Todd’s Take: Indiana Can Take Flight If It Keeps Its Fight Right

For the first time this season, Indiana faced down a difficult opponent in a hard environment at Purdue Friday and matched their fight and toughness.

Todd Golden | Feb 1, 2025

Indiana Hoosiers guard Trey Galloway (32) high-fives Indiana Hoosiers forward Luke Goode (10) after a free throw during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A fatalism among Indiana men’s basketball fans has settled in, and to be fair, it’s well-earned.

The season hasn’t played out the way many thought it would. I think, in hindsight, the expectations placed on Indiana were way too extravagant, too much was thought of the talent brought in – all but Oumar Ballo have been uneven, and sometimes, unreliable.

The last few weeks, in particular, have been gloomy for Indiana fans. There was the fade-from-being-ahead at Northwestern. There was the last-minute cascade of losing plays and decisions by players and coaches alike in the home loss to Maryland. Even the most optimistic Indiana fans had to wonder what they could hang their hat on based on what they were seeing.

Entering Friday’s game at No. 10 Purdue, there wasn’t much to be optimistic about. Any road game in the Big Ten is tough, much less at one of the conference’s best teams. Mackey Arena is not a place for visiting teams to get well. Purdue had only lost once at home since Indiana beat them at Mackey Arena in 2023.

Few gave Indiana a chance. On our Hoosier Roundtable podcast, both Jack Ankony and I predicted a 15-point loss for Indiana – and to be honest, that kind of felt like we were being nice. The oddsmakers had Indiana as an 11.5 or 12.5 point underdog.

The only thing, frankly, that gave this game any juice at all was the in-state rivalry factor and its history. Apart from that? No one would have blinked an eye had Indiana taken its loss and moved on.

What I wanted to see from Indiana’s players was some passion. Some fight. Those traits have been thin against quality opponents.

I’m certain I wasn’t alone in wondering what to expect from the Hoosiers given the long odds they stared down. Would they fold in the face of pressure? Would they capitulate quickly as they did against Iowa and Illinois earlier in January?

As I watched the game unfold, I was pleasantly surprised. After surviving the initial onslaught of makes from Purdue and the din from the energized Paint Crew student section, Indiana didn’t panic. They allowed the game to come back to them and then asserted themselves.

Indiana Hoosiers forward Luke Goode (10) celebrates after a play during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Luke Goode and Mackenzie Mgbako were excellent in the first half. Mgbako, sometimes accused of playing with too much ice in his veins, was after it on both sides of the floor. There was the passion I wanted. Indiana had a 41-37 halftime lead as their reward.

The fight was there throughout the game. It seemed Purdue was going to run away with the game with an 11-1 run after halftime to take a 48-42 lead, but the Hoosiers refused to give in. Indiana eventually fought back and took a 67-61 lead.

I don’t need to remind anyone that Indiana did lose, 81-76. Fight alone is good, but it needs to be meshed with execution and the Hoosiers made some crucial errors.

Still, for perhaps the first time all season, Indiana showed me that they have the capacity to be tough. They have the capacity to be passionate. Perhaps Oumar Ballo getting upset with Myles Rice in the final seconds isn’t a good look in the moment, but I like that he cares.

Maybe the idea that this is a team full of NIL mercenaries out for a paycheck isn’t as accurate as our most cynical thoughts on this team might think it is?

I’m sure there’s no shortage of curmudgeons out there who will declare that “fight” isn’t something that should be lauded. That praising traits like caring, toughness and passion are smack dab in moral victory territory. Why give credit to attributes that should be a given in every game?

Sure. Just like every time I go to a restaurant the food should be perfectly prepared. Or every time I go to the airport, the flight should always be on time. In a perfect world, there’s a lot of things that should be a given, but we all know it doesn’t work that way.

I’ve covered college basketball every year since 2004. I’ve been around more losing teams than winning ones, so I can say with some expertise that it’s not automatic for a team facing adversity as Indiana has to get off the mat just because.

I’ve been around teams that played out the string, showing fight in spurts, but without the day-to-day passion it takes to sustain it. It’s human nature to get into the rut when things aren’t going right. Certainly, one good game of effort doesn’t lift Indiana out of this category yet by any means.

But you have to start somewhere. I’ve also been around a select few teams that did figure it out. And yes, a modicum of fight is where it started.

One team that jumps to mind for me was the 2008-09 Indiana State team. Reading this as an Indiana fan, you have zero reason to remember this team. Truth be told, I’m sure the vast majority of Indiana State fans don’t have immediate recall of that team.

It was a team in the express lane straight to the bottom of the barrel. At 4-19 on Feb. 8 of that season, they had the worst record at that stage of the season of any team I covered before or after.

The Sycamores played a Sunday night game at Illinois State – a Missouri Valley Conference contender in 2009. It was on national TV, and it seemed it would be a public execution for Indiana State, which had lost seven straight.

However, Indiana State hung in there and then got a bit of magic as the Sycamores’ stretch five – Jay Tunnell – was 8 of 9 from 3-point range, with six of them occurring in the final four minutes of the game and overtime.

The Sycamores capped a dramatic night with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Harry Marshall in overtime to claim a 75-73 victory, one of the most memorable games I covered on that beat.

That’s all it took for those Sycamores. That victory was the first of seven in their final nine games before they were edged by MVC champ Northern Iowa in the conference tournament. The record was still poor, but at least that team could go out with their heads held high.

Even teams that seem to be hopeless can drag themselves out of the mire – and while Indiana has discouraged its fans, the Hoosiers are far from hopeless.

Unlike that Indiana State team, Indiana didn’t get the validation of victory. Their fight was ultimately nice, but without reward.

Indiana Hoosiers guard Trey Galloway (32) and Purdue Boilermakers forward Raleigh Burgess (34) go after a loose ball during the first half at Mackey Arena. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

However, this is the Big Ten, where all but the most abject teams get an endless amount of rope to make the NCAA Tournament. It’s never too late to conjure the fight to make things right.

Hopefully, these Hoosiers can derive that lesson from its defeat. For the first time all season, against a quality opponent in their cauldron of a home arena, the fight from the Hoosiers was right.

Once again, no one will expect much from Tuesday’s game at Wisconsin, where Indiana hasn’t won since Chumbawumba graced the music charts (1998).

Indiana demonstrated it has the fight to prove its non-believers wrong. It’s up to the Hoosiers to show that this wasn’t an isolated case and that they can bring this effort on the regular.

If Indiana can keep that fight right, perhaps the Hoosiers can take flight?

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