Indiana Basketball Looks to Reset Season After Time Off

If nothing else, Indiana’s starting lineup against Purdue signaled that the Hoosiers were trying something new.

It wasn’t the first time Woodson had shuffled the lineups this year – it was actually his eighth set of starters he’s tried this year, more than any other season during his tenure.

It was, however, the first time in 60 career games at Indiana that Mackenzie Mgbako was not on the floor for the opening tip.

Head coach Mike Woodson didn’t elaborate on Mgbako’s status, saying only “Mac will get an opportunity to possibly be back in there, as well.” Whatever the reason, though, the move is a significant departure from Indiana’s formula over the last two seasons and even earlier this year.

Along with the lineup shuffle, the staff credits the extra break between games for Indiana’s improbable win against Purdue and the renewed season outlook the team has a result.

The break allowed the team to take time off from practicing to focus on the mental component of the game that’s given Indiana trouble this season.

“It was more to get our guys rest, to try to get them a rhythm and get them to understand that these are some of the things that we can do when we got two bigs in, these are some of the things we are going to do when we got [Luke] Goode at the four… Just trying to make sure that is intact for the game. You can’t call a million timeouts,” Associate Head Coach Yasir Rosemond said.

The benefits of the rest and new lineups weren’t immediately obvious on the court, with Indiana getting out to a slow start and trailing by 12 at half against Purdue. But Rosemond said the team had a different belief in itself in the locker room at half, which led to one of the best 20 minute stretches Indiana has played in years.

With the Penn State Nittany Lions coming to Bloomington Wednesday night, Indiana has a shot at winning consecutive conference games since the last time these teams met at The Palestra in early January.

The Wednesday matchup will be the first real test as to whether this team has turned a corner or not here late in the season. A convincing win would probably keep Indiana in the First Four, where most brackets now have the Hoosiers. A loss could end any NCAA Tournament hopes.

If Indiana really has turned the corner, it will have a real shot at finishing 10-10 in conference play, even with a loss to Oregon. CBS’ Jerry Palm believes Indiana could sustain the road loss to the Ducks and still make the Tournament, so the Hoosiers’ postseason hopes now come down to whether they can take care of business at hom