BLOOMINGTON — Mike Woodson sat at the dais in the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall media room on Friday looking equally perplexed and frustrated.
His Indiana men’s basketball team let another close game slip away in the final minutes, in a 72-68 defeat to UCLA. The Hoosiers (15-11, 6-9 Big Ten) have now lost seven of their last eight games and 10 of their last 12. Four of those defeats — with three coming against ranked opponents — came down to the end.
It’s another wasted opportunity to somehow revive a season that continues to feel like it’s circling the drain. IU’s win over Michigan State on Tuesday resurrected some hopes of a late-season turnaround, but Woodson’s team — like it has all year — failed to capitalize on that momentum.
And Woodson is left searching for those same answers.
“I go back to the Northwestern game, the Maryland game, Purdue game, Michigan game — all winnable games. If you win one or two of them, you’re feeling good about yourself when you’re in close games. Nine out of 10 times, you make the plays that you need to make. The fact that we’ve lost them, guys are searching,” Woodson said after the game. “I’m searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line.”
This was IU’s third game since it officially announced Woodson’s forthcoming departure at the end of the season. Since that press release went out, he’s finally made the sort of changes and adjustments fans begged for all season. He toggled with the starting lineup, ditching the two-big look and benching the struggling Myles Rice. He’s leaned harder into zone defense, which directly contributed to the team’s win in East Lansing, Mich.
Woodson, with just five regular-season games left as Indiana head coach plus any Big Ten Tournament contests, is still trying whatever he can to help his team.
But old habits die hard, and Woodson still often struggles to get out of his own way. UCLA (19-7, 10-5) created its first-half separation during a nearly seven-minute stretch with both Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau on the court for the Hoosiers, which the Bruins turned into a 13-7 run. IU shot 3 for 9 from the field over that span, while UCLA went 5 for 11.
And in the second half, trying to get his team an offensive spark, Woodson rode with Rice over Anthony Leal for nearly the last 12 minutes of the game. Rice has the potential to create electric plays and has greater offensive potential than Leal. But the sophomore got benched because of his recent erratic and ineffective play, and the fifth-year’s persistent effort and hustle gave IU plenty of juice in other key moments on Friday.
Woodson’s gamble backfired. Rice made several poor decisions down the stretch, with bad shot selections in crucial moments with enough time remaining on the shot clock to make those choices unnecessary. He tried to be the hero for IU, and in doing so, he helped UCLA win. He also lost some defensive rotations on some critical Bruins possessions.
Based on recent form, this shouldn’t have been surprising to Woodson. But it’s certainly not the first time he’s taken a risk like that.
“I’ll never put it on the player. I’ll take the responsibility,” Woodson said. “Even though I don’t make the shots or miss the defensive assignments, it’s still my job to get them over the hump.”
Meanwhile, Woodson has skipped his scheduled pregame radio interviews with Don Fischer before all three games after his status became official. And after the two home losses in that span, IU has not made any players available to media. It’s as if Woodson is telling his players to bask in the credit when things go well — Reneau spoke after the win at Michigan State — but to shirk any accountability when things don’t go well. There are enough examples of IU players displaying graciousness and professionalism after other rough performances to suggest they’d only make Woodson or themselves look better in this situation.
Heading into the last stretch of the regular-season, Indiana’s season has clearly not gone well. The Hoosiers are finding a lot of different ways to lose games. They’re rallying around Woodson and fighting hard to finish out his IU tenure on a good note, and Woodson still clearly cares about his players. But with each passing game Indiana gives away, he continually makes the situation worse than it already is.
He and his team have displayed a woeful lack of opportunism all season. These Hoosiers have underachieved as much as anyone in the country. With the end in sight, they’re still battling. But deep down, they may be content to just run out the clock.
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