Indiana Basketball Weekly: IU/Penn State recap and IU/Nebraska Preview!

[Music] and Indiana IND Indiana all welcome everybody to Indiana basketball weekly on the gring truth Sports Network I'm Mike good pastor today I am going to be flying solo Brian Moore can't make it because he's at work Alex lassley who was with me yesterday from hoer Illustrated make sure you check out whoer Illustrated domcom of course can't be here he's working today also we're gonna look back last night the Indiana hooers in the second round of the Big 10 tournament on an Anthony Le basicall

y buzzer beater sends the hooers into the quarterfinals where they'll take on Nebraska we're going to go ahead we're going to recap the game against Penn State from last night and preview tonight's battle against Nebraska with the winner going to the semifinals at a big 10 tournament Indiana's now won five games in a row and if you want to bet on them tonight they're a three and a half Point Underdog and you can catch that on B MGM the top sports book for betting on college basketball and the In

diana hooers you can bet all the Big 10 quarterfinal games any game you want to bet anywhere make sure you go to bet MGM you can click on the link in the description Down Below in the video but let's go ahead let's get started to who your's last night it was an ugly game it was an ugly game for a lot of reasons but one of the reasons the officiated was absolutely atrocious if Indiana would have lost I'd probably be on here complaining about that but there's no complaining when you win guys and I

it's Big T officiating what do you expect when's the last time you heard was a really well afficiated game in the Big 10 if we look at the stat line last night the thing that stood out to me Penn State 16 for 58 from the field 27% seven for 27 25% for three-point range Indiana on the other hand didn't shoot the ball great but good enough to win the game 22 for 56 39.9% or 39.3% the big thing heroes in the animator free throws 14 of 18 77.8% you know we had issues with khil wear missing free thr

ows you know through this last few games the hooers have now won five straight games if they can shoot 80% for the free throw line it helps a lot of things rebounding wise Indiana outrebounded Penn State 41 to 39 the offensive rebounds had been the the issue in the two losses against Penn State especially since Indiana was a much bigger team still lost the offensive rebounding battle at 13-10 but we out assisted him 13- 11 and the big thing is when you look at it points in the paint Indiana 32 P

enn State 18 when we break this down khil wear has become a man that can put this team on his back last night 18 points 14 rebounds played an outstanding basketball game offensively and defensively as he always does but the big key to me was Z Xavier Johnson and Gabe CBS Xavier Johnson did a great job on hicks and you know CBS did an outstanding job with help from Xavier Johnson against Ace Baldwin Ace Baldwin was three for 15 last night that's not something that normally happens if they can do

that tonight against tamaga from Nebraska Indiana does have a chance in this game they're only three and a half Point favorites this is a game that if it was played three weeks ago which it was it would be much more than a three half three and a half Point dog so everybody out there that was at Assembly Hall booing the hooers and the lost to Penn State and other situations during the season this is why you should be ashamed of yourself because really you should not boo your own team and I had qu

estions I wanted to I don't even sit at home and boo them guys they played horrible for most of this season but they've got it turned around and the credit there has to go to Mike Woodson we can sit there and we complain about why we're losing recruits why we don't have any recruits but to Here and Now is what matters this team is three wins away from going to the NCAA tournament if they win the Big 10 Championship possibly if they get to the Big 10 championship game you lose a close game to Pur

due after beating an Illinois or Ohio State maybe you can get in but I think realistically they're going to have to win three more games Malik renew last night I thought played a not very good game I mean once again we saw him get in foul trouble he did score 12 points but it was on four for2 shooting uh McKenzie and Marco did not play great but he scored 11 points he was only four for 15 the good thing about that is this they still won the game and those guys McKenzie and renew are fully capabl

e of playing well if they play well at the same time where is disguise the limit on this team now offensively with the guards neither one none of them played well not offensively but defensively as I said Gabe Cubs has improved so much on the defensive end of the Court over the last since the start of the Season that he is no longer a liability for this team defensively and you've got Xavier Johnson who Xavier Johnson I don't think offens L played well he was a little out of control at times but

this team won with defense the defense we saw last night is the culmination of a team that has progressively gotten better especially over the last four weeks defensively right now I think defensively they're just as good maybe better than what we saw at the end of last year because Trace Jackson Davis was a great player both sides of the floor but khil wear changes everything when he's in the game I mean anybody anytime somebody is near to basket going to shoot the ball they're looking for khi

l wear now mental breakdowns have been a problem for the hooers this year they had a few last night but you're gonna have a few of those and I mean the one that stood out to me the most was Anthony Le's foul on the three-pointer and maybe Indiana's best defensive stop you know shot clock's running down he makes a stupid play you give up a three and Anthony Le let's face it Penn State didn't block out Anthony Le you know finish that finishes it on the Miss shot we win the game and I would say thi

s about Anthony leil I think Anthony leil is a great kid he plays really hard he's not a great player defensively last night he was better than what he has been but let's not overreact here and all of a sudden act like Anthony Le is Isaiah Thomas which I've seen with a lot of people that have post posted on Facebook about this game today Anthony leel does his job and right now without Trey Galloway this team's going to have a hard time winning to win they're going to have to win ugly which means

you limit your turnovers which they did last night you had I think 11 or 12 turnovers when I look at the stat sheet here and really bench minutes the only guy that had significant bench minutes was Anthony Le who played 23 minutes he hit a three again so like we talked about he's only hit threes in like six games this season but Indiana is five and one when he does Cubs hit an early three this game really worried me early on because Penn State was terrible and Indiana never really got up by mor

e than five to seven points and then Penn State makes the run at the start of the second half and the thing that we've seen with this team which is really encouraging to me is over this five-game winning streak we've seen a lot of times where they'll give up a run you think they're about to get blown out and all a sudden they fight back so that's the encouraging thing and the Really encouraging thing for me because my issue with this team the whole year was how hard they played they've won five

straight games because they have played hard I mean they get after it and the great thing there is I went to bet MGM and bet him when it was they were like a one and a half Point favorite and I was lucky because like an hour later or yeah a point and a half Underdog couple hours later they a two and a half Point favorite if I'd have bet him then I'd have been screwed so I would say right now I would get my bet in at bet MGM on Indiana Nebraska at minus three and a half or plus three and a half f

or us and I think this is a game that this team can win because when you get to the tournament you just have to survive in advance and I remember the 1983 Chicago White Socks you know they always talked about winning ugly they made it all the way to the playoffs winning ugly this team can do it especially with the defensive turnaround that we've seen and if Gabe Cubs and Xavier Johnson can harass tominaga and not give him any room to breathe and kind of frustrate Tommy Naga is a guy that average

s 15 points a game he may average it seems like a million points against the Indiana hooers but if Indiana steps up and plays defense tonight he's a little bit off all of a sudden you've got a legitimate chance here to win this game and just put it in Anthony Le's hands at the end of the game he doesn't score a lot of points any other time but in the last minute of the game he's there but the big thing to me is khil wear I mean he's had an incredible run especially over the last half of the Seas

on he has progressively gotten better in each game I mean e even the game where I think he didn't score any points till the last 15 minutes he scores nine points there but he still came around with 11 rebounds he had four or five block shots and that's what he does I think he has established himself as one of the elite front Court members in the Big 10 I know he was named second team Big 10 which means he's second to Zack Edy who's probably going to win national Player of the Year again and last

night he showed ased his ability to impact the basketball game on both ends I mean he stifled Penn State in the P paint his pres was presence was a significant factor in the nitty Lions shooting just seven for 24 on dunks and layups let me repeat that they were seven of 24 on ducks and layups so he may only get three or four blocks but he impacted out of those 17 misses he probably impacted at least half of them if not more you had wahab who was their best post guy who was eight for 0 for eight

from the field and he fouled out in just 29 minutes because he had to guard wear I mean where dominated a glass he finished with a game high 14 rebounds four of those came on the offensive glass which we have struggled even he struggled with at times this year and he led all scores with 18 points and the big thing is Indiana's freshman are making major contributions you know the Hooser got key contributions from McKenzie and you know he was a major scoring punch in the first half he scored 10 o

f his 11 points before intermission which helped Indiana go to the half with the lead you know he was four for n from the field in you know 19 first half minutes I I think he only sat like a minute there and Gabe Cubs who has often been for lack of a better term it almost seems like he's not even involved in the offense made a t a pair of timely perimeter shots he nailed a three-pointer in the first half to give Indiana a 13-10 lead with 11 minutes left in that half and in second half he hit a t

hree-pointer that capped a 70 run to give the hoers a 4342 cushion with 1231 the play so he he also handled Penn State's pressure all night long he played 27 minutes and didn't commit a turnover that's a point guard he scored six points no turnovers in those six points both of them were big shots one early to give us the lead and the other one to cap a 70 run that got us back in the lead after it looked like we may be getting ready to fall down and with Xavier Johnson TR Allway is gone and I'm a

lways a huge critic of Xavier Johnson just because of things that have been done and I think he plays a little out of control in the offensive end but there's no doubt that Xavier offense Xavier Johnson's defense changes this team you know and Indiana needed every minute and every contribution it got from Johnson to get to where we are going to play again tonight you know his final eye or his final line wasn't eye-catching he finished with four points six rebounds five assists a block shot and t

hree turnovers if you just look at that you would say he didn't play very well but there's defense in basketball too and he played really good defense last night he he was he helped with you know shutting down Hicks you know he helped CBS with making Ace Baldwin uncomfortable and let's face it Tomy AA is a really good player and he may but is he better than Ace Balin I don't know but we're about to find out tonight so I mean tonight is Nebraska Nebraska to me when you look at them the big thing

here is Tommy Naga it's not all they got though but he does lead them with 14.6 points per game he shoots 46.3% from the field 37% from the three-point Arc and you got forward rink Mast who is their big man he's a Bradley transfer they got him through the the portal he gives you size in the paint 12 points eight rebounds a game he is a very good basketball player also but he is nowhere near what we've got there so to win this game tonight I I think the key is Malik renew and mckenzy if McKenzie

can knock his shots down and Malik renew can just play well I mean especially if he can catch the ball kick it out and we got McKenzie open McKenzie takes his threes he hits the shots hoers have a chance to win this game but in the end the big key is how did they defend Tomy Naga and if they could do the job they did last night on Ace Baldwin because there was I've Just Seen A lot of people on the internet also bring up the fact that well it's more Penn State's offense was that bad it really was

n't because ever since Clary left this team or they kicked him off the team about a month six weeks ago this team has been one of the better shooting teams from the perimeter in the Big 10 so I fail to believe it was just an off night maybe they did have an off night but the same night or same time the Indiana hooers had a very on night last night playing defense all right so the Huskers average 77 points a game they shoot 45% from three-point range they allow 69.3 points per game and just 39% s

hooting from the field and they only allowed 31.8 from long range so this has got to turn into an ugly game it has to be an ugly game if this is game where it's 84 to 80 or something I think that limits the opportunities I think for Indiana to win this game this game can't go above the low 70s no matter what happens will that happen my suggestion to this is this it's the same thing I said yesterday when Indiana played Penn State we had Alec lassley on and I told him I just I I think this is a co

mpletely different Indiana team right now than during those two losses this team plays much harder than what they have you know they did have to play last night they're going to play at Nebraska team that's had a week off but I think that second game when the other teams had a week off and you just played the night before you got some momentum going I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing now you win the night and then you got to play a third game in a row I think that's when you got to sta

rt to worry about that but for what I see right now I mean Mike wz has done a very good job in the last five games and that had to start before that he got it figured out none of us like how long it took to get figured out but this Indiana Hooser team is a threat to beat Nebraska tonight now I wouldn't go there and you know bet thousands of dollars on Indiana to win but I am going to bet a little bit of money on Indiana to win because I think the odds are like plus 140 so if you bet $30 you make

about 70 bucks and the other thing is this you could take the three and a half points because I think this team will be in this game the entire game all right I I think my issues like I said at started the season all the way through was how hard they played right now we saw Le dive into the stands for a ball yesterday we are starting to get guys getting after it I think McKenzie and Gabe Cubs have both improved exponentially over this season especially with CBS over the last five to six games I

think defensively we've seen him learn to move to get around screens to combat screens to play defense where before it seemed like he'd almost always go under or over at the time when he should have done the opposite so when you look at Xavier Johnson's defense you know the effort is going to be there with Xavier and the big thing that sticks out to me is this if Xavier Johnson could have a good offensive game where he plays with any which does happen from time to time this team could be very d

angerous in this game and the next couple games so don't give up hope and think we're going to have to go watch an nit game at assembly hall right now or me and Brian or Alec have to do a show about whether you know Indiana should even go to the NIT this team is not dead yet and what we saw in the Big 10 tournament was I think we're going to see more upsets Wisconsin and Ohio State Wisconsin looked like they did earlier in the year people forget Wisconsin is a team that beat Marquette they were

ranked in the top 10 at one point and we fighting for a one or two seed until the wheels fell off well it looks like they've gotten the wheels back attached which makes them dangerous Ohio state looks as good as anybody you watching college basketball right now it's a team that beat Purdue not too long AG go they took down Iowa pretty easy and Iowa's a really good offensive team Ohio State's defense is Chris Holman is left you know the defense has been what has made that team and we saw Jameson

battle go off with a massive game the other night and I I think that it is very possible that if Indiana wins tonight we may not even be playing Illinois we may be playing Ohio State and if we're playing Ohio State that's going to be a scary game but the thing that's not scary about it is all the naysayers all the people that were hoping they would lose and I'm G be honest I've never hoped Indiana would lose a game in my entire life you know I was upset with the way the team played if you watche

d the show you know I've complained about it but I'm not one of these guys that's going to go down the with the ship I'm smart enough to see when things are starting to change and I do things think things are starting to change here I expect this team to come out and battle their ass off tonight if they do that I think they can they got a chance to cover to spread which is three and a half but I think they also have a chance to win this game you know where I I think on off or on offense I think

imbak or imbak and renew are huge for this team tonight if they both have efficient games no stupid mistakes and Cubs and Xavier Johnson can do the job in a back court on Tommy Naga I indana hoers win this game 69 to 65 all right guys hopefully we will be back tomorrow to preview a semi-final matchup which if it is it'll be a little earlier in the morning that we do the show so keep an eye out for that make sure you get a B MGM click on the link of the description Down Below in the YouTube video

to bet on the game tonight and also check out the grueling truth check out my predicting the Big 10 tournament article because I would like to brag right now that I nailed all six of the first the first set first two sets of games so far so make sure you follow me at grueling truuth and go check out who your Illustrated dcom where Alec writes and check out the gotwood and Facebook page that Brian moris runs but for now guys I Mike good pastor you've been watching and listening to the grueling T

ruth where the Legends be