After all those years of being spoiled, the IU basketball program, from a fan’s perspective, has been so hard to watch these past few decades. Most thought that it would be better this year until the trip to the Bahamas when reality struck. It was the chance to reestablish IU Basketball as a national contender, but instead the team dropped out of the Top 25 and Coach Woodson lost whatever following he had left. Another change in leadership would mean another step back and who is out there to take on that challenge? We needed some momentum leading into the BIG opener, with only Sam Houston of relatively little consequence coming into Assembly Hall.

Myles Rice came back from the dead to lead the Hoosiers with 19-points and Luke Goode came off the bench to hit five threes. In addition, Malik Reneau scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds with five assists in the 97-71 thrashing.  A 27-3 run left Indiana ahead 34-12 with six minutes left in the first half, but that lead began to fade as the Bearkats (4-5) got within nine early in the second half. It was the same inconsistency that comes from a team without a killer instinct. A Goode free throw, another part of his 18-point, career-high performance put the Hoosiers ahead 60-47 with 11:46 remaining. Sam Houston was 6-17 from downtown, a defensive performance that would need an encore to tackle Miami (Ohio), a team of renowned long ball snipers, ranked 15th nationally at just over 40-percent. 

IU was up for the task but would likely need more of the same against Minnesota and then Nebraska, as the conference openers are scheduled earlier and earlier every year. On the offensive side, the Candy-Stripers had five players in double figures, with Oumar Ballo slamming down 18. Bryson Tucker and Kanaan Carlye, returning from injury, put on a show of sixteen and fourteen respectively. Malik Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako also followed suit with a combined 29 while Myles Rice pulled his disappearing act once again. Tucker hit the magic mark with a free throw at 11:31 to all but seal the 82-67 victory. 

Coach Woodson was now in danger of being outcoached again unless he could find a way to silence the upcoming Huskers and coach Fred Hoiberg, after 3-losses just last year alone. Nebraska won 86-70 in Lincoln, 85-70 in Bloomington, and 93-66 in the Big Ten Tournament quarter finals. The hot-shooting Huskers made a whopping 40 three-pointers in the routs, 12 the first time and 14 in the other two, while Keisei Tominaga scored 23 points, and had 71 total in the three games. He won’t be a factor after graduation, but Brice Williams is still around, having scored 56 points and made 9-of-16 threes against IU. It will truly be a test to see if the Hoosiers can continue to improve their defense and whether Woodson will still have a job.