Indiana basketball is known for its tradition of excellence.
Whether it’s the annual showing of Martha the Mop Lady singing "Indiana, our Indiana" through the halls of Assembly Hall, or the greatest timeout in college basketball, the Indiana basketball experience is unmatched.
But once 5:48 hit the clock in the first half and Illinois hit six back-to-back 3-pointers in less than four minutes, that tradition had gone out the window. The Illini had taken a 48-22 lead, and roars of frustration began to pour out. Instead of singing along to the Indiana fight song heading into the locker room at halftime, the Hoosiers were left with boos that echoed throughout the entirety of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Instead of everybody standing up to sing along to "Indiana, our Indiana" in the greatest timeout of college basketball, several Hoosier fans stood up to hit the exits.
Boos continued all the way to the final buzzer, as Indiana ultimately fell 94-69 to Illinois on Tuesday night, marking its first home loss of the season.
And the second worst loss in Assembly Hall history.
“Long season, man. I mean, you can’t throw in the towel,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said. “I thought we came out the second half and we competed and played a lot better, but the damage was already done in the first half. Got to give Illinois a lot of credit, their coaching staff. They played great.”
This loss was, in a sense, to be described as the same old Indiana basketball. Poor shooting, little to no rebounding, and nonexistent defense led the Hoosiers to their downfall halfway into the first half.
In that first half alone, the Hoosiers shot 13-for-34 from the field, and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. Giving up 10 offensive rebounds, Illinois used the Hoosiers’ disconnection to their advantage, shooting 8-for-19 from the 3-point line. This led to an Illinois 60-32 lead heading into halftime.
The second half, however, didn’t get much better offensively. Despite outscoring the Fighting Illini by three and holding them to 28% from the field, the final minutes of the game encapsulated the game-long frustrations that were left on the court.
With just two and a half minutes left in the game, a fight broke out when Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic got into Luke Goode’s face, and Myles Rice jumped in to shove Ivisic, while Oumar Ballo also jumped to Goode’s defense, throwing a punch to Ivisic. Ballo was later ejected, while Illinois’ Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, Ivisic, and Rice were all assessed with technical fouls.
“I think it got blown way out of proportion,” Goode said. “I went and talked to the Illinois staff after and said I had no bad intentions, it was simply a box out. I don’t think Ballo reacted in the right way. He stood up for me and Myles did, which I really appreciate that. That’s what a team looks like. But it was a little too much.”
Two straight 25-point losses are also seeming to be a little too much, not only for the fans, but also for the ones representing the candy stripes.
The Hoosiers had never before allowed a team to score 60 points in a single half and gave up a total of 51 rebounds, which sits as the most Indiana has given up this season.
You can look at the statistics from this game and see enough, but while the box score says one thing, the lack of energy and abundance of anger and frustration looming in Assembly Hall says another. While these are only two back-to-back losses, this is the most discombobulated Indiana basketball has looked in a long time.
But one thing many people can agree on is one single question: where does Indiana go from here?
“I don’t think we carry on like normal,” Indiana guard Anthony Leal said. “Obviously things need to be addressed between players and themselves and players and each other. I think that’s really the root of it. We just got to lock in, look in the mirror, and understand how embarrassing and unacceptable this is and understand that nobody gets to where they want to go if the team doesn’t win.”
Looking ahead, Indiana has a lot of chances ahead of them. Eight Quad-1 opponents in a row lie ahead, and the Hoosiers have yet another opportunity to improve their 1-5 record in those matchups this season.
IU will next travel to Columbus to face Ohio State on Friday, in hopes of snapping their two-game losing streak, and improving their 4-3 conference record. Tip off is slated for 8 p.m. on FOX.
