Chants of “Fire Woodson” echoed inside the hallowed walls of Assembly Hall on Tuesday night as Indiana coach Mike Woodson and his team suffered the program’s largest home loss since 2010, falling 94-69 to No. 19 Illinois in Bloomington, Indiana.
Indiana trailed by 25 minutes late in the first half, prompting calls from the student section for IU to fire its coach. The chants continued on several occasions but it did not alter the trajectory of the contest, as the Hoosiers fell behind by as many as 30 before halftime and at one point trailed by 31 points in the second half before their 25-point loss.
“We didn’t play well in the first half,” Woodson said postgame, stating the obvious. “We were awful.”
“I love our fans, and I respect our fans,” he continued. “But it’s up to me to get our players to play at a high level. That’s my job, and I’m going to continue to work in that area and hope that our fans will stay in there and hang in there with us.”
Illinois made eight of its 11 3-point attempts in the first half and had Indiana’s defense on its heels from the jump as star opposing freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, a projected top-five pick, pieced together 19 of his 21 points on the day in the game’s opening frame to set the tone. Indiana on the other hand went 0 for 6 from 3-point range in that span before finishing 4 of 18.
Indiana suffered a 25-point loss at Iowa on Saturday and showed little life in its 25-point loss Tuesday aside from a near-scuffle that broke out late in the action with the game all but officially settled. At one point Illinois freshman Tomislav Ivisic and Indiana senior Luke Goode — a former Illini player — exchanged words that led to a brief dust-up that had to be broken up. Oumar Ballo, seen below in the video charging at Ivisic, was ejected for his part and a total of seven technical fouls were assessed on the play.
The Hoosiers were 11-0 playing at home this season entering the day — all games they were favored to win in — but lost by a 25-point margin to a conference foe for a second time in a four-day span. It marked the largest home loss since falling 78-46 to Wisconsin on Feb. 25, 2010, and the third-largest home loss in school history, per CBB Reference data.
“We can’t let two games — and these were embarrassing games for us — determine our season,” Woodson said of the two lopsided losses this week. “We still have a long way to go, lot of Big Ten games left. I just have to get us better prepared and ready to play.”
Woodson, who starred for the Hoosiers under coach Bob Knight from 1976 to 1980, is in his fourth season leading his alma mater. Woodson’s job status was in question after the Hoosiers missed the NCAA tournament last season, but he revamped the roster via the transfer portal after being retained. However, reality has fallen far short of preseason expectations, and IU (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) are again tracking toward missing the NCAA Tournament.
