BLOOMINGTON — The crowd at Assembly Hall thinned out long before the final buzzer on Tuesday night.
IU basketball fans headed to the exit with their team trailing 28 points in the first half to No. 20 Illinois en route to a 94-69 loss that was one of the most lopsided home losses in program history. It was second only to the 32-point loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 25, 2010.
The Hoosiers (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) have now lost six conference games by 20 points or more during coach Mike Woodson’s tenure including their two most recent games. They have lost 13 games by 15 or more points in 32 conference games under Woodson.
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While Indiana cut Illinois’ lead down to 18 points in the second half with a 14-4 run out of halftime, the lack of shotmaking buried any chance of a comeback. The Hoosiers went 4 of 18 from 3-point range and missed their first seven attempts in the second half as it tried to erase the huge deficit.
Trey Galloway hit their first made 3-pointer of the game with 5:50 to go, but IU never seriously threatened to get back into the game against the Illini (13-4; 5-2).
The most fight IU showed came during garbage time when Tomislav Ivisic got in Luke Goode’s face after a hard foul. He shoved Goode and the teams almost game to blows with Oumar Ballo running across the court to shove Illinois’ center. The officials separated the teams before any punches were thrown and Ballo ended up being ejected from the game.
Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakucionis makes impressive Assembly Hall debut
Kasparas Jakucionis didn’t seem to have any jitters playing at Assembly Hall for the first time. He scored eight points with two 3-pointers in the opening three minutes and assisted on Illinois’ other field goal. The freshman was listed as questionable after missing the team’s previous two games with a forearm injury.
The Lithuanian native is leading his team in scoring (16.4 points per game) and assists (5.4 per game) this season.
He wore a sleeve on his arm as he dominated the Hoosiers with 19 points and four assists in the first half. He hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 8:13 to go in the half to put Illinois up 37-15 and stared down the crowd. The only thing that slowed him down was getting into foul trouble coming out of halftime.
Jakucionis picked up three fouls in less than four minutes and picked up his fourth going for an offensive rebound with 10:52 to go in the game. He finished the game with 21 points. The Illini also got 15 points from starting center Tomislav Ivisic and 22 points off the bench from Kylan Boswell.
‘Fire Woodson’ chants ring out during IU basketball’s historically bad first-half
Indiana was 4 of 16 from the field to open the game and missed nine straight shots during a scoring drought that lasted nearly five minutes. The Illini had no such issues as it jumped out to a 27-12 lead midway through the half while shooting 57.9%.
The bigger problem for the Hoosiers? Illinois was out hustling IU to every loose ball and rebound. The Illini dominated the boards with a 29-18 advantage in the half, 10 on the offensive glass and 17 second-chance points.
Ivisic hit a 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Oumar Ballo with 8:13 to go in the first half. The basket pushed his team’s past 20 points for the first time and led to the first “Fire Woodson” chants from the student section of the night.
It wouldn’t be the last as Illinois pushed its lead by as many as 30 points in the half and gave up 60 points. Per ESPN Stats and Info, IU’s 28 point halftime deficit was the largest in the last 25 seasons and 60 points is the most Illinois has scored in a road first half in the last 25 seasons.
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.
