By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
EUGENE, Ore. – Victory was there. It was, for the Indiana Hoosiers at Oregon. They’d played their way to the brink of NCAA tourney at-large bid possibility, rallying from deficits as large as nine points, refusing to buckle against fierce Ducks pressure.
But over Tuesday night’s final, furious 90 seconds, opportunity disappeared. IU lost 73-64.
That ended Indiana’s three-game winning streak and dropped its record to 18-12 overall, 9-10 in the Big Ten. Oregon (22-8, 11-8) won its sixth straight game.
https://iuhoosiers.com/documents/2025/3/5/ORE_73__IU_64_Final_Box.pdf
“This is March. These are the type of games you get into coming down the stretch,” assistant coach Brian Walsh told Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer during the post-game radio show. “We’re both playing for everything. It’s really a refuse-to-lose type of attitude. You play with ultimate desperation because of the gravity of these games.”
Indiana pushed and pushed in a nailbiter of a game that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes. But a couple of crunch-time turnovers and strong Oregon free-throw shooting were too much to overcome.
“Those are tough ones,” Walsh told Fischer about the turnovers. “Credit Oregon with the ball pressure they had. Turnovers at that time of the game are really difficult. We’re trying to execute and get points at a critical time. We fell short in that area.”
Guard Trey Galloway led IU with 16 points, four assists and three rebounds. No Hoosier has played more games than Galloway, who is at 138, one more than Kevin ‘Yogi’ Ferrell.
Center Oumar Ballo had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Eight Hoosiers played and scored at least four points. They made nine 3-pointers and committed only 10 turnovers.
Oregon countered with 19-for-21 free-throw shooting and a 23-13 edge in second-chance points.
“We’re proud of the guys for the way they fought,” Walsh told Fischer. “But at the end of the day, if you want to win in March, you have to be nastier on the boards. We were minus-seven on the glass and that led to (Oregon’s) 23 second-chance points. That’s the deciding factor in a close game, especially on the road when you’re playing for so much.”
https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2025/3/4/mens-basketball-postgame-notes-at-oregon
With one regular-season game left, IU is tied with Ohio State for ninth in the Big Ten standings with 9-10 records. They play Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
“You look at the standings, and all the teams at the top, we played all of them tough,” Walsh told Fischer. “We know we can beat anyone on our schedule. It’s about finishing the game strong and doing all the little things down the stretch that are required to win in March.”
IU again opened with a one-big lineup with Ballo starting and forward Malik Reneau coming off the bench. Early 3-for-10 shooting put it in a 10-6 hole.
Oregon pushed ahead 22-15, and then 28-19. Coach Mike Woodson countered by playing Reneau and Ballo together. Guard Kanaan Carlyle came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer. Ballo scored inside. The Hoosiers closed within 28-24. A second Carlyle 3-pointer cut the lead to three. Consecutive Anthony Leal baskets pushed IU ahead 31-30. Guard Myles Rice made a technical foul free throw to make it a two-point Hoosier lead. The Ducks pushed for a 35-32 halftime lead.
Reneau, Ballo, Carlyle, and Galloway each had six points.
Goode opened the second half with a 3-pointer to tie the score at 35-35. Oregon opened a six-point lead. Swingman Mackenzie Mgbako’s second 3-pointer in less than two minutes tied the score at 47-47. Rice followed with a 3-pointer for a three-point IU lead.
Galloway made two-point and 3-point baskets. Ballo added a dunk. Carlyle hit a tough shot. The Hoosiers led 59-57 with nine seven minutes left. A Reneau layup tied the score at 61-61 as the clock approached three minutes in regulation.
Galloway followed a Ballo block with a 3-pointer for a 64-63 Hoosier lead with two minutes left.
Oregon responded with a 10-0 run for the victory. IU made just 2 of its last 12 shots.
The Hoosiers seek to sweep the season series against Ohio State (17-13), which is coming off Tuesday night’s 116-114 double overtime win against Nebraska. IU won 79-78 in overtime in Columbus.
“We’ll get home, regroup and learn from this,” Walsh told Fischer. “We’ll have a great two-day prep and hopefully we can send off our seniors the right way.”
