Things are not going well for Mike Woodson in Bloomington.
Woodson and Indiana found themselves on the wrong side of a 94-69 blowout loss to No. 19 Illinois on Tuesday night. It marked their second straight 25-point loss, and was their second-worst loss in program history. Only a 32-point loss to Wisconsin in 2010 was worse.
The Hoosiers just looked off on the court on Tuesday night. They missed four of their first 16 shots, and they quickly fell into a 30-point hole in the first half before the Illini took a 28-point lead into the locker room at halftime. It was the largest halftime deficit Indiana has faced in the last 25 seasons.
It got so bad that, at one point early in the game, the crowd at Assembly Hall completely turned on Woodson.
âI understand it. We got embarrassed,â forward Luke Goode said, via Rivals.comâs Zach Browning. âWe have to wear this jersey with more pride as Indiana players. This program is too historical and too great to be represented like that.â
Late in the game, frustrations clearly boiled over into a brief incident under the basket. Goode, who used to play at Illinois, got into it with Tomislav Ivisic after a foul. Oumar Ballo came running into shove Ivisic, and he was ejected.
Ballo finished with a team-high 16 points and 15 rebounds for Indiana. Goode added 13 points. Indiana shot just 4-of-18 from the 3-point line as a team, and they were out-rebounded by 14.
Kylan Boswell led Illinois with 22 points and seven rebounds, and Kasparas Jakucionis added 21 points. The Illiniâs 94 points are the most an opponent has scored in a regulation game in Assembly Hall history.
Is Mike Woodsonâs job in trouble?
Though there is still plenty of time to turn it around â itâs only mid-January, after all â Woodsonâs job is very much in doubt after this latest loss.
Woodson, who played at Indiana under legendary coach Bob Knight before his NBA career, was hired to replace Archie Miller in 2021. He holds a 76-45 overall record and reached the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons, but they missed it last season after going just 19-14. There was speculation that Indiana would fire him last season, but it opted to bring him back for another shot.
While the program is still 13-5, they are just 1-5 in Quad 1 games this season and haven’t really beaten anybody. Iowa blew them out in a 25-point loss on Saturday, and they fell to Nebraska, Gonzaga and Louisville all by double digits. In Indianaâs defense, leading scorer Malik Reneau has played in only one game this month while dealing with a knee injury. Itâs unclear when he will return.
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“It’s tough,” Woodson said. “You know, I mean, when you prepare and you work, because we work in practice, we do all the things that you are supposed to do going into the game. Guys just didn’t step up tonight and didn’t step up in the Iowa game.”
Indiana will travel to both Ohio State and Northwestern in the next week, both of which are great opportunities for wins to try and start turning things around. If those donât go well, however, it feels as if Indiana could fall apart quickly. The Hoosiers have a stretch where theyâll face four straight ranked opponents starting with No. 17 Purdue on Jan. 31, too.
âWe can’t let this be a snowball effect,â Woodson said. âLike I said, weâve got a long way to go in this Big Ten. Do I think we’re good enough to win? Yeah, I do. I just got to get us to believe that and keep pushing these guys in the right direction.â
If Woodson can’t keep Indiana in the mix for an NCAA tournament bid at a minimum, his time in Bloomington may be limited.
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