After Two Better Efforts, Indiana Falls Flat in Madison (Again)
Any supposed momentum from the Purdue game turned into a distant memory right away during Wisconsin’s 76-64 beatdown of Indiana.
MADISON —Indiana played its most complete game of the season last Friday night in West Lafayette. Though it ultimately ended in a loss, the performance provided a glimmer of hope for the rest of the season.
But all of that supposed momentum turned into a distant memory right away during Wisconsin’s 76-64 beatdown of Indiana.
“You figure we have a game like we did at Purdue where we really competed for 40 minutes, and then we come in here and we lay an egg based on how we started the ball game,” Woodson said postgame. “You spot teams on the road 20, it’s going to be tough to get back in them.”
Wisconsin put on a 3-point clinic to open the game, making six of its first seven from deep.
A shell-shocked Indiana team looked lost on both ends and found itself in a 22-point hole, trailing Wisconsin 26-4 a mere six minutes into the game.
“I thought Malik and Ballo did an awful job in terms of guarding the bigs,” Woodson said. “We were terrible in transition early; they got a few there. But you figure if you can take some of those away, you’ve got a game.”
After downing a jaw-dropping nine 3s, Wisconsin eventually cooled from deep, gifting Indiana a chance to work out of the gargantuan hole.
To its credit, Indiana fought back in the closing minutes of an otherwise dreadful first half of basketball. The Hoosiers grasped some momentum, slicing its deficit by a dozen to trail by just 12 heading into the halftime break.
Wisconsin went on a run to open the second half, providing an early kill-shot, ending whatever hope Indiana had left.
Both teams spent the final 15 minutes going through the motions, which allowed Indiana to once again narrow the margin of defeat to look much better than how the game actually felt.
Despite a 1-of-7 performance from 3, Mackenzie Mgbako led all Hoosiers with 15 points. Luke Goode and Myles Rice were the only other Hoosiers to amass double figures.
Following Tuesday’s blowout defeat, Indiana dropped its sixth in seven tries, fell to 0-2 in the month of February, and is swiftly slipping out of consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
“We’re running out of games,” Woodson said. “I have to figure these next eight games out because it’s going to be very pivotal for our basketball team in terms of making tournament play.”
Momentum can very well turn on a dime, but if Indiana is unable to hold serve at home against Michigan on Saturday afternoon, the season will officially be on the brink … if not already barreling over it.
I guess I’m glad that I forgot that the game was last night. I automatically record all of them and I will automatically delete this one!
Just focus now on ruining other people's seasons and stay in the B10 Tourney