Mike Woodson Strikes Defiant Tone; Indiana Players Happy To Bounce Back After Tough Week And Overtime Win

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After 25-point losses to Iowa and Illinois, the heat turned up significantly on the Indiana men’s basketball program.

During Indiana’s 94-69 loss to Illinois at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday, the student section chanted “Fire Woodson!” and the team was roundly booed at halftime. By the end of the game, much of the crowd had left.

Irritation lasted into the week as Indiana fans lashed out on social media and the internet. The media became more aggressive in questioning the direction of the program as Indiana was not living up to preseason expectations of being a Big Ten championship contender.

Indiana showed admirable grit in a bounce back effort on Friday at Ohio State. The Hoosiers needed overtime, but Indiana held off Ohio State 77-76 with a final possession defensive stand.

In the wake of the victory – one that lifted the Hoosiers into a three-way tie for fifth place in the Big Ten – Indiana coach Mike Woodson struck a defiant tone.

As a reporter prefaced a question about how the team handled the “outside noise” the players had to face, it was clear Woodson wasn’t in the frame of mind to delve deeply into the topic.

“I don’t care about the outside noise. I really don’t,” Woodson said.

When the reporter completed his question, Woodson responded with what he thought about about the “outside noise.”

“It shows a little bit about the character of our team, but I don’t even want to comment on that outside noise. It’s ridiculous,” Woodson said.

Woodson had earlier said he admired the grit of his players in shaking off the disturbing defeats.

“The (last) two games, we got our asses beat in those two games. Ain’t nothing you can do about it now,” Woodson said. “I tip my hat to our team because they could have laid down, but they didn’t. They came here to Ohio and got a win.”

Woodson also defended Indiana’s season to this point. The Hoosiers are 14-5 overall, though it’s the manner of the losses – all five of the defeats were by margins of at least 16 points – that have fans frustrated more than the quantity of the losses.

“Look, guys, we’re sitting here, you know, we’ve won 14 games, man. We’re 14-5. It’s not like it’s 5-14. We’ve played some pretty good basketball and had some good stretches,” Woodson said.

Luke Goode. — Indiana Hoosiers forward Luke Goode (10) shoots and makes a three point shot against Ohio State Buckeyes guard Ques Glover (6) in the second half at Value City Arena on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. | Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Meanwhile, Indiana’s players talked about how they had to pull together to keep the Hoosiers from spiraling in the Big Ten standings.

“We took a step back and said, ‘Listen, we got a reality check, but we have to bounce back from it and do what we do as a team,’ We had a great two days of practice. We stepped back and had that reality check if we want our season to go the right way we have to stay tough and stay together,” Indiana guard Luke Goode said.

Goode’s production backed it up. He had 23 points, was 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and hit the go-ahead shot in overtime.

Oumar Ballo, who had 21 points and 15 rebounds, simply led by example. His 40 minutes were the second-highest total he’s played in a career that began at Gonzaga, with three seasons at Arizona before the came to Indiana.

"You've got to find a way. I played 25 straight minutes and I had to find a way," Ballo said. "I was not tired to a point where I can't go no more. I always have to dig deeper. My teammates needed me on the floor. There was no way I was going to let them down."

Goode cited players he thought leadership was coming from.

“I think Anthony Leal has done a great job. And Trey (Galloway), guys that have been here,” said Goode as Oumar Ballo nodded his approval standing next to Goode.

“I’ve kind of taken it upon myself in the past couple of days. I was fortunate to be on a couple of Big Ten teams that won at a high level in the past (at Illinois) and I’m trying to bring that winning mentality here,” Goode said.

It’s not that Woodson disagreed with anything the players said – he just struck a different tone in his way of expressing it.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in that locker room with a lot of pride. They wear that jersey with pride and sometimes things don’t go according to plan,” Woodson said. “I thought tonight, considering where we were the last two games, they fought their asses off to help us win this basketball game. It was a total team effort.”

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