With an upset brewing and no TJD to rely on, Mike Woodson went small. And it worked.

BLOOMINGTON — In Mike Woodson’s first two seasons as Indiana coach, he always knew who to lean on. The supporting cast was ever-changing, but Trayce Jackson-Davis was almost always the centerpiece for the Hoosiers on both sides of the floor. Woodson walked into a program that — for better or worse — had a star center he had to play through.

That star doesn’t exist on the 2023-24 IU team. So when IU trailed by six points in the second half of its season opener against Florida Gulf Coast, Woodson had to get creative.

Freshman point guard Gabe Cupps was in the game alongside senior guard Trey Galloway — who played the last 29:40 of Indiana’s 69-63 win Tuesday. With 10:43 left in the game, Woodson brought sixth-year point guard Xavier Johnson back into the game. But he didn’t take Cupps out.

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Instead, Cupps, Johnson and Galloway played together. The three guards shared the court briefly in the first half, but IU didn’t accomplish much with them playing together. But when the Hoosiers tried that combination again, the contest shifted.

IU went on a 14-0 run, as its three primary ball-handlers shared the floor with sophomore big men Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware. That lineup allowed IU to apply heavy ball pressure to FGCU’s perimeter players.

The Eagles went 5-for-6 on 3-pointers to begin the second half. IU miscommunications and poor defensive rotations gave FGCU a barrage of quality looks from deep. Once IU played its three smaller guards together, FGCu made one of its next six 3s and went 3-of-12 from downtown the rest of the game.

“I was basically looking at it from a defensive standpoint,” Woodson said of why he closed with that lineup.

With the frontcourt of Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson graduating, Woodson now has a team that’s truly his. Galloway was the only player in Tuesday’s rotation who played for Archie Miller. With six new scholarship players on this year’s team, Woodson can now experiment with lineups he worked to craft through recruiting and the transfer portal.

In all fairness, IU likely would’ve played with three ball-handlers more last year if not for injuries. Johnson, Galloway and first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino only played 26 possessions together in 2022-23 (per hoop-explorer.com). IU outscored North Carolina 30-18 in the 23 possessions the trio played together against the Tar Heels last November.

A back injury kept Hood-Schifino out of the Hoosiers’ next three games. In Hood-Schifino’s return game, Johnson suffered a foot fracture that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Johnson and Galloway have returned for another season, and now they get to play alongside a new freshman guard.

The triad allows IU to ramp up its defensive intensity, but it also reshapes the offense. Playing three players who can bring the ball up might let IU get into its sets earlier and thrive in transition and semi-transition. When IU gets a defensive rebound, two guards can run the floor while the other focuses on dribbling past halfcourt. This dynamic lets two guards who are usually distributors become attackers.

While this lineup proved to be an effective deviation from what IU is used to, don’t expect it to become some sort of cheat code for the Hoosiers. These players can work well together in spurts, but there are a few too many holes for this to be a primary collection of players.

Most prevalent of these concerns is Indiana’s rebounding with three small guards on the floor. Indiana struggles to rebound with its lengthier lineups, so those issues will likely increase with three players 6-5 and under on the court.

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The lineup that closed the game against Florida Gulf Coast also lacked athleticism on the wing. The Eagles didn’t play anyone over 6-4 at small forward, so IU wasn’t affected by Galloway (6-5) having to guard up. But against teams that have longer, score-first players at its forward positions, IU might struggle with its smaller lineup.

IU played without starting small forward Mackenzie Mgbako for the last 15:34 on Tuesday. The 6-8 freshman scored only four points and was 2-of-6 in his college debut. Mgbako contributed to IU's defensive struggles, as he was frequently involved in miscommunications that led to buckets.

“My concern is CJ (Gunn) and Kaleb (Banks) and Mackenzie,” Woodson said. “All three of those guys are capable of scoring too, so when they're in the game I got to get them comfortable number one, and they got to figure out what the hell we're doing from a defensive standpoint. A lot of that was miscues on their part.”

Indiana’s four wings — Mgbako, Gunn, Banks and Anthony Walker — combined to play 13 minutes in the second half on Tuesday after combining for 30 first-half minutes.

For the Hoosiers to maximize the potential of their three-guard lineups, they will need Mgbako to be the power forward at times. The McDonald’s All American has the size and frame to defend talented wings. Galloway may not be big enough, and Reneau isn’t agile enough to keep up with players in the 6-7 to 6-10 range who can create for themselves. If Mgbako improves and becomes an asset defensively, these small-ball lineups will have much more flexibility.

IU has a broad array of multipositional players. On Tuesday, IU’s three-guard lineup won the game and showed the potency it can have in stints.

The huge overturn of IU's roster means there’s no go-to guy, let alone a go-to lineup. It will be up to Woodson and his staff to press the right buttons and use the talent at their disposal correctly.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball vs. FGCU: Mike Woodson went small, and it worked