MINNEAPOLIS — Indiana basketball is hitting its stride.

The Hoosiers won their third straight game on Wednesday night with a 70-58 win over Minnesota that gave them a series sweep over their Big Ten rival.

Indiana (17-13; 9-10 Big Ten) got double-doubles from Kel'el Ware (26 points and 11 points) and Trey Galloway (13 points and 11 assists). It led the final 27 minutes over a Minnesota (18-12; 9-10) that shot just 39% from the floor.

It's Indiana's longest win streak of the season in Big Ten play and tied for second longest overall win streak this season. The program's longest win streak against conference opponents during coach Mike Woodson's tenure came in January last season when it won five straight.

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Mackenzie Mgbako takes over in second half for Indiana basketball

Indiana basketball opened up a 17-point lead in the second half thanks in large part to Mackenzie Mgabko. He nailed three 3-pointers with Malik Reneau on the bench in foul trouble and Anthony Walker in the locker room dealing with a knee injury.

Mgabko put the team on his shoulders with an impressive display of 3-point shooting, a rare feat for an IU team 32.2% from long range this season. Indiana was 0 for 3 until Mgabko hit back-to-back 3-pointers with less than 13 minutes left in the game. He also buried a 3-pointer from the corner with the crowd making some noise in hopes of derailing IU's momentum.

He scored nine of his 15 points in the half.

The true freshman now has multiple made 3-pointers in six of the team's last seven games. He's averaged 16.5 points per game during that stretch and scored more than 20 points three times.

It all but put the game out of reach against a Minnesota team that had one of its worst outside shooting performances of the season going 5 of 26 (19%) from the arc.

Turnovers and fouls slow Indiana basketball down in first half

Indiana basketball went into halftime up 30-25 over Minnesota, but the lead would have been bigger — it shot 47% in the half and outscored the Gophers 26-16 in the paint — if not for some sloppy play.

Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway combined for seven of the team’s eight turnovers in the half. Johnson came out of the game shortly after attempting a behind the back pass when he had numbers under the basket.

The pass led to a turnover after bouncing off a defender’s legs and drew the ire of coach Mike Woodson at the next timeout.

Indiana also didn’t have leading scorer Malik Reneau on the floor as Minnesota closed out the final seven minutes of the half going 1 of 9 from the field. He picked a pair of fouls in less than 30 seconds and only played seven minutes in the first half. He’s averaged 4.5 fouls over the team’s last eight games and fouled out four times.

It forced Woodson to keep Kel’el Ware on the floor when he picked up his second foul with 8:47 left in the half. He was the best player on the court and filled up the stat sheet with 12 points (6 of 9), eight rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal in 16 minutes.

Indiana got solid contributions from Anthony Walker off the bench to help out in the front court as well.

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 basketball tops Minnesota for third straight Big Ten win