Indiana fans turned on their own fans.
Chants of “Fire Woodson” echoed throughout Alumni Hall on Tuesday as coach Mike Woodson's Hoosiers suffered an “embarrassing” 94-69 loss at home to No. 19 Illinois.
The Hoosiers (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) trailed by as many as 31 points and trailed by 28 at halftime, dropping a 25-point deficit for the second straight conference game.
“I love the fans, I respect the fans, but it's my responsibility to get the players to play at a high level, that's my job, and I'm going to continue working in that area. ,” Woodson said of the chant. “And I hope the fans will stick around and stick with us.” in response to his firing.
Woodson is in his fourth year coaching his alma mater after extensive experience at the NBA level, including coaching with the Knicks and Hawks.
The fourth season is theoretically the time when college coaches should have their teams ready to play. That's because college coaches have the opportunity to welcome their recruits into the building.
Woodson couldn't help himself by missing the tournament last season, but he set the bar high by saying he wasn't on this roster before this season. achieved the best results of his tenure..
Well, even with all this talent, this year's team was a huge failure against quality competition. The Hoosiers lost by at least 16 points in each game, and three by at least 25 points.
KenPom ranks Indiana as the No. 58 team in the nation. And the Hoosiers have 1 win and 5 losses in Game 4.
“Do you think we're good enough to win? Yes, we are,” Woodson said. “We have to make them believe in it and keep pushing them in the right direction.”
The Hoosiers' win against Illinois was certainly frustrating for fans, as it was coming off an 85-60 road loss to Iowa.
Tuesday marked a quality restart win, but the Hoosiers fell behind 25-10 less than nine minutes into the game.
Seeing the home team lose by 25 points sparked several “Fire Woodson” chants, no doubt heating up the coach's chair for the rest of the season.
Fans also left the game in large numbers at halftime, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Coach Woodson said he “wanted to know” why his team allowed 60 points in the first half, and said the team was hurt by the absence of Malik Renaud, who averages 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. pointed out.
“You guys have to keep working, but I have to make some changes,” said Woodson, who leads a program that is 76-45 overall. “In terms of who we start, we haven't gotten off to a good start and we certainly miss Malik. Malik is a big piece of the puzzle.
“We had to get guys in there that we thought could get off to a good start and sustain it for 40 minutes of ball. We can't let two games that were embarrassing for us define our season. We still have a long way to go. We have a lot of Big Ten games left, so we have to be better prepared for them.”
ESPN's latest NCAA Tournament spot projections have Indiana among the first four losses, meaning the Hoosiers need to start winning some high-profile games to shore up their resume.
There are six games remaining against teams ranked entering this week, including four straight and five of six games against top-25 opponents from January 31st to February 23rd. It includes games that are far away and could decide the season.
A repeat of Tuesday's efforts could lead to uncomfortable questions for former Bob Knight.
“It's a long season,” Woodson said. “You can't throw in the towel. We didn't play well in the first half. We were terrible.”
