Indiana men’s basketball had every reason to quit.
The Hoosiers faced a 20-8 deficit to No. 11 Michigan State with 11 minutes left in the first half. They entered Tuesday night’s game at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan, with seven losses in their last eight games. Their head coach, Mike Woodson, has confirmed his departure from the program after this season.
But Indiana didn’t stop playing. And Woodson didn’t stop coaching.
By the time the clock hit zero — when the final Spartan students in their white shirts and white hard hats finished their last jump in the Izzone — the Hoosiers (15-10, 7-8 Big Ten) had done the improbable: taken a 71-67 win over the Spartans (19-5, 10-3 Big Ten) on Tuesday night in East Lansing.
With its victory, Indiana prevented Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo from breaking former Hoosier coach Bob Knight’s all-time Big Ten wins record. Izzo and Knight are tied at 353 conference wins — but Izzo felt he was outcoached by Woodson on Tuesday night.
“Give Indiana credit,” Izzo said postgame. “Everybody knows they've gone through hell. Give Mike credit. He did a better job than I did.”
Woodson’s decisions, often criticized by the Hoosier faithful throughout this season, played a central role in sparking Indiana’s upset.
The Hoosiers altered their starting lineup, as redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice began the night on the bench for the first time in his 60-game college career. He was joined by junior forward Malik Reneau, meaning Indiana opted not to start its third and fourth-leading scorers.
Instead, Woodson started fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway, who came off the bench each of the past six games, and senior forward Luke Goode, who hadn’t started since a Jan. 22 loss to Northwestern.
The move didn’t net immediate dividends, as Indiana dug itself a deep hole. But Woodson threw a counter punch at the Spartans.
Known more for his man-to-man defense, Woodson, with input from the rest of the team, transitioned to zone, which the Hoosiers found success with during the second half of their 70-67 loss to Michigan on Feb. 8.
Woodson said postgame Indiana worked on its zone defense in practice the past few days, and the Hoosiers benefited. Indiana turned its 12-point deficit into a 32-29 halftime lead, an advantage it never relinquished.
The Spartans, who began Tuesday as the only Big Ten team shooting below 30% on 3-pointers, were only 2-for-12 shooting from distance in the first half. They finished 4-for-23 shooting from beyond the arc, equaling a dismal 17.4% clip.
The Hoosiers made Michigan State beat the zone. The Spartans never did — and Woodson said Indiana “played the hell out of” its zone coverage.
“This team really gets up and down the floor,” Woodson said postgame about Michigan State. “When you take bad shots — you can make shots, and they run it right back at you. So, we just felt like the only way to slow them down was to play some zone. The zone was effective, and we were able to come out here with a win.”
To begin the second half, Woodson broke from a trend he set throughout much of his first three and a half seasons and instead rolled with a different starting group. Indiana’s altered lineup saw Rice and Reneau return to the floor, while Galloway and sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako sat.
The unit flourished in large part because Woodson and the Hoosiers ran their offense through the post. Reneau and Ballo delivered.
Ballo had a game-high 12 points at halftime while Reneau struggled, shooting just 1 of 8 from the floor. In the second half, as Ballo battled foul trouble, Reneau notched 16 points to finish with a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Both Reneau and Ballo finished with double doubles. Ballo collected 14 points and 10 rebounds despite playing only eight minutes in the second half.
Perhaps symbolic, on a night where Woodson seemingly pushed all the right buttons, Indiana’s oft-criticized emphasis on playing inside to outside made a significant difference in the game’s outcome.
“With all the media going out there, saying a lot about me and Ballo, it felt good to get a win with me and Ballo in there together,” Reneau said postgame.
Tuesday night’s contest ultimately came down to late game execution, an area Indiana struggled with during its five-game losing streak. Four of the Hoosiers’ five defeats were by single digits, including two losses — to Maryland on Jan. 26 and Purdue on Jan. 31 — that saw lead changes inside the final 15 seconds.
Indiana had several chances to fold Tuesday. It almost gave in.
The Hoosiers missed three of their first four free throws inside the final three minutes, including a pair of misfires on the front end of one-and-ones.
After Mgbako missed the first of two free throws on a shooting foul, Woodson clapped his hands and shouted words of encouragement. Mgbako calmly knocked down the second attempt, giving the Hoosiers a 4-point lead with just over one minute remaining.
Over the final 30 seconds, Indiana went 7-for-8 shooting at the foul stripe and made its final six tries to seal the win. Coupled with their success at the line, the Hoosiers fouled Michigan State on four consecutive possessions, preventing the Spartans from any chance at a game-tying 3-pointer.
Woodson played the right card — as he did with the switch to zone, the lineup change to start the second half and his persistence in featuring Ballo and Reneau.
An easy figure to blame in times of disaster, Woodson rose from his padded coaches chair and delivered perhaps his finest performance this season. It’s no coincidence Indiana snapped its losing streak and avenged its late-game struggles as a result.
How the Hoosiers finish this season has no bearing on Woodson’s long-term job status — that’s already been decided. But if Indiana finishes its six-game sprint to the finish line with a flurry of wins, Woodson’s tenure may just last a touch longer than anticipated.
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.
