BLOOMINGTON – Once upon a time, visiting teams entered Assembly Hall knowing they had a slim chance of beating Indiana. However, this season, the opposite has been the case. Visitors now enter the 17,222-seat venue with expectations of emerging victorious.
Entering his fourth season, Mike Woodson’s Indiana teams held a record of 21-9 in home conference games and had never lost more than four home conference games.
Indiana's 72-68 gut-wrenching defeat to UCLA on Friday night marked the fourth straight time the hosts have fallen in what was once college basketball’s most feared environment. Adding to the laundry list of the striking similarities between the two seasons, Friday’s home loss to the Bruins became the first time Indiana has lost four consecutive at home since the 2018-2019 season.
“I'm searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line,” Woodson said postgame. “I'll never put it on the player. I'll take the responsibility. Even though I don't make the shots or miss the defensive assignments, it's still my job to get them over the hump.”
With the Illinois game being the outlier, Indiana has lost those three games by a combined eight points, with Friday night’s four-point defeat being the largest of the trio.
Even with a raucous Friday night Assembly Hall crowd on hand, Indiana again found itself digging out of a double-digit deficit in the first half.
Much like the previous two home games, Indiana put in a spirited effort in the second half to make it a close game, but it missed opportunities late to build on a big road win earlier in the week.
“Any time you lose, it hurts,” Woodson said. “After coming off the Michigan State game, which was a great game for our young team and the ball club, and then to come in and not finish tonight, it hurts.”
Following Friday evening’s loss to UCLA, Indiana’s record drops to a bleak 3-12 in quad-one games, with three more opportunities to end the season looming.
Being firmly on the bubble as the season swiftly draws to a close, Indiana can ill-afford more losses in general, let alone quad-one opportunities on its home court.
Though four consecutive home losses look bleak on paper, Indiana still has an opportunity to earn an at-large bid, mostly because this year’s bubble is relatively weak compared to past seasons.
After the loss, Indiana dropped just two spots in KenPom from 53rd to 55th and will likely remain in the “Next Four Out’ category for most bracketologists.
With a home date with rival Purdue slated next, Indiana has an opportunity to erase the bad taste of another frustrating home loss and earn its way back into the conversation with a win over the Boilermakers next Sunday.
“We've got a week to put this behind us and get ready for Purdue.”
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