Illinois Achieves Largest Win Over Indiana in Bloomington Since 1956

As Illinois dominated Indiana in every facet en route to a 94-69 win, the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall crowd expressed its displeasure with coach Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers. There was even a late-game scuffle between the Hoosiers and Illini.

Illinois guards Kylan Boswell (4) and Kasparas Jakucionis (32) celebrate against Indiana at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 19 Illinois wounded Indiana early, and the Hoosiers couldn’t stop the bleeding in a 94-69 loss.

That’s Illinois’ largest margin of victory against Indiana in Bloomington since a 96-72 win over the Hoosiers on Jan. 14, 1956 in what is now known as the Bill Garrett Fieldhouse. It hasn’t been long since Illinois has beaten Indiana badly, though, with Tuesday being its largest win at Assembly Hall since a 74-57 victory on Feb. 5, 2022. 

The onslaught started on Illinois’ first possession. Indiana guard Trey Galloway got caught up in a screen by Tomislav Ivisic, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer by freshman star Kasparas Jakucionis. 

It was Jakucionis’ first game back from a forearm injury that sidelined him for the last two games, a 91-52 win over Penn State and an 82-72 loss to USC, both at home. He showed no signs of rust Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Less than two minutes after his first 3-pointer, Jakucionis made Indiana center Oumar Ballo pay for not stepping out far enough and sank another 3-pointer. 

Underwood said they aired on the side of safety and concern with Jakucionis’ injury, and he didn’t do much prior to the team’s Tuesday shootaround.

“I’ll state the obvious. I think we missed Kasparas for a couple games,” Underwood said. “It was very nice to see him back. … He’s just different. I don’t know how to describe him. He’s one of the smartest people I know. He’s very competitive. Beyond his years in terms of that.”

Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakucionis against Indiana tonight:

▪️ 21 PTS
▪️ 7-13 FG
▪️ 3-7 3PT
▪️ 5 AST pic.twitter.com/xt1RjqTiSS

— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) January 15, 2025

Jakucionis said he didn’t practice the last two days but did some running, conditioning and recovery with his hand. After being hit in the Washington game, there was pain, swelling and inflammation in a left forearm tendon, Jakucionis said. It was frustrating not being able to help the team recently, but he feels a lot better now. 

“I decided I missed basketball a little bit,” Jakucionis said. “And I wanted to play.”

Ivisic and others played with noticeably more effort on the glass from the opening tip, a large reason the Illini jumped out to a 60-32 halftime lead. Ivisic went into the break with 15 points and eight rebounds as Illinois had a 29-18 rebounding advantage. 

Ballo finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds, but he didn’t have much help inside. Illinois guard Kylan Boswell was teammates with Ballo at Arizona and had some tips for his new Illini teammates on how to guard the 7-footer.

“He’s elite at ducking in, and here he’s still been doing it, tipping the ball out, getting to the offensive rebound and stuff,” Boswell said. “But just a big, strong guy. He’s really, really good at what he does. Offensive rebounds really well, elite pick and roller. But I think Tom [Ivisic] did a great job with his game plan and trying his best.”

The Illini often established optimal rebounding position against the Hoosiers, but they also looked hungrier to chase down loose balls. That’s just how Underwood demands his team plays. 

“It was just us trying to be who we were and getting back to winning 50-50 balls,” Underwood said. “You don’t have to get every rebound, but you have to go and create opportunities. … Rebounding is always an emphasis. I’m gonna write ‘rebound’ on the board 100 times before every game. I’m gonna talk about it every single day. I’m gonna do 10 rebounding drills every single day, and it just goes hand in hand with winning, in my opinion.”

Indiana's Luke Goode (10) shoots against Illinois' Tomislav Ivisic (13) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Illinois blew the game open by torching Indiana with five 3-pointers from the 9:23 mark to the 6:59 mark of the first half. Ivisic made the first; Boswell, Jakucionis and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn followed suit. 

Two Jakucionis free throws gave Illinois a 45-20 lead, and then it got ugly. Loud “Fire Woodson” chants came from the Indiana student section. Indiana guard Kanaan Carlyle got spun around by Jakucionis, whose and-one layup gave the Illini 60 first-half points. And as the Hoosiers trailed by 28-points at halftime, a large portion of the Assembly Hall booed them into the locker room.

Indiana showed a bit of fight with a 10-0 run to begin the second half. The crowd got on its feet momentarily, as if to say “finally.” Indiana trailed by as few as 16 points with 13:30 to play, but after that brief burst, the Hoosiers went away quietly. 

During the last matchup – a 70-62 Illinois win in Champaign, Ill. on Jan. 27, 2024 – Hoosiers made history as the first Indiana team since a 2010 loss at Wisconsin to not make a single 3-pointer in a game, doing so on nine attempts. 

The Hoosiers threatened to go scoreless from 3-point range again as they missed their first 13 attempts. But Galloway broke the slump with just 5:50 left to play, and Goode, Leal and Galloway each made 3-pointers in the final five minutes to finish 4-for-18 from 3-point range. 

“We took the threes away from the guys we wanted to take the threes away from,” Underwood said. “Mackenzie, Myles and Luke were the guys we wanted to take 3-point attempts away from, and there’s guys who are high-volume shooters who are makers, and we did a good job. … We knew we were gonna give up some threes to the other guys, but we were gonna let them shoot them. It’s just something that shows we were dialed into the scouting report.”

Things got even uglier after Goode fouled out, crashing hard for a rebound with 2:24 to play. Ivisic got in Goode’s face during the dead ball, which led to Indiana point guard Myles Rice pushing Ivisic away from Goode. As the teams converged in disagreement, Ballo flew in and shoved Ivisic. 

After a lengthy review, Illinois’ Ivisic and Gibbs-Lawhorn received technical fouls. Indiana’s Rice also received a technical foul, and Ballo received a Flagrant 2 foul, resulting in his ejection.

“Just an intense game and just an emotional situation that the officials did a great job of handling,” Underwood said. “... I haven’t seen the film. I think he went down and tried to block him out, probably hard, I don’t know. I know if I had to go to the Pizza Hut parking lot, it’s probably not gonna be against Tommy. He’s got some of that in him. So, glad he’s on my team.”

Indiana guard Myles Rice (1) and Illinois center Tomislav Ivisic (13) fight at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Goode went over to the Illinois bench during the review to try to make amends, which Underwood appreciated. 

“Luke’s just one of us,” Underwood said. “He’s been with us for a long time. He’s got a degree from our University. He helped us win two championships. I’m always going to be thankful for everything he did. I know he’s a fiery competitor, and he said all the right things. I’m always going to dap him up and appreciate him and love him for who he is and what he did for our program.”

Boswell and Jakucionis shared their thoughts on the confrontation.

“I don’t know what happened, specifically there, I just saw Tom was highly upset,” Boswell said. “I looked up, and you know Tom, he’s a personality. But I didn’t really get to see anything specific.”

“I don’t know what happened. I think we just have to play basketball and stay away from these things,” Jakucionis said. “I think basketball is beautiful by itself and we don’t need that kind of activity. … No one wants Tommy against you. Everybody wants Tommy on your side, so he’s my guy. He’s my friend here and I love him."

Underwood and Indiana coach Mike Woodson shook hands postgame, but the rest of the players and coaches just waved and went their separate ways.

"I don't know if I've thought about it," Underwood said when asked about that becoming a trend in college basketball. "I am very, very much a traditionalist, and I think the art of competing is accepting the fact that sometimes the other team has more points than you do. But there will be some that, both sides of it, I don't know. I haven't thought about it that much. I got way bigger things to spend time thinking about than that right now. But tonight it sufficed the way it had to be, and shook Mike's hand and wished him well and 'til we meet again."

Boswell led the Illini with 22 points, followed by Jakucionis with 21 and Ivisic with 17. The Illini made 11-of-32 3-point attempts and outrebounded the Hoosiers 51-37.

Indiana fell to 13-5 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten play after the loss and heads to Ohio State on Friday. Illinois improved to 13-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference, with a trip to Michigan State up next.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• GAME STORY: Indiana suffers record-breaking blowout in loss to No. 19 Illinois on Tuesday. 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

• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Mike Woodson's comments to the media after Indiana's 94-69 loss to Illinois on Tuesday. CLICK HERE.

• LIVE BLOG: Relive the Illinois game as it happened. CLICK HERE.