The Horrors
Indiana got a much-needed Quad-1 win on the road at Ohio State last week, but squandered any possible momentum with an ugly loss in Evanston. It’s a story you’ve heard before, and Mike Woodson moves to 0-5 against Northwestern.
This was arguably Indiana’s best shot in the Woodson tenure at beating the Wildcats. Even before Malik Reneau rejoined Indiana’s bench, the Hoosiers had a massive talent advantage. Northwestern also didn’t come into the game shooting well, so this didn’t seem like the team to exploit Indiana’s questionable perimeter defense.
Instead, Indiana has now lost five straight to the Wildcats for the first time since 1915 and finds itself desperately needing some kind of spark. Again.
Here are three things we learned:
Malik Reneau
Malik Reneau was healthy, but very obviously not close to 100%. Woodson went so far as to call his conditioning “bad” in a bizarre comment to the sideline reporter in the first half.
Reneau logged just 11 minutes against Northwestern, going 0-6 from the field but hitting both of his free-throw attempts.
More concerning is the way Indiana immediately reverted to its post-oriented offense when he checked in. On the first offensive possession that he was on the floor for, he and Oumar Ballo were both posted up, clogging the lane and making the perimeter players stagnate.
It was also a little confusing when Reneau, who, again, is clearly not healthy, put back into the game in crunch time. Indiana cannot afford to lose games at this point in the season, and Reneau was contributing very little to winning basketball in his current health.
Even when healthy, Reneau doesn’t have the skillset to defend the perimeter, which is what really cost Indiana the game. Putting him in when he isn’t moving well and asking him to do something outside of his comfort zone is not a recipe for success.
In short: Good to see Reneau back and healthy, Bad to see him used poorly.
Effort
Indiana still having a shot – however remote – at winning this game is proof that the players have not quit on the season. It was almost poetic how Mackenzie Mgbako, who entered the game struggling on offense, nearly shot Indiana back into the game on his own. Almost.
Oumar Ballo and Luke Goode also deserve credit for their play tonight. Goode continued to be red hot from 3-point range, going 4-7 from deep en route to 14 points and four boards.
Ballo continued to look like one of the more dominant bigs in the conference, scoring 15 points and hauling in seven rebounds. He struggled at the line tonight, but Northwestern is known for its physicality and probably isn’t the team Indiana should’ve tried to lean on Ballo against. We knew they would send him to the line, where he hits under 60% for the season.
It’s Over
Indiana continues to be unable to string together wins against quality opponents. That, along with a weak non-conference record, will cost Indiana its season and probably Mike Woodson his job.
Winning both games on this road trip was probably going to be the only way to avoid being booed at home again, so the fact that tonight’s loss wasn’t a particularly well-coached game from Woodson might be the icing on the cake.
I think it would be best for fans to avoid booing players, something that could hurt Indiana’s next coach attract talent, but I expect fans to be restless showing up to Assembly Hall Sunday. If they decide to show up at all for the noon tip against another subpar Big Ten team.
On paper, it’s not impossible for Indiana to play itself back onto the bubble, but four years into the Woodson tenure, I don’t feel confident that this team will make the changes it needs to start winning.