Source: John Fisher / Getty
CHAMPAIGN, IL.–The Indiana Hoosier men’s basketball team (12-7, 4-4 in Big Ten) will try to get back to playing better defense when they face the 10th ranked Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday at the State Farm Center.
Indiana’s last game was January 19 when they lost to the 11th ranked Wisconsin Badgers 91-79. Despite the loss, the Hoosiers had their best offensive output of the Big Ten season (1.22 points per possession).
“You’re not going to win on the road giving up 91 points like that in the Big Ten. It’s tough enough to win on the road. If you go on the road with just an offensive mentality, you stand to lose. You’ve got to go out on the road with a defensive mentality. I gotta get us playing defense,” said Indiana Hoosier men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson in a Zoom news conference this week.
Indiana has lost four of their last six games, including their worst home loss to Purdue since 1934. Woodson says he’s challenged his players.
“We’ve had some tough days of practice and we should. I just didn’t think we were defensively ready to play against Wisconsin. We came out with great intentions, but as the game went on, we lost our way defensively,” said Woodson.
As for Illinois, Woodson says they are going to have to match their intensity.
“They’re playing small ball and use the guards a lot. The big challenge is that we have to make sure we get back in transition because Illinois pushes it every opportunity they get,” said Woodson.
Woodson says his second leading scorer Kel’el Ware (14 points and nine rebounds) is recovering from an injury. He didn’t play against Wisconsin but could play against Illinois.
The Illini (14-5, 5-3) enter the matchup with the third-best conference record and a mark of 10-2 at the State Farm Center.
Indiana leads the 187-game series over Illinois 96-91, one of two matchups (Purdue) in which both IU and the opponent have won 90-plus games in the series.
Indiana won the last matchup 71-68 in Bloomington in February of 2023. They’ve won three straight in the series with Illinois.
Tipoff is at 3 pm on Saturday. Pregame coverage starts at 2 pm on 93.1 WIBC.
You can hear the full media availability with Woodson below.
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IU Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Woodson Discusses Upcoming Game Against Illinois was originally published on wibc.com
