Jack’s Take: Most Deflating Part of the Mike Woodson Era? All The Blowouts.

IOWA CITY, Iowa. – When Indiana loses under coach Mike Woodson, it’s often not a nail-biter. The Hoosiers tend to go down in flames.

Saturday’s 85-60 loss at Iowa was the latest example. After taking a 26-23 lead with 7:17 left in the first half, Indiana found itself down by 10 points going into halftime. It came out completely uncompetitive in the second half, fell into a 25-point hole within seven minutes and never fought back.

Indiana turned the ball over 16 times, which led to 24 Iowa points. Those turnovers put the Hoosiers on skates defensively, and Iowa blazed past them with 26 fast break points and 11-of-24 3-point shooting.

The blowout loss was somewhat surprising. Indiana was only a five-point underdog and had just begun playing better basketball during a five-game win streak, albeit not against great opponents. At the same time, the loss felt all too similar to what we’ve seen in the past from Woodson-coached teams.

Woodson is now 1-5 against Iowa and 0-3 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Whether it was Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix combining for eight 3-pointers Saturday night, Keegan and Kris Murray dominating the Hoosiers up and down the court, or Jordan Bohannon hitting a late dagger, the Hawkeyes have had Indiana’s number in recent history.

All the losses to Iowa – a program with zero NCAA Tournament wins since Woodson took over in 2021-22 – are just one example of what has made for the most deflating aspect of the Woodson era: Uncompetitive losses. Games where the Hoosiers just roll over and call it a night. Losses that ruin much of the positive sentiment they built beforehand.

They’re really adding up near the midway point of Woodson’s fourth season to the point that Saturday’s loss at Iowa feels like one we’ve watched before. Indiana has 26 losses by 10 or more points in the last four seasons. Eighteen against Big Ten opponents. Ten by 20 or more points. Even Woodson’s good seasons with the Hoosiers had massive defeats.

85-60 at Iowa; Jan. 11, 2025
85-68 at Nebraska Dec. 13, 2024
89-73 vs. Gonzaga; Nov. 28, 2024
89-61 vs. Louisville; Nov. 27, 2024
93-66 vs. Nebraska; March 14, 2024
85-70 vs. Nebraska; Feb. 21, 2024
79-59 at Purdue; Feb. 10, 2024
85-71 vs. Penn State; Feb. 3, 2024
91-79 at Wisconsin; Jan. 19, 2024
87-66 vs. Purdue; Jan. 16, 2024
86-70 at Nebraska; Jan. 3, 2024
104-76 vs. Auburn; Dec. 9, 2023
77-57 vs. UConn; Nov. 19, 2023
85-69 vs. Miami; March 19, 2023
90-68 vs. Iowa; Feb. 28, 2023
80-65 at Michigan State; Feb. 21, 2023
66-55 at Maryland; Jan. 31, 2023
85-66 at Penn State; Jan. 11, 2023
84-62 at Kansas; Dec. 17, 2022
89-75 vs. Arizona; Dec. 10, 2022
63-58 at Rutgers; Dec. 3, 2022
82-53 vs. Saint Mary’s; March 17, 2022
80-69 at Ohio State; Feb. 21, 2022
76-61 at Michigan State; Feb. 12, 2022
74-57 vs. Illinois; Feb. 5, 2022
80-62 vs. Michigan; Jan. 23, 2022

Perhaps the worst aspect of these losses is the lasting feeling. These are not losses that can be chalked up to one or two plays going wrong, or one or two players having an off night that won’t happen again. They’re not ones that if the ball bounced differently, Indiana would have won. Or that if small mistakes are fixed in practice before the next game, it’ll be different the next time out.

Part of Woodson’s postgame comments spoke to that. Oumar Ballo turned the ball over four times in the first six minutes against Iowa, a big reason the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 15-4 lead. Those turnovers, while costly, were far from the only reason Indiana lost.

“It wasn’t just Ballo,” Woodson said. “It was everybody had a hand in it, especially in that starting group.”

These are losses that can damage the players’ psyches and leave concerns that the current plan may not work going forward. Indiana’s woeful trip to the Bahamas affected me from an observer’s perspective. There was reason to believe this could be Woodson’s best team going into the season, but so much went wrong in blowout losses to Louisville and Gonzaga that much of that optimism wore off.

After Indiana’s five-game win streak going into Saturday’s game at Iowa, I was finally starting to come around to the idea that maybe this new-look roster just needed more time to learn each other. That it had enough talent to get hot at the right time going into the NCAA Tournament, often how some define the success or failure of a college basketball season.

But Saturday’s loss to Iowa showed that this team still has a long way to go in so many areas. Turnovers and shot selection were big problems against Iowa, in addition to the defensive breakdowns.

Indiana hasn’t been able to consistently rely on any one player or one trait this season. Ballo had a dominant stretch before the Iowa game but got outplayed by Iowa’s Owen Freeman. Trey Galloway’s ups and downs continued, with zero points and four turnovers in 20 minutes.

But Saturday’s loss can’t be pinned on one aspect of the game or one player’s downfall. It was a total collapse from the players and coaches. About the only thing that has become consistent with this Indiana team is that when it loses, it loses badly.

The road doesn’t get any easier for Woodson and the Hoosiers with No. 13 Illinois coming to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday, followed by nine more consecutive opportunities for Quad 1 wins. There will likely be a few good wins mixed in there, because five of Indiana’s next 10 games are at home and this team still has talent.

But there’s sure to be big losses in that stretch as well, and it’s become all too common under Woodson. That’s the most deflating trend for a program wanting so badly to return to winning ways.

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