Indiana followers have turned on considered one of their very own.
Chants of “Fire Woodson” reverberated all through Alumni Corridor on Tuesday whereas coach Mike Woodson’s Hoosiers squad suffered an “embarrassing” 94-69 residence loss to No. 19 Illinois.
The Hoosiers (13-5, 4-3 Large Ten) trailed by as a lot as 31 factors and confronted a 28-point deficit at halftime whereas dropping a second straight convention recreation by 25 factors.
“I love our fans and I respect our fans, but it’s up to me to get our players to play at a high level and that’s my job and I’m going to continue to work in that area,” Woodson stated of the chants calling for his dismissal, “and hope that our fans will stay in there and hang in there with us.”
Woodson is in his fourth yr guiding his alma mater after a future on the NBA stage that included guiding the Knicks and the Hawks.
A fourth season is when, in principle, a university coach ought to have a staff able to compete since it should have afforded them the possibility to get their very own recruits within the constructing.
Woodson didn’t assist himself by lacking the event final season and set the bar excessive by saying earlier than this season that this roster marked the very best considered one of his tenure.
Nicely, for all that expertise, this yr’s staff has flopped in opposition to high quality competitors. Every Hoosiers’ loss has come by not less than 16 factors and three have come by not less than 25 factors.
KenPom ranks Indiana because the No. 58 staff within the nation and the Hoosiers are 1-5 in Quad 1 video games.
“Do I think we’re good enough to win? Yeah, I do,” Woodson stated. “I just got to get us to believe that and keep pushing these guys in the right direction.”
That the Hoosiers got here out so flat in opposition to Illinois actually irked the followers because it got here on the heels of an 85-60 blowout street loss to Iowa.
Tuesday marked the possibility for a high quality resume win however the Hoosiers fell behind 25-10 lower than 9 minutes into the sport.
Seeing the house staff down by 25 elicited a number of “Fire Woodson” chants that actually have made the coach’s seat hotter for the remainder of the season.
Followers additionally left the sport in droves at halftime, per the Indianapolis Star.
Woodson stated he “wish I knew” why his staff allowed 60 first-half factors, noting that Malik Reneau’s absence has damage the staff since he averages 14.1 factors and 5.9 rebounds per recreation.
“You got to continue to work and I got to make some changes,” stated Woodson, who’s 76-45 general guiding this system. “We haven’t been getting off to a great begin when it comes to who we’ve been beginning and, certain, we do miss Malik. Malik is an enormous piece to the puzzle.
“I got to put guys in there that I think are gonna get us to a good start and maintain it over a 40-minute ball game. We can’t let two games, and these were embarrassing games for us, determine our season. We still got a long way to go, lotta Big Ten games left. I got to get us better prepared and ready to play.”
ESPN’s newest NCAA Match bracket projection had Indiana among the many first 4 out, which means the Hoosiers want to start out profitable some high-profile video games to bolster their resume.
Six video games stay in opposition to groups ranked getting into this week, together with a frightening stretch of 4 straight and 5 out of six in opposition to top-25 foes from Jan. 31 to Feb. 23 that might outline their season.
Repeat performances of Tuesday’s effort may result in some uncomfortable questions for considered one of Bob Knight’s former gamers.
“Long season, man,” Woodson stated. “You can’t throw in the towel. We didn’t play well the first half. We were awful.”
