As the halftime buzzer sounded Tuesday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Illinois junior guard Tre White and sophomore forward Jake Davis lifted their arms near midcourt and motioned their hands inward, inviting the Hoosier faithful to yell louder.
Indiana men’s basketball’s fans weren’t jeering their team’s opponent. They united in a chorus of boos against their own team, and their own coach. Not for the first time, and not for the last.
The Hoosiers trailed 60-32 at halftime. Indiana held three prior opponents to lower point totals in entire games earlier this season. The damage, Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame, was already done.
And so was the Hoosiers’ 16-year stretch without back-to-back losses by 25-plus points, as Indiana (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) fell 94-69 to the Fighting Illini (13-4, 5-2 Big Ten).
“I understand it. We got embarrassed,” senior forward Luke Goode said postgame about the booing fans. “We have to wear this jersey with more pride as Indiana players. This program is too historical and too great to be represented like that.”
The players weren’t always the focal point of the fan base’s displeasure. When public address announcer Jeremy Gray introduced Woodson pregame, a louder-than-usual faction of fans booed. With just under seven minutes to play in the first half and the Hoosiers trailing by 25 points, chants of “Fire Woodson” broke out from the student section.
Fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway, who scored 10 points with help from a pair of second half 3-pointers after starting 1-for-9 shooting, was another primary target.
After airballing a 3-pointer with 14:24 to play, Woodson subbed out Galloway for sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle. Galloway, who had already missed four shots, received loud boos on his walk back to the bench while fans cheered Carlyle, who followed by missing a floater and 3-pointer within his first 50 seconds of action.
During a timeout late in the first half, Galloway appeared in a video on the jumbotron centered around his choice of songs: “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” “Thunderstruck” and “Highway to Hell.” The sight of his face drew a steady outpour of boos from the student section. The same happened when he missed an open 3-pointer from the top of the key midway through the second half.
Goode, who scored 13 points in his first game against Illinois since transferring from the Fighting Illini in the spring, believes Indiana will turn it around — and he wants fans to keep the same energy.
“To all those fans that were booing and are so negative on social media, just don't switch sides,” Goode said. “We will get this thing turned around. We all got the confidence in our teammates, got the confidence in our coaches, so stay on this side when we start being successful again.”
Indiana has plenty to fix to get there.
Goode said the Hoosiers aren’t playing tough enough and need to pay closer attention to their scouting report. Fifth-year senior guard Anthony Leal added the need for better defensive effort and energy, sustaining surges from the other team and responding with runs of their own and, like Goode, stressed consistency with the scouting report and offensive concepts.
Indiana shot 38.5% from the field, its third-worst output this season, and missed its first 13 attempts from distance. Defensively, the Hoosiers allowed a season-high 94 points, while the Fighting Illini’s 11 triples matched the most Indiana’s given up this year. Illinois won the rebounding battle 51-37 and outscored Indiana 19-6 in second chance points.
The Hoosiers have three days before facing Ohio State at 8 p.m. Friday in Columbus, Ohio. Leal thinks they need to spend it soul-searching.
“Obviously, things need to be addressed between players and themselves and players and each other,” Leal said. “I think that's really the root of it. We just got to lock in, look in the mirror, and understand how embarrassing and unacceptable this is and understand that nobody gets where they want to go if the team doesn't win.”
Woodson said at Big Ten Media Day in October he thinks this Indiana roster is the most talented he’s coached across his four years. He was asked postgame why it hasn’t clicked for his team yet and first mentioned the absence of junior forward and leading scorer Malik Reneau, which he said doesn’t help.
But Reneau, who has an uncertain timeline to return after suffering a knee injury Jan. 2 against Rutgers, was healthy and active when Indiana lost three of its five games by 16-plus points.
The last two — an 85-60 loss Jan. 11 at Iowa and Tuesday night’s drubbing — pushed Indiana to 1-5 in Quad 1 games this season. The Hoosiers have nine more Quad 1 games on their schedule.
Leal acknowledged things aren’t going the way they were supposed to preseason, when Indiana was ranked No. 17, but the Hoosiers have an opportunity to flip the script on their season. They just need to capitalize.
“We have two different options,” Leal said, “and I think as long as we can all get on the same page about the fact that we can win those nine games, turn the season around, we can make everybody's dreams come true.”
The process starts with each player identifying issues and adapting a new and improved mindset, Leal said, later adding Indiana has lots of work to do.
But the Hoosiers have little time to fix it, with a fanbase growing impatient and a self-proclaimed uber-talented roster staring down the reality of a spiraling season. And the road doesn’t get easier.
“We can't let this be a snowball effect,” Woodson said. “We got a long way to go in this Big Ten. Do I think we're good enough to win? Yeah, I do. I just got to get us to believe that and keep pushing these guys in the right direction.”
From the boos and early departures of fans Tuesday night, he also needs to get the Hoosier faithful to believe it, too.
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.