Mike Woodson stood in a tunnel outside of Indiana men’s basketball’s locker room, moments removed from the Hoosiers’ 91-79 loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 19 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
With the defeat, Indiana fell to 0-5 against ranked foes. Woodson cited a lack of roster cohesion.
“We're a new team, and I'm not using that as an excuse,” Woodson said after the loss. “You've got 10 new players, and we're still trying to figure each other out.”
The Hoosiers were over two and a half months removed from their first exhibition game Oct. 29 against the University of Indianapolis. They had plenty of time to form chemistry. They just didn’t capitalize.
Significant roster turnover is commonplace in college athletics amid the transfer portal’s rising prominence. Indiana again has an assortment of new faces this season.
Six transfers and true freshman forward Bryson Tucker gives the Hoosiers’ roster seven new additions. While three less than 2023-24, Woodson’s team found itself in a similar situation this summer as last: needing to build chemistry.
So, Indiana went fishing.
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For two-and-a-half hours on a July day toward the latter part of summer workouts, the Hoosiers went to a nearby farm pond and removed themselves from the outside world.
Standing on a grassy ledge as opposed to entering the water in boats, Indiana’s 19-man roster split into groups of three-to-four players with varying levels of fishing experience.
Senior center Langdon Hatton, a transfer from Bellarmine University, fished all the time as a kid. Hatton caught the most fish, but his team — comprised of Tucker and sophomore guards Gabe Cupps and James Goodis — didn’t win. The nod went to a squad led by senior forward and Illinois transfer Luke Goode, who later claimed that he’s the team’s best fisherman.
Basketball is a result-based sport, but winning and losing wasn’t important to the fishing trip. Building chemistry and trust was.
“I think that was the first thing we kind of really bonded over,” redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice said. “It was a great thing. I definitely think that was a big turning point for us.”
Indiana director of athletic performance Clif Marshall organized the bonding activities, which also included cookouts, blindfolded painting and putt putt. During free time, sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako said players emphasized eating meals together or attending other Hoosier athletic events.
Woodson said the Hoosiers spent more time bonding this summer than they did in any of his previous three years, which he feels is beneficial for chemistry. Rice agrees, noting he feels it translates onto the court.
“We trust one another; we know where each other's going to be in spots,” Rice said. “And just having that trust factor in one another from the time we got here all the way to the end of the season.”
Rice, who won Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at Washington State University last season, added the importance of not trying to do too much individually, instead putting the team first and placing everybody else above oneself.
Indiana’s fishing trip was a microcosm of this idea, at least for Rice, who didn’t catch any fish but said he was content watching his teammates secure several.
“I’m a team-first guy,” Rice said, smiling.
Rice is one of six Hoosier transfers, pairing with Hatton, Goode, sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle, senior center Dallas James and sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo.
Chemistry showed quickly. Tucker said Indiana clicked soon once everyone arrived for summer workouts — which Hatton attributed in part to the unique nature of the roster’s newness.
“Only about half the team was here last year, so I think everybody kind of felt like they needed to get to know everybody,” Hatton said. “And I think we had a really good offseason building as a team and kind of growing together.”
Fishing was an important piece to the puzzle. Rice said it helped get some of the players out of their comfort zone and forced everyone to rely on and trust in their teammates.
Those lessons, Rice said, translate to the court anytime — and could prove particularly important once Indiana hits the road this season.
“Like, I've never played at Purdue, right? So, if we're in a hostile environment and adversity at Purdue, when the guys have played in that environment, they're calming me down,” Rice said. “Or, we go to Washington, and they've never been out there, and I'm calming them down — just being able to lean on each other and learn from each other.”
Fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway bore witness to Indiana’s struggles a season ago. Galloway, one of the Hoosiers’ veteran leaders and a key behind-the-scenes figure in rebuilding the roster this offseason, said Indiana emphasized spending time together off the court because it’s equally as important as time on it.
For the Hoosiers to be successful, chemistry is requisite, Galloway said. It’s a day-by-day process, one that requires everyone to come together and sacrifice everything for each other.
It’s also one Indiana is further ahead of now than it was last season.
“There's definitely more team camaraderie,” Mgbako said.
Woodson noted time will be the ultimate deciding factor on whether Indiana’s enhanced focus on summer team building proves fruitful. Assembling a roster with more new scholarship players than returners prompts each to learn the system and get on the same page with one another.
As the Hoosiers progress through the early portion of the season, Woodson said they’re still in the building stages. Rice added Indiana, which has started this season 2-0, wants to grow stronger in its chemistry, but the Hoosiers are already close and have gelled quickly.
As a result, Indiana is right where it wants to be — thanks in part to an offseason process jumpstarted by two and a half hours in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a pond, fishing pole and nearly two dozen teammates working toward the same goal: winning.
“It's really hard to play on the court with guys that you don't like off the court,” Hatton said. “So, I think building those relationships will really help us in the long run.”
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
