Indiana Seniors, Mike Woodson Cherishing Home Stretch Of Final Season

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For many of these Hoosiers, the end is near.

Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Oumar Ballo, Langdon Hatton, Dallas James and Luke Goode – barring a medical redshirt – will be out of eligibility, and coach Mike Woodson will step down after the season. Three regular season games and the Big Ten Tournament represent their last shot at earning an NCAA Tournament bid in the last chapter of their college careers.

The season hasn’t gone according to plan for what Woodson called his most talented group, which was picked second in the preseason Big Ten poll and ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP Top 25. The Hoosiers failed to win any significant nonconference games, and after a 5-7 start to Big Ten play, Indiana announced Woodson’s fourth season coaching his alma mater would be his last.

But after winning three of its last four games, including resume-boosting victories at No. 11 Michigan State and at home against No. 13 Purdue, the Hoosiers still have something to play for. They haven’t given up on a season that went downhill quickly when it would have been easy to, instead battling to end their careers on a high note.

The impending finality has created a sense of urgency mixed with freedom, knowing this is their last stretch together as a team. That mindset, coupled with Woodson shortening the rotation and tweaking the lineups, has resulted in the Hoosiers playing perhaps their best basketball of the season of late.

“I think we just have to keep reminding each other to cherish every moment because wins and losses, it's all special because you're learning through it all,” Galloway said. “So I think just really cherishing these moments because when it's over, we're all going to miss it. And it's going to be tough to really understand what it meant to put this uniform on and to go to war with our brothers every day. So I think just really just cherishing every moment, highs and lows.”

The Hoosiers are coming off two crucial wins at home. They defeated in-state rival Purdue 73-58 on Sunday, led by a pair of 15-point performances from Galloway and Malik Reneau.

Indiana played likely its best half of the season when it outscored Purdue 48-21 with a 28-3 run to open the second half.

They showed they can win a close game – one of their biggest struggles during a stretch of eight losses in 10 games – with an 83-78 victory Wednesday against Penn State. From a percentage standpoint, the Hoosiers had their best 3-point shooting game of the season against Penn State, making 10-of-15 3-point attempts.

That sets up a trip to the Pacific Northwest with major NCAA Tournament implications. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi tabbed Indiana as one of the last four teams in the tournament in his latest Bracketology, making at least one win necessary during this road trip. After recent wins, the Hoosiers have gained momentum and confidence.

“I think we're coming together and we know we're a better team than we've shown,” Galloway said. “And we still have a chance and we're fighting for a spot in the tournament, and we're fighting for just getting better and pushing our record in the Big Ten. We're taking it one game at a time. We've got to keep focusing on the next game, which is Washington. So I think we're just really just buying in and really pushing each other to get better.”

Acknowledging it's crunch time and that every second matters, Woodson has tightened the rotation of late. Eight Hoosiers played against Purdue, though Mackenzie Mgbako and Kanaan Carlyle played single-digit minutes. Eight played against Penn State too, but again just 10 minutes for Carlyle and four for Hatton, who gave Ballo a breather as Indiana played without Reneau due to an illness.

Woodson has rode the Indiana-native seniors – Galloway, Goode and Leal – each for 30-plus minutes in the last two games. It’s been a challenging season for Galloway, who had offseason knee surgery and had to be eased back into the rotation.

He was booed during Indiana’s 25-point home loss to Illinois, but has put together two of his best games of the season against Purdue and Penn State, totaling 31 points and 18 assists. Woodson has stood by Galloway through the adversity.

“He's had a tough go at it,” Woosdon said. “You guys gave him a hard time at one time. There's a lot of things. But I never stopped believing in Trey. Trey's been with me the longest. He's put up with a lot of shit from me. And I trust him. He does a lot of good things on the floor. Yeah, he makes mistakes. They all do. I make mistakes. But at the end of the day I know he's going to play hard and give 100 percent when he's out there, and that's all you can ask for.”

Ballo, another senior, has played 23 and 36 minutes, and sophomore Myles Rice has logged 31 and 23 minutes, respectively. Those four seniors are approaching a combined 500 career college games.

Indiana’s seniors each had their fair share of ups and downs this season, but they’ve emerged as more steady, reliable options on both ends of the floor. Woodson knows from his own experience as a Big Ten MVP the value of veterans and the feeling that it’s almost over.

“These guys are seniors,” Woodson said. “They don't get another shot at this. So they know what it's about. … Gotta ride them and see where it leads us.”

Ballo is in his first and last season at Indiana, following three seasons at Arizona and two at Gonzaga. But during his short time in Bloomington, he’s recognized how much the program means to Hoosiers like Leal and Galloway.

“I've been in college for quite a long time now. I know these moments, man, they go fast,” Ballo said. “And for guys like Trey and Leal that have been here for five years, I know every single game means the world to them. And for me, too, because this thing goes fast, and we have to take every game as important and we have to finish the season strong, not just for us but for the fans. And I feel like they deserve that, and we're pushing forward for that.”

The home stretch of Indiana’s season begins at 6 p.m. ET Saturday at Washington, and the Hoosiers will stay out west for Tuesday’s 9 p.m. ET tipoff at Oregon. The Huskies sit at the bottom of the Big Ten at 4-13 in conference play, but the Ducks have played to a competitive 9-8, most recently winning at No. 11 Wisconsin.

Indiana will then return home to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for senior day against Ohio State on March 8. And with the end in sight, for both the seniors and Woodson, the Hoosiers are looking to alleviate the disappointment from earlier in the season and go out in memorable fashion.

“We're all playing for each other because we're all in it together. And obviously this is coach's last year, and we want to make it special for him,” Galloway said. “We want to make it special for everyone. This team was assembled for a reason, and we have a chance to really keep competing down the stretch to win games and put ourselves in the right position. So I wouldn't say just for him but like I said, it's a collective unit and it's all together, and we're trying to do it for each other, including coach and the rest of the coaching staff and all the players and everybody.”

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