[Postgame 3-2-1] What We Learned From Indiana's Blowout Loss to Illinois
Here are three stats, two additional observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 94-65 loss against Illinois.
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana Basketball returned to Bloomington hoping to flip the script against 19th-ranked Illinois after a 25-point drubbing at Iowa on Friday night.
About that …
The first half was all Fighting Illini. The visitors led by as many as 30 points in the game’s opening 15 minutes, ultimately leading the Hoosiers 60-32 at the half.
Indiana showed some fight in the early minutes of the second half but could never get the deficit below 16, ultimately losing in blowout fashion, 94-65.
“We can't let this be a snowball effect. Like I said, we got a long way to go in this Big10,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “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.”
With the loss, Indiana drops to 13-5 and 4-3 in conference play.
Here are three stats, two additional observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 94-65 loss against Illinois.
Did you miss yesterday's edition of the postgame show?
3 Meaningful Stats
1. Indiana allows 60 first-half points.
Indiana had some bad basketball teams in the first three years of Tom Crean, but none of those games saw Indiana surrender 60 points in a single half. In 125 years of Indiana basketball, the Hoosiers have never surrendered that many points in a half.
Last night, the Fighting Illini took to the Hoosiers, shooting 48.8 percent from the field and a red-hot 8-of-19 from deep.
The last time Indiana basketball gave up that many points in a half was back in March of 2008, 59 first-half points in a 103-74 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing. Much like the present day, that Indiana team was in disarray. Dan Dakich took over for Kelvin Sampson and coached in one of his first games.
“I mean, I thought we played better the second half. They scored what, 34 points the second half. 60 points is just way too many,” Woodson said. “I just thought our defense and our intensity just wasn't there and they exploited it.”
Though IU showed some fight early in the second half, the deficit proved to be insurmountable in the end.
2. Illinois makes 7 more threes
Heading into the Iowa game, Indiana had been improving its 3-point shooting efficiency. But over the last two games, the Hoosiers have shot 8-of-34 from behind the arc.
It was not until the 5:57 mark of the second half that Indiana made its first shot from deep — a Trey Galloway three to push the score to 83-56.
On the other hand, the Fighting Illini finished 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, most coming from open looks.
“To be honest, there is a lot of defensive schemes we can run, and it really doesn't matter what we do if we're not going to do it hard, with effort and toughness. That's what it comes down to,” senior Anthony Leal said. “They're a good team. But we know we're talented and good team as well. We just aren't matching anybody's toughness or togetherness or effort right now.”
Indiana’s lack of defensive preparation reared its ugly head on Tuesday night with many miscommunications on screens, allowing Illinois shooters to become wide open at any point.
3. Illinois outrebounds Indiana 51-37
Illinois beat Indiana in all facets of the game. The one that stood out the most was Illinois’ 16 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 19 second-chance points.
Eleven of those second-chance points came in a five-minute stretch, during which Fighting Illini opened up a 15-point advantage in less than 10 minutes of action.
Effort has plagued Indiana in its blowout losses this season, but Tuesday night’s showing was, by and large, the worst of the bunch.
“We're not playing tough enough. We need to come out and be ready and stick to the game plan and the scouting report,” Indiana forward Luke Goode said. “That's been our biggest issue so far. We come out and let teams kind of punk us in a sense.”
If Indiana wants to turn it around miraculously, it must start with effort.
2 Important Observations
1. It was a feisty Assembly Hall crowd
Assembly Hall is in its 53rd year of hosting Indiana University Basketball. Thousands, if not millions, have entered the doors, but few as feisty at the home team as the crowd in attendance on Tuesday.
It was the first game with students back on campus, and even before the tip, chants of “Fire Woodson” rang through sections K, L, and M.
It didn’t improve as the game wore on, and the groans grew louder. The 94 points were the most an Indiana team has surrendered in regulation in Assembly Hall history.
“I love our fans and I respect our fans, but it's up to me to get our players to play at a high level,” Woodson said of the boos. “That's my job and I'm going to continue to work in that area and hope that our fans will hang in there with us.”
2. Last night felt like the end of the line
As the daggers struck through Assembly Hall for the game against the Fighting Illini, so did the hope of the 2024-2025 season for Indiana basketball.
The Mike Woodson era has been tumultuous, at best, but a second consecutive 25-point loss to a quad one opponent at home might have done him in.
Though it took him nearly 25 minutes to get to the press conference, Woodson reiterated the clichés that he says in every postgame presser.
Unless there is a drastic change in effort and results, we are slowly seeing the end of the beginning of the Woodson era.
Anthony Leal did not sound like a player ready to throw in the towel.
“We have two different options, and I think as long as we can all get on the same page about the fact that we can win those nine games, turn the season around, we can make everybody's dreams come true,” Leal said. “I think it's just approaching every day with a new, fresh mentality and understanding we do have a lot of work to do.”
1 Lingering Question
Where does Indiana go from here?
A complex question that may have more than one answer.
Indiana has lost even its most loyal fans and has zero sense of direction ahead of nine more Quad 1 games.
Kelvin Sampson was fired midseason for what he did, but no other coach has been fired amid a bad stretch of play. Could Woodson be the first? Maybe, but don’t count on Scott Dolson, if he’s even allowed, to do so anytime before the season’s final game.
Assuming Woodson remains the coach through the end of the season, all Indiana can do is try to build on the 13 wins it already has in the bank, and hope that the words of Leal can come true.
The Hoosiers ended last season with a flurry of wins, but it was too little, too late. It’s still only January 14th, and Indiana still has plenty of opportunities left to get resume-building wins … but the last 80 minutes of basketball have shown no indication of a team prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.
I want to give a shout-out to Josh for this honest yet neutral newsletter this morning. One of my favorite things about Assembly Call is its focus on not stirring the pot.
But this pot is boiling regardless. I don't think we're slowly seeing the end. I think it rushed up on us last night. I was there, I stayed until the final buzzer, and most of the time, I just wanted to cry. It was a horrible experience, from the Illinois fans grabbing the vacated seats and trolling us to the misery on the players' faces.
My epiphany came when I noticed a big difference between the teams while everyone was waiting for the refs to sort out the results of the fight at 2:24. The Illinois team was absorbed by its coaching staff. Our five players stood alone. After the adults rushed over in the initial moments to break it up, our coaching staff went back to the bench, and the five players on the floor had only themselves to huddle with. Even their teammates didn't get up off the bench. (Side note: If I were Dallas James, Shaan Burke, Ian Stephens, Jaden Bobbitt, James Goodis, Jordan Rayford, I'd quit this morning. If you aren't getting a chance to play when the team is down 30 with 2:24 to go, no one has any respect for your effort, and that's not going to magically change. You are only seen as practice fodder.)
Then I watched Leal and Goode's press conference and got more from them than I did from Woodson. The players had deeper personal reflection, gave more details about what went wrong, and were better prepared with a plan to pick up the pieces this morning.
So it feels like I went through a trial by fire last night, and now I've transformed from a "let's talk about coaching at the end of the season" to "it can't happen soon enough." If IU were to appoint an interim coach today, this team might be better off left to figure it out on their own without interference.
I was so disgusted at the end of the first half that I turned the game off. Somebody has got to do something- coaches, players. Who left!?