal and committed just 3 turnovers in the first half. South Carolina’s leading scorer Collin Murray-Bowles was held to 2 points and was 1-3 from the field with 4 rebounds. Morris Ugusuk came off the bench to score 14 points going 4-5 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free throw line. Myles Stute added 9 points on 3-6 from three-point range as the two combined were 7-11 from three-point range and the rest of the team 0-9 from beyond the arc in the first half. South Carolina went 11-31 from the field for 35% and 3-4 from the free throw line for 75%. The Gamecocks pulled down 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block, 1 steal and committed five turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

     Indiana controlled the second half and Kannan Caryle attempted an ally-oop to Mackenize Mgbako and It went in with 13:55 left in the game to make it 53-39 Indiana and sign when everything is going right for you in the game. South Carolina’s leading scorer Collin Murray-Bowles fouled out with 8:16 left in the game. He finished with 2 points on 1-4 shooting, 0-1 from three-point range 6 Rebounds, 1 assist and 4 turnovers and he averaged 21.7 points and 10.7 rebounds coming into the game and the Hoosiers held him under his average in both categories. South Carolina cut the deficit to 10 points at the 6:29 and 6:07 marks in the game. Myles Rice a nifty move between Gamecock defenders and scored on a layup to put the Hoosiers up 12. It got chippy with 5:32 left when Kannan Carlyle and Jamarii Thomas got tangled up that led to shoving between the two after Carlyle was called for a foul against Thomas and both were called for a technical foul. Thomas hit a free throw with 5:32 left to cut the Indiana lead to nine points 71-62. Trey Galloway put the Hoosiers up double digits hitting two free throws with 5:18 left to lead 73-62. The Gamecocks got within 8 points on a Jamarii Thomas fast break to make it 79-71 with 1:19 left and the Hoosiers finished the game scoring the last eight points from three throw line as Trey Galloway hit four free throws and Myles Rice and Oumar Ballo hitting two free throws each as Indiana did not score a field goal for the last 2:59 of the game.

   Indiana has scored 80 or more points in all three games which is first time since the start of the 2022-23 season that the team has scored 80 or more points in three straight games, but Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson was not pleased with the offensive performance. “We scored 87 points, and I don’t know how we got there.” Woodson said after the game. Indiana’s backcourt depth has been a big key since the Hoosiers were lacking that a season ago with several offseason additions in the backcourt. “I learned a valuable lesson from last season, we have enough perimeter players this season and I feel good about everybody” Mike Woodson Said. The Hoosiers will host UNC-Greensboro on Thursday Night at 6:30 PM.