Todd’s Take: Rock Bottom For Indiana? Illinois Loss Was Bad, But It Could Get Worse
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Recently, I was in a car accident.
I’ll leave the unusual details of the accident out of this because there are still matters related to it on-going, but the simple story is that I was rear-ended.
I was uninjured. My son, who was riding with me, was also unhurt. And the driver of the other car was also OK. My car? Different story, but luckily, it’s being repaired.
I bring this up only because it flashed through my mind as I witnessed Indiana crumble in the face of No. 19 Illinois Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in a 94-69 embarrassment.
Not in any kind of feel-sorry-for-me sense, or frankly, a feel-sorry-for-them sense either. Not even in the metaphorical sense of watching a car wreck unfold.
It was just the shock of it. When you get into a car accident, your first reaction, assuming you’re not injured, is something like, did what I think just happened really happen? You process the magnitude in a matter of seconds. It’s a jarring experience.
I remarked to my media colleagues about feeling that way as I watched Indiana’s self-made debacle unfold. Part of it was to deal with an unacceptable performance with gallows humor, but it really was a shock to the system.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Desperation on the offensive end, where unpreparedness isn’t a strong enough word to describe it. Matador defense. A complete inability to get a rebound. Body language from the players that suggested they were crying out for a solution from the sideline that wasn’t forthcoming.
Do-everything Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis was almost comically allowed to run free early in the game, scoring the team’s first three buckets. It was as if he wasn’t on the scouting report.
The mood got ugly, but honestly? It could have been uglier. The “Fire Woodson” chant was certainly noticeable, but it didn’t last very long. The boos at halftime were richly deserved, but the ill mood wasn’t permanent. There was even a heartening burst of enthusiasm to start the second half, when fans threw their weight behind the Hoosiers and their brief oasis of competent basketball.
After that, there was shocked silence in the Hall until the moronic confrontation with just over two minutes left in the game.
At first, I thought Luke Goode was very naughty to fly in on Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic with an aggressive block out in the manner he did in a game that was long over. Seeing it again later, it wasn’t as bad as I originally thought, but it was still unnecessary in what was a 31-point game at the time.
And why were there starters for both teams in the game at that point anyway? Even from a NET margin of victory point of view, that game was long over.
I digress. The confrontation could have been a footnote, but Oumar Ballo comes rolling in, Leroy Jenkins-style (look it up), and leaps over the pile to push Ivisic down as things were cooling off.
It was monumentally ill-advised, and I don’t want to hear boys-being-boys or he’s-defending-a-teammate rationales, which are no defense at all, just a flimsy excuse for losing your head.
The consequence of that action could mean a bad situation isn’t isolated to just one game. It was a dopey loss of composure, though it did provide a fitting end to a very poor game for the Hoosiers.
As I watched all of this unfold, still in that car accident-style mindset of shock, I thought to myself that this was rock bottom. It simply can’t get worse.
Can it?
Once my brain kicked in and the emotional response washed away, I thought to myself that, oh yes, this can definitely get worse.
It could have been much worse on Tuesday. Bear in mind, Illinois scored 60 first half points – and the Illini had a stretch late in the first half where they missed seven shots in a row. They could have easily put up a 70-spot at halftime.
Also bear in mind that Illinois played poorly in the second half. The Illini shot 28.1% after halftime. Indiana was fortunate that Illinois didn’t do to them what they did at Oregon on Jan. 2, when they ambushed a good Ducks team with a 109-point deluge.
The single-game season-high for Illinois is 117 points scored against woebegone Chicago State. Illinois was on pace to exceed that at halftime. That’s how bad it could have been for the Hoosiers – worse than Chicago State bad.
But how bad it was will suffice as nightmare fuel for Indiana fans just the same.
It’s probably good that Indiana plays four of its next five games away from Bloomington, in the sense that they’ll be spared the ire of their fans. I can only imagine how nasty it might get if Indiana gets clubbed by Purdue again or if the Hoosiers have another no-show on its home floor like they did on Tuesday.
Being away from Bloomington is not good in the sense that Indiana won’t be favored in any of those games with trips to Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.
Unless Indiana can change things around, the accumulation of bad outcomes is just going to raise the toxicity to flood stage. Players are human, and while some will try to fight their way out of a bad situation, others will simply give in. It is right to wonder about the chemistry of a group largely built on the basis of come-get-your-NIL-bag-of-cash, too.
Mike Woodson has been late to react to Indiana’s problems and now finds himself with a mess on his hands that is in large part of his own making. Does he have the ability to sort it out? I think last night’s 25-point loss on the back of a 25-point loss in the previous game at Iowa doesn’t generate a lot of faith in that department to put it mildly.
The Woodson situation has floated like a storm cloud over the program for the last two years. Fans can be over-the-top about it as I’ve written about before.
But it’s hard to say “calm down” when Indiana is at minus-50 in its last two games. Fans and media criticism can be unfair and it can create a rough atmosphere for the participants, but outside parties still don’t win or lose games.
The coaches and players can make excuses about it, but their fate is in their hands, always. It’s down to how much they care, how prepared they are, and finally, how tough they are.
I was both heartened and also concerned when I asked Anthony Leal a question along these lines on Tuesday night. His response was honest, largely correct, but also hesitant, because he’s searching for answers too.
“That's tough,” said Leal, pausing after being asked what the players’ approach should be in turning things around.
“Obviously things aren't going the way they're supposed to go right now. That's a problem we all have to understand amongst ourselves first, and then just coming in with the right mindset every day. Sure, we just did lose two, but we're staring nine quad one games in a row in the face,” Leal continued.
“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, right? So I think it's just approaching every day with a new, fresh mentality and understanding we do have a lot of work to do. The work needs to be done.”
At risk of sounding like Kevin Bacon’s character from “Animal House,” shouting “all is well!”, Indiana does still have time to fix this. The Big Ten season isn’t close to half-over and the Hoosiers are still over .500 in league play – even if it seems to be a universe away from the current reality.
Then again? With eight of the next nine contests being Quad 1 quality games? We might only be at the beginning of a rough ride.
Can this get worse? You bet it can. We have to consider that possibility and just hope the Hoosiers blaze a trail out of this that doesn’t make it a probability.
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- GAME STORY: Indiana suffers record-breaking blowout in loss to No. 19 Illinois on Tuesday. CLICK HERE.
- FAN MESSAGE: Mike Woodson and Luke Goode have one for disappointed Indiana fans. CLICK HERE.
- POSTGAME REACTION: Indiana Hoosiers On SI writers Jack Ankony and Todd Golden share their thoughts on Indiana's 94-69 loss to Illinois Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. CLICK HERE
- WHAT WOODSON SAID: Mike Woodson faced the media after Indiana suffered its second straight 25-point defeat in Big Ten play. CLICK HERE
- HOOSIERS, ILLINI SCUFFLE: Luke Goode’s hard block out on Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic ignited a baseline confrontation between the two teams late in Indiana's 94-69 loss that resulted in an ejection for Indiana’s Oumar Ballo. CLICK HERE.
- ILLINOIS PERSPECTIVE: Illinois talks about its big win over Indiana in enemy territory. CLICK HERE.