BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson offered a mea culpa of sorts after an 87-66 loss to Purdue on Tuesday night.

Woodson regretted how long he kept Mackenzie Mgbako on the bench with two fouls as Purdue jumped out to a 22-point lead in the first half.

Mgbako ended up sitting out for nearly 12 minutes after picking up his second foul with 15:30 to go in the first half of a two-point game. He checked back in with 3:33 to go and the Hoosiers down 39-25.

More: Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson wasn't in the starting lineup against Purdue

“You know, that's hindsight,” Woodson said. “I hate coaching that way. Or thinking back to what I should have done. But at the end of the day, you know, they played extremely well in the first half.”

“I thought we came out with big-time energy in the second half to cut it to nine, but when you dig a hole like that, you know, against a pretty good team, it's hard to dig your way out.”

According to Ken Pom, Woodson has allowed players to play with two fouls 15.1% of the time, a number that ranks No. 234 our 362 teams. That percentage is down from last year (28.2%), but way up from his first season when he only allowed players with two fouls to play 3.6% of the time (No. 341).

Kel’el Ware and Gabe Cupps also spent much of the half on the bench in foul trouble, but IU’s offense went completely stagnant without Mgbako on the floor.

Mgbako scored the team’s first seven points — he opened the game with a 3-pointer on the first possession — and continued to play with the confidence he showed scoring a career-high 19 points against Minnesota last week.

Mgabko had a 3-point play as Indiana tried to make a run early in the second half, but never got into the same shooting rhythm he had right out of the gate. He played all but two minutes of the second half.

“It's a long game, but we fell back so quickly, you know, I figured I brought him back I think around the two- or three-minute mark right around the half, and when I think back to it, I probably should have brought him back a lot sooner, but I didn't,” Woodson said.

While Mgbako's second foul came early in the game, Purdue coach Matt Painter saw it as a turning point as well.

“He’s a good player, he’s talented,” Painter said. “His ability to make shots and do things off the bounce a little bit, he’s really coming. He’s one of those guys that’s going to be really good next year. He’s had that learning curve, you watch him the first five or six games and you watch him now, he’s a different player.”

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: Indiana's Mike Woodson regrets key decision he made in loss to Purdue