Thoughts on a 94-69 loss to the Illini:

Let us count the ways this game was a dumpster fire for the Hoosiers:

1. Students chanted “Fire Woodson.”
2. Fans booed.
3. Fans left during halftime. More filed out as the second half wore along.
4. The Hoosiers trailed by 28 at half. The Illini hung 60 points and 1.53 points per possession on them over the first 20 minutes of action.
5. According to ESPN Stats & Info, that 28-point deficit at halftime is Indiana’s largest at home in the last 25 seasons.
6. Oumar Ballo got ejected for pushing Tomislav Ivisic with 2:23 to play.
7. Indiana missed its first 13 3-point shots and finished just 4-of-18 (22 percent) from deep.
8. This was Indiana’s second straight 25-point loss. According to our Will Foley, the last time Indiana lost two games in a row by that much was during Tom Crean’s first season (2008-09) in the Maui Invitational. The Hoosiers finished 6-25 and 1-17 in conference play that year.
9. This game also flirted with one of the worst losses in Assembly Hall history. Some digging by Ken Bikoff revealed a 32-point loss to Wisconsin during Crean’s second season takes the cake there.
10. Mike Woodson skipped his post-game radio interview with Don Fischer.

We can stop there.

This game got away from the Hoosiers in the first half because they allowed the Illini to rebound 42 percent of their misses. Time and again, long rebounds went Illinois’ way. Indiana fared no better at rebounds around the basket, as players were outworked and out-positioned for boards. Illinois cashed in for 17 second-chance points in the first half as a result.

The Illini also lit it up from deep, hitting 8-of-19 (42.1 percent). Ivisic hit 3-of-5, finding opportunities in the pick-and-pop game with Kasparas Jakucionis. Jakucionis also showed no signs of his forearm injury affecting his shooting. He made 3-of-6 from deep himself in the first half. Kylan Boswell and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn both went 2-of-2.

On the other end, Indiana took too many long 2s, and they weren’t going in. We know this is an inefficient, puzzling part of Woodson’s offense. But in the last two games, Fran McCaffery and Brad Underwood have exploited it to great effect, devising their defenses to encourage the shots.

Indiana, as it has too often this season, also just didn’t bring enough toughness or fight. The Hoosiers did at least come out of halftime with more resolve and were able to cut into the lead. A Ballo bucket at the 13:30 mark got them within 16 points. But you can’t expect to go down by 28 to one of the better teams in the country at halftime and have a real shot at winning.

Indiana is now 1-5 in Quad 1 games this season. It’s lost those five games by an average of 22.2 points. If you were to look at those numbers without knowing the name of the team, would you think it was one challenging for a conference title? One on its way to the NCAA tournament? One with strong high-major talent? One that’s even competitive?

Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, the answer to all those questions by most rational minds would be “no” right now. And as this brutal stretch of games continues, there’s nowhere left to hide.

Filed to: Illinois Fighting Illini