Five minutes remained in Tuesday night’s first half as Indiana was down by 30 points against Illinois. Boos of frustration began to sing down onto the court, filling Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The boos quickly faded away as they turned into a chant with a harsher message.
“Fire Mike Woodson.”
A historic night unfolded for all the wrong reasons Tuesday night, as Indiana suffered one of its most crushing losses in the Woodson era.
Indiana was looking to bounce back after a 25-point loss at Iowa but was run off the court in a 94-69 defeat. What was once a 10-8 ballgame quickly became a nightmare. At one point, the Hoosiers were down by 31 points, marking the second straight game where IU trailed by 30 points.
Many of the same issues that have plagued Indiana this season were displayed in the disastrous first half. A lack of effort and intensity riddled the first 20 minutes from start to finish and caused Indiana a headache of a half. Ten offensive rebounds turned into 17 second-chance points as Illinois cruised to a 60-point first half. Any ball that clanked off the rim was received by a player in orange, not a Hoosier.
A 19-point first-half performance by Kasparas Jakucionis and eight made threes by the Illini didn’t make things any easier.
“We’re not playing tough enough,” senior Luke Goode said. “We need to come out and be ready and stick to the game plan and the scouting report. That’s been our biggest issue so far. We come out and let teams kind of punk us in a sense.”
The Hoosiers were down 28 points at halftime, their largest deficit at the break at home in Assembly Hall in 25 years. As the first half concluded, the entire Indiana team— players, coaches, support staff — all walked into the locker room with heads down in a parade of boos.
A slightly energetic start to the second half by the Hoosiers saw the lead cut down to 16 points, but the damage was already done. No matter how great of an effort, a 30-plus point deficit is too hard to overcome. Minutes of meaningless basketball continued to be played as the Hoosiers suffered their second straight 25-point loss.
“We can’t let two games, and these were embarrassing games for us, determine our season,” Woodson said. “We still got a long way to go, a lot of Big 10 games left. I just got to get us better prepared and ready to play.”
But as if the on-court performance wasn’t embarrassing enough, the night’s disaster ended with a late-game scuffle, which saw technical fouls for both teams and an ejection for Oumar Ballo. It was the exact opposite of what Indiana needed and it only added fuel to a fire that the Hoosiers could not put out.
Just last week, the Hoosiers had won their fifth game in a row, but any positives or meaningful moments from the win streak have long evaporated. These back-to-back humiliating losses have caused reality to set in for the Indiana locker room. A new low point was set. This isn’t Indiana basketball.
As the schedule continues to ramp up and the days of January wind down, the Hoosiers have experienced a new, profound sense of soul-searching that they must resolve quickly if they want to get this season somewhat back on track.
“We got embarrassed. We have to wear this jersey with more pride as Indiana players. This program is too historical and great to be represented like that.” Goode said.
Filed to: Illinois Fighting Illini
