My Two Cents: Overmatched Indiana Can't Hang With Elite, But Didn't We Already Know That?

Indiana got blown out at home by No. 2-ranked Purdue on Tuesday night, and a lot of the struggles happened when Mike Woodson kept standout players Mackenzie Mgbako and Kel'el Ware on the bench for too long in the first half. It's a bad trend that has to stop if Indiana wants to hang with the premier teams on their schedule.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Facts are facts, even when you don't want to hear it. But it's true — so painfully true for Hoosier Nation — that Purdue is simply a much better team than Indiana is right now.

That doesn't mean Purdue will blow them out every time play this season, but that's certainly what happened in the first meeting on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall. For many, many reasons, the No. 2-ranked Boilermakers had their way with the Hoosiers, cruising to an 87-66 win. 

They led by 22 at halftime, and even though Indiana cut the lead to nine a few times in the second half, the Boilers still won by 21, and led by 24 in the closing minute.

It was a beatdown, plain and simple.

OK, so let's starting dispensing with the facts, no matter how ugly. You have to go back 90 years — yes, NINETY — to find the last time Purdue enjoyed such a blowout in Bloomington. 

Back in 1934, the Boilermakers trounced Indiana 47-13. Everett Dean was Indiana's coach back then, and he was a really good one. But it was probably a good thing social media didn't exist that night. People read about it the next morning in a thing called a newspaper, in their local cafe or barber shop. 

It's doubtful that anyone called for his firing that night, mostly because it was in the still the Great Depression. Having enough coins in your pocket for your next meal was far more important than the coach's employment future, especially when folks were making 30 cents an hour.

That's certainly not the case in 2024, where the keyboard warriors in their mom's basement think Mike Woodson should be fired after every loss. That's laughable, of course. Sure, it's fair to be frustrated, but it's also idiotic to think Woodson is going to be let go in the middle of his third season at his alma mater.

There was certainly plenty of blame to go around, of course. Purdue made shots, and Indiana didn't. The Hoosiers were 2-for-12 from three in the first half. Indiana's two best players — Mackenzie Mgbako and Kel'el Ware — picked up two fouls each early in the first half. Mgbako's were 19 seconds apart, Ware's 44. 

It was a killer.

There was so more. Purdue, which had lost three of four to Indiana over the past two years, came to Assembly Hall ready to rumble. They attacked. They pushed. They prodded. They even had a 7-foot-4, 300-pound national Player of the Year diving for loose balls — and getting it — even while up 18 points. Zach Edey is unique.

Indiana didn't do any of those things. And it showed in the final score.

When people asked me for a prediction before the game, I didn't really want to say. Purdue was a 9.5-point favorite, and here's a good hint. I didn't think that was nearly enough, even inside raucous Assembly Hall. I reserved judgment until I saw the first six fouls called. That was going to tell me everything I needed to know.

And it did. My 83-66 prediction wasn't far off.

Five of those first six fouls were called against Indiana. So were the next two, actually. The early Mgbako and Ware fouls really hurt, because they got sent to the bench — which you have to do five minutes into the game.

The Hoosiers trailed by two points when they went to the bench. They stayed there for 11 minutes, and by the time Mgbako returned with 3:33 to go in the half, Purdue's lead had grown to 16. Ware came back a minute later.

The game, for the most part, was basically over by then.

We have had this conversation before about Woodson's penchant for keeping guys on the bench during the first half when they have two fouls. It drives me nuts. He does it far too often, especially with this Indiana team that gets very little out of its bench. That makes Indiana's starters that much more valuable.

He did the same thing last Friday against Minnesota. Starters Malik Reneau and Trey Galloway got two early fouls and sat for 10 minutes. They then proceeded to play the entire second half without picking up a single foul.

It was a wasted 10 minutes.

Woodson often stands by that decision, saying repeatedly that ''it's a long game'' and "I believe in my bench.'' That's coach-speak, of course.

The fact of the matter, though, is that Indiana's only chance to beat good teams is to have their best players on the floor for every minute possible. They had no chance of beating Purdue with Mgbako and Ware sitting next to Woodson.

Zero. Nada. Zilch.

Mgbako's fouls were borderline, but Ware deserved both of his. He was out of position in guarding Edey, and the fouls ''were silly,'' teammate Trey Galloway said after the game. Ware deserves some blame for that, but the Hoosiers were also very slow to double- or triple-team Edey and lend Ware a hand.

Woodson, though, finally admitted after the game that he sat the pair for too long. He's not a ''hindsight is 20/20'' guy, but it was clear he wished he had a do-over on that call. 

"You know, it's kind of like the 'next man up,' but I probably should have played — not Ware — but Mack a little more even with the two fouls, but I elected not to do that,'' Woodson said. "You know, that's hindsight. I hate coaching that way, on thinking back to what I should have done. But at the end of the day, you know, (Purdue) played extremely well the first half. I thought we came out with big-time energy the second half to cut it to nine, but when you dig a hole like that, you know, against a pretty good team, it's hard to dig your way out.

"Again, it's a long game, but we fell back so quickly, you know, I figured I brought him back I think around the two- or three-minute mark right around the half, and when I think back to it, I probably should have brought him back a lot sooner, but I didn't.''

What's always hard for me to grasp when it comes to benching or resting his stars is that Woodson often played all 40 minutes as a player himself during his Hall of Fame career at Indiana. Bob Knight wanted him on the floor for every single minute. Woodson needs to feel the same way with his stars.

They need to help, too, of course. Edey was the far better player, by far, which isn't any real surprise. He's the national player of the year for a reason. 

But sitting them didn't work. Ware played 18 minutes in the second half and only got one more foul. Mgbako played the same — and didn't have ANY fouls. 

Two games in a row now, the same thing has happened. Woodson has to trust those guys to play through foul issues. It's their only chance of winning high-level games. And he needs Ware — and to a lesser problematic extent, Malik Reneau — to play better in big games.

"I've got to get my two big guys (Kel'el Ware and Malik Reneau) a little more tougher. That's got to help,'' Woodson said. "I didn't think we played tough enough, and Edey kind of had his way. We've got to work on that. It's a work in progress.'' 

The season is half over. The ''work in progress'' stuff is obvious, isn't it? And we're running out of time.

This is what we know about this team so far. They win the games they're supposed to — Indiana is 10-0 as a favorite — and they've won some games they weren't supposed to, like at Michigan and home against Ohio State.

But they've also played the best of the best. Connecticut, Purdue and Kansas have all beaten Indiana, and they are currently ranked No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 in the country. Indiana is not in that league. Not even close. But we already knew that, didn't we?

The Hoosiers are 12-6 now, and 4-3 in the Big Ten. You'd like to think that Indiana at its best is still an NCAA Tournament team. The problem is we don't always see their best. We get glimpses — and then it goes away. 

Their front line of Ware, Reneau and Mgbako shows some real flashes at times. Senior guard Trey Galloway has struggled a lot this year, but he has his moments, too. I thought he was great Tuesday night, scoring 17 points. But it's not enough. 

Freshman point guard Gabe Cupps can guard, and he's doing his best offensively. But let's be real. He's playing so much only because Xavier Johnson is giving this team nothing right now. He was 0-for-5 with two turnovers Tuesday night, and picked up another flagrant foul. The sixth-year guard has become a non-factor.

It doesn't get any easier for the Hoosiers, with road trips to Wisconsin and Illinois next on the docket. They need to be more competitive — they've lost their six games by an average of 16.3 points per game — in high-profile games. There are a bunch of those in the Big Ten, and they come in a flurry.

The best way to do that, of course, is to keep your best players on the floor. The players need to do their part, of course, but it's on Woodson to keep them out there, too. 

If we're going to see more, then we need to — see more. Keep your best players out there. It really could make a difference.  

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• PHOTO GALLERY: The No. 2-ranked Purdue Boilermakers proved way too much for the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday night, beating them 87-66. Here are the best pictures from the game. CLICK HERE
• WHAT MIKE WOODSON SAID: Indiana dug itself a deep hole trying to defend Purdue center Zach Edey on Tuesday night, and all that foul trouble helped Purdue cruise to an easy 87-66 win. Here's what Indiana coach Mike Woodson said to the media after the game, with complete video and a full transcript. CLICK HERE
• WHAT MATT PAINTER SAID: Here's the full transcript and video of Purdue coach Matt Painter's postgame press conference after the Boilermakers' 87-66 win at Indiana. CLICK HERE
• EDEY DOMINATES WARE, RENEAU: Indiana has relied on Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware to carry the load as both scorers and rebounders. But against Purdue center Zach Edey, the reigning National Player of the Year, Indiana's front court duo had two of their least-productive games of the season. CLICK HERE
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• WATCH MGBAKO'S HOT START: Some freshmen might be intimidated in a rivalry game, but that wasn't the case for Mackenzie Mgbako, who scored Indiana's first seven points vs. Purdue. CLICK HERE