Woodson Mourns Loss of Indiana Legend Dick Van Arsdale on Radio Show Monday Night

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Indiana basketball community lost one of its all-time favorites on Monday when Dick Van Arsdale passed away. An All-American for the Hoosiers in the early 1960s along with his twin brother, Tom Van Arsdale, he died in Arizona at age 81.

The twins grew up in Indianapolis and played at Manuel High School, reaching the state championship game in 1961. They spent four years together and Indiana, and averaged 17.4 and 17.2 points respectively in their careers. Dick was a three-time NBA All-Star and spent most of his life in Arizona working for the Phoenix Suns. He was the first player drafted by the Suns, and was their all-time leading scorer when he retired.

Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson, also an Indianapolis native, talked about Van Arsdale during his weekly radio show on Monday night at Hoosier Hank's in Bloomington.

"It's a sad day in Hoosier Nation,'' Woodson said. "When I look at Indiana basketball, there was so many players who paved the way for Mike Woodson and so many of the guys that came after. I have nothing but love and respect for Tom and Dick. He's going to be missed. I know it's tough on Tom because they were so close."

Woodson touched on a lot of topics on his show, hosted by Don Fischer. He discussed the latest on sophomore guard Gabe Cupps, who had knee surgery last week, and broke down the Friday night loss at Nebraska, where they were outscored 17-1 in the final 6:51 and took 35 three-pointers, making only eight.

Here are the highlights from the show:

Gabe Cupps injury update

Woodson said that sophomore guard Gabe Cupps will ''probably be redshirted now'' after having meniscus repair surgery last week. His knee has been bothering him for a while, and he only played in four games so far this season,

""He's recovering. The surgery was great," Woodson said during his radio show live from Hoosier Hank's on Monday night. "He's just got to rehab and work himself back, which I think he will. Knowing Gabe, he's probably trying to get into the rehab center right now. He's going to have to go through a grueling rehab to get back for next season. ''

🐜 New Challenge
✞ God’s Timing
✔️ Meniscus Repaired
🪓 Keep Choppin’ pic.twitter.com/mLpFjv5xnS
— Gabe Cupps (@CuppsGabe) December 11, 2024

Cupps, a four-star guard who was player of the year in Ohio, was thrown to the wolves last year when. the Hoosiers were shorthanded at guard. He played in all 33 games and started 22, averaging 2.8 points per game and shooting 35.9 percent from three.

Indiana added guards Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle in the transfer portal, cutting into Cupps' potential playing time. He's only seen 25 minutes of action this year, playing in four games and failing to score.

Tough finish at Nebraska

Indiana was within a point of Nebraska with 6:51 to go in Friday's Big Ten road game in Lincoln. But the Hoosiers missed their last 12 shots and got blown out with a 17-1 Cornhuskers run. The Hoosiers are now 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, along with 11 other league teams.

The Hoosiers took 35 three-pointers, the most ever in a Woodson-coached game during his thtree-plus years at the helm of the Hoosiers. Indiana averaged only 17 long-ball attempts before then. The shooting spree came out of necessity, because Nebraska double-teamed Indiana big men Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau every time they touched the ball in the paint.

"They refused to let our bigs play,'' Woodson said. "They doubled every time our bigs touched the ball. When you look at our team, Ballo and Malik have been pretty good this season inside, and they chose to take those guys out and not let them play."

Woodson said 24 of their 35 threes were charted as ''wide-open looks.'' Luke Goode was 3-for-10, Trey Galloway 3-for-9. No one else had more than one make. Kanaan Carlyle was 0-for-5 from deep, Bryson Tucker 1-for-5 and Myles Rice 1-for-3.

The looks were good, the execution was not.

"We had wide open shots. I mean, you take 35 threes — the most since we've taken since I've been here —and we charted 24 of those threes were wide open and we just didn't make them,'' Woodson said. "The fact that we're getting good looks, I'll take my chances. We'll start making them. We've just got to keep putting them in those positions and hope they make them, which I think they will.

"We're going to need (Goode) to continue to shoot three-pointers. I have confidence every time he takes them that it's going to go in. He just needs to have confidence."

Still concerns on defense

Indiana gave up 85 points to Nebraska and got lost on switches several times. They haven't been solid on that end all year, and Woodson knows that has to get better.

"A lot of that has to do with effort and communicating with each other," Woodson said. "You add seven new faces, and you've got to get to know each other very quickly. I think all team's defense is predicated on if someone is beat, you need to communicate and help on that. We haven't done that very well."

It hurt that starting forward Mackenzie Mgbako picked up two fouls in the first minute of the game, and sat next to Woodson for the rest of the half. Indiana can't go 19 minutes without Mgbako on the floor.

"We've got to have him on the floor. He was probably too aggressive and he picked up two fouls right away, and that's something we saw his freshman year picking up the quick fouls," Woodson said. "He got off to such a hot start this season, but the last couple of games, he's had some struggles. He'll bounce back."

- "He's very confident, but can't just play offense. You've got to defend too at the position."

Mgbako scored eight points or more in Indiana's first eight games, averaging 16.7 points per game. But he only had two points at Nebraska and just four in the win over Miami of Ohio. Indiana has just two nonconference games remaining — Chattanooga on Saturday and Winthrop on Dec. 29 — before Big Ten play starts.

They need Mgbako to contend in league play. They've been getting after it after the Nebraska loss and need to tighten things up in the next two weeks. The first Big Ten game is Jan. 2 versus Rutgers.

"It gives us an opportunity to get back on the floor and work on us and what we need to fix and get better at," Woodson said of having eight days between games this week. "Our practices have been very competitive.''

Gabe Cupps injury update

Tough finish at Nebraska

Still concerns on defense

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