For the 17th time in Mike Woodson’s career with Indiana, his team lost a conference game by double figures — the biggest losing deficit since 2010, as the Hoosiers fell to Illinois 94-69.
For reference, Archie Miller’s worst ever home conference loss was a 69-46 beat down against the Michigan Wolverines on Jan. 25, 2019.
These types of performances have become the norm in the Woodson era as year after year these big losses have accumulated, and fans have gotten tired. They expressed their feelings on Tuesday night with chants for Mike Woodson to be fired before the first half was even over.
“We can’t let two games, and these were embarrassing games for us, determine our season…I just got to get us better prepared and ready to play,” said Woodson.
There is a lot to discuss about the Illinois game, but let’s walk through the 17 times that Mike Woodson has lost a Big Ten game by 10 or more.
Year One
Dating back to Woodson’s first season (2021-22), after inheriting the 12-15 Archie Miller led team in the 2020-21 season, the Hoosiers found themselves losing by 10 or more only three times against Big Ten opponents.
The first of which was an 18-point loss at home to a Michigan team that was 8-7 prior to routing the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on Jan. 25, 2022.
The second occurrence came just three games later. Again at home, Indiana was tabbed with taking on the No. 18 team in the land, the Illinois Fighting Illini (what a coincidence). The Hoosiers would be unable to crack 60 as they fell 74-57.
The final example from Woodson’s first season was just two games after the Illinois loss. This time on the road, the Hoosiers were set to face another top-25 opponent as the No. 17 Michigan State Spartans took care of business in East Lansing, winning 76-61.
A big note from that final game was how the Spartans scored 43 points from their bench that evening.
Year Two
Anybody who has been following Indiana basketball for at least the entirety of the Woodson era can tell you that this season (2022-23) was the best of the four. To be fair season four can still have the makings and potential to be the best, but that will require an unprecedented turnaround.
With that in mind, the Hoosiers lost by double figures five separate times in conference play. An important figure from those five losses, however, is how four of them came away from Assembly Hall.
The first was the 63-48 loss in Piscataway as Rutgers was able to stall the high powered Hoosiers offense. This was the game after Indiana earned their marquee non-conference win when they took down UNC 77-65, but was not the way they wanted to start their Big Ten journey.
Indiana would next get mauled by Penn State on the road as the Nittany Lions led by double figures at the half, and would never give it up, winning 85-66.
As the season progressed, Indiana was staring at a date with Maryland on the final day of January. The trend of poor offense on the road continued as the Hoosiers fell to the Terrapins 66-55.
The next example is less about Woodson, and more about how sometimes sports are meant to be. The Hoosiers traveled to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans, who were playing in their first home game since the tragic shooting that occurred in 2023.
It was always going to be the Spartans as they took down Indiana 80-65, a night that meant more than the final score.
Number five was when Indiana laid a stinker in their return home from beating Purdue at Mackey, as the Hoosiers lost to the streaky Iowa Hawkeyes 90-68.
Year Three
Last season (2023-24), the qualified losses occurred six times for Woodson and the Indiana Hoosiers.
Four of these games came from opponents bringing out the brooms. Both Purdue and Nebraska were able to handle the Hoosiers in pretty dominating fashion at home and at Assembly Hall.
On Jan. 19, 2024, the Wisconsin Badgers were able to outlast the Hoosiers in a 91-79 win. This game was directly after Indiana’s home loss to Purdue, not a great stretch of games.
Penn State again makes the cut, this time bringing the boom to Bloomington as first-year head coach Mike Rhoades earned his big road win en route to an 85-71 victory.
Year Four
Now to the present. As most know Indiana’s three Big Ten losses have all been by double digits. In fact, the average margin of loss has been 22.3 points with the smallest of the three being a 17-point loss at Nebraska back in December.
Prior to the disaster at Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers were returning home from a 25-point embarrassment in Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes got hot, and stayed hot.
That leads to Jan. 14, 2025, where Indiana had their second biggest home loss in the history of their program. Thirty-two was the number to beat back on Feb. 25, 2010 where Indiana lost to Wisconsin 78-46, and it was close to being broken as Illinois led by 31 with 2:24 left in Tuesday’s game.
What’s Next
It has not been pretty for Indiana these past two games. The trend of these large margins of defeat, especially to conference opponents, has only grown from year one of the Woodson era to now.
There are still 13 games remaining in the season, all of which are conference games, and the road really does not get any easier to try and turn it around.
The possibility that the number of these losses is the highest of the four years is higher than some may think. Considering that Indiana has nine consecutive games against Quad-1 opponents, it is going to take a masterful turnaround to make a season of this.
With criticism, comes optimism. This team is still wicked talented, and there is accountability being taken from veterans such as Luke Goode and Anthony Leal, who still believe in what this group can accomplish.
All this team can really do is go out and win some games, because if this trend continues, then the chants of the fans at Assembly Hall may become all too true.
