Jack’s Take: Loud Boos? Low Confidence? Maybe Indiana Needs To Get Away

Indiana has lost its last three home games, and the crowd inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall has been understandably frustrated. Some fans booed the Hoosiers off the court at halftime of Wednesday’s 85-70 loss to Nebraska. Indiana plays three of its next four games on the road. Maybe it will be good to get away.

Jack Ankony | Feb 22, 2024

Jack’s Take: Loud Boos? Low Confidence? Maybe Indiana Needs To Get Away /

In this story:

Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For decades, Assembly Hall was Indiana’s safe haven.

As recently as December, home sweet home was where Indiana played better for about 35 minutes than then-No. 2 Kansas. Like so many times in the past, the Hoosiers demonstrated they could compete with anybody in the country on their home court.

Now Indiana is 14-11 and 6-9 in the Big Ten, and it has lost its last three home games: Penn State by 14, Northwestern by four, and Nebraska by 15 in an 85-70 loss on Wednesday, when the atmosphere was more toxic than supportive most of the night. None of those teams sniff the talent level of Kansas. Penn State is below .500. Northwestern and Nebraska are on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble now but need to finish strong. All three controlled the game and held double-digit leads over Indiana at Assembly Hall.

Indiana fell to 10-5 at home this season, the first time it’s lost three consecutive home games since the 2020-21 season with no fans. Archie Miller also did it his second season in 2018-19.

The boos were loudest Wednesday night as Indiana walked into the locker room trailing 51-31 at halftime.

“It's part of it,” Indiana senior Trey Galloway said about the booing. “I can't worry about that. I got to worry about helping my team, and we got to be focused on each other and can't worry about the outside noise. Just be a unit and stick together.”

“I’ve heard crowds groan and get upset over bad play from their team but tonight was the first time I’ve ever experienced the student section and rest of the crowd boo its own team and multiple times too,” Nebraska’s Josiah Allick posted on X Wednesday night.

Indiana's Malik Reneau (5) during the second half of the Indiana versus Nebraska men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. — Indiana's Malik Reneau (5) during the second half of the Indiana versus Nebraska men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024 :: Rich Janzaruk/Herald Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

It had to be one of the Hoosiers’ worst halves of the season, as Keisei Tominaga scored 18 points, Nebraska went 9-for-19 from 3-point range, and the Cornhuskers scored 1.4 points per possession.

“We had no defensive effort, I thought, the first half,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. “We just weren't up to touch. They made some tough threes, but you can't have halves like that.”

Indiana center Kel’el Ware stepped to the free throw line with 13:59 to play, trailing 57-44. He missed the first free throw, and fans immediately reacted with groans and shaking heads. Ware was just as frustrated, clenching his fists and talking to himself, as Indiana’s season-long free throw problem continued. The crowd rose to its feet and cheered in support of the 7-footer, only to see him miss a fourth consecutive foul shot.

Aside from a 5-for-13 night at the free throw line, contributing to Indiana’s 14-for-24 effort, Ware was one of few Hoosiers that played well Wednesday. He scored 17 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots. Nebraska’s second-leading scorer, center Rienk Mast, scored just two points.

Behind inside scoring from Ware and Malik Reneau that Nebraska couldn’t stop early in the second half, Indiana mounted a comeback. A 3-pointer from CJ Gunn cut a 22-point deficit to just three points with 11:27 remaining. A restless crowd that booed Indiana off the floor at halftime roared with a comeback win in sight.

Gunn got another clean look from three about 30 seconds later, but he missed the shot that would have tied the game. After a lackluster beginning to the second half, Nebraska punched right back with a 14-1 run. That was all Nebraska needed to put the game away.

In the first half it was Tominaga’s 3-point shot ripping through the net, and in the second it was Jamarques Lawrence, who made all five of his attempts Wednesday. It was nothing new, yet another example of 3-point shooting haves and have-nots, as Nebraska went 14-for-33 compared to Indiana’s 4-for-21 mark.

In addition to the flaws in the make-up of its roster, Indiana looks like a team that has lost confidence – like a team hoping, not believing, that its shots will fall. It was the ninth game in which the Hoosiers shot 60% or worse at the free throw line, falling to 340th nationally. And it was the 10th game in which they shot 26.9% or worse on 3-point attempts, dropping to 254th.

Galloway sat distraught as ever at the podium postgame, and Woodson knows that’s a reflection of this team’s mindset with five games left.

“They're down a little bit,” Woodson said. “You expect to be down. The only way you come out of a rut, come out of a situation that we're in, you got work your way through it. Nobody is going to feel sorry for Indiana basketball. They're not. My locker room is down. As a coach I got to keep pumping them up and see if I can get them to overcome being down and get us back into winning ways.”

Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson talks with Trey Galloway (32) during the second half of the Indiana versus Nebraska men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. — Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson talks with Trey Galloway (32) during the second half of the Indiana versus Nebraska men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024 :: Rich Janzaruk/Herald Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

The biggest challenge for Woodson is whether he can pull his team out of this dangerous state. He knew going into the season that it would be difficult to get a young roster with so many new pieces to play well together, and there’s been little to no improvement in that regard all season. Like Wednesday, the Hoosiers run extremely hot and cold in alternating stretches of games.

As unimaginable as this may have been to say in other eras or even earlier in the season, maybe Indiana needs a change of scenery. The Hoosiers’ failures were thrown right back in their faces by an understandably frustrated crowd Wednesday night, which can’t be good for their confidence, if there’s any left.

Indiana is just 2-5 on the road this season, most recently losing by 20 at Purdue. But prior to that, it won at Ohio State and nearly upset Illinois in Champaign. The last three home games have been uglier than the road games.

The Hoosiers travel to Penn State – the first of three road games in a four-game stretch – on Saturday for a Noon ET tip off against a 12-14 team that beat Indiana 85-71 on Feb. 3 at Assembly Hall. The Nittany Lions didn't have leading scorer Kanye Clary in the first matchup due to injury, and he’s since been dismissed from the team by first-year coach Mike Rhoades.

Penn State is coming off a 90-89 home win over No. 12 Illinois on Wednesday, a game it trailed 89-82 with 37 seconds left before a miraculous comeback. Penn State is a team Indiana should be capable of beating, but the Hoosiers’ shooting woes, lack of confidence and disconnected play makes it difficult to envision any win right now.

Though Indiana’s goals of an NCAA Tournament appearance are out of reach – their NIT chances are dwindling, too – it can’t simply give up on the rest of the season.

“We just got to really stick together,” Galloway said. “We're right there, and we show spurts where we can be really good.”

Related stories on Indiana basketball