The heat will increase on the losing coach when Indiana visits Ohio State in a matchup of beleaguered programs on Friday in Columbus.
For Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson, a game on the road might be relief from his home crowd, which on Tuesday chanted for him to be fired after a 94-69 loss to No. 19 Illinois. Videos on social media showed Indiana fans leaving the game at halftime, when the deficit was 60-32, like their parking meters expired.
This came after another 25-point loss (85-60) at Iowa the previous game.
“We can’t let this be a snowball effect,” Woodson said. “We’ve got a long way to go in this Big Ten.”
The Hoosiers (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) see the game against the Buckeyes (10-7, 2-4) as the first of nine opportunities for Quad 1 wins to improve their chances to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We have two different options,” Indiana guard Anthony Leal said. “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, right?”
Woodson is under fire in basketball-crazed Indiana. The fortunate news for Ohio State coach Jake Diebler is the attention of Buckeye fans is on the College Football Playoff championship game Monday against Notre Dame, and not three losses in the past four games in a season that promised more.
The Buckeyes made a spirited rally from a 17-point halftime deficit only to lose 70-68 at No. 24 Wisconsin on Tuesday.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome because we showed what we’re capable of there in the second half,” Diebler said.
A bright spot was leading scorer Bruce Thornton sparking the comeback with 19 of his 21 points coming after halftime.
“It was great to see Bruce take over like he did,” Diebler said. “We talked about him being aggressive from the start. But I’m fired up because we showed some really good things there in the second half.”
Oumar Ballo led Indiana in the Illinois game with 16 points and 15 rebounds, his fourth double-double in five games.
–Field Level Media
