Mike Woodson Doing Everything to Keep Indiana’s Season Going

Mike Woodson may not be returning as Indiana’s head coach next year, but he and his staff are not throwing in the towel on what’s left of this season. With every win, they better their chance at ending his tenure on a good note in the NCAA Tournament.

Neither of Indiana’s last two wins, one of which revived Indiana’s postseason chances while the other merely preserved those newfound chances, have been perfect games.

The Hoosiers trailed at half against both Purdue and Penn State, but with the game and the season on the line, Woodson went with the same lineup in the second half of each.

The lineup was slightly modified last night, as Malik Reneau missed the game due to an illness that required a trip to the hospital, but the core is the same.

Luke Goode, Oumar Ballo, Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway, and Myles Rice have been the core of the group that’s been able to get Indiana over the hump lately. Woodson has been using the same core since roughly the Michigan State game.

That’s a group that includes three seniors in their fifth seasons of college basketball, three guys who have played four seasons of Big Ten basketball, and a sophomore guard whose defensive intensity has shut down opponents’ leading scorers.

Earlier in the season, when Woodson was still trying to figure out what he had with this team, the rotation was much bigger. In the loss against Louisville, 11 Hoosiers saw playing time.

Over the last five games though, as Indiana has tried to claw its way out the bottom of the Big Ten, Woodson has used more than eight guys just once – the home loss to UCLA.

“But these guys are playing for something. We’re trying to get in the tournament. And we’ve got three games left. Gotta go out west now tomorrow and we’ve got a few days to prepare and get ready for Washington,” Woodson said of his guys.

Woodson will probably make more, minor tweaks to the lineups we’ve seen, getting Reneau back in there if/when he’s healthy. He also started Mackenzie Mgbako last night in an apparent attempt to get the sophomore out of his recent slump.

If the game is on the line though, it’s safe to say which guys Woodson will have on the floor. Even when the lineup hasn’t won him games, like against Michigan or UCLA, it’s given Indiana a spark it didn’t have earlier this year.

“I’ve never said that my team wasn’t mentally tough or physically tough. I think at the end of the day – we’ve lost some games that, I mean, we were right there. A bounce of the ball here or there, we’re probably not even having this conversation.”