EUGENE, Ore. – Indiana’s margin for error narrowed when it lost seven of eight games in January and February. But with their backs against the wall, the Hoosiers have rattled off four wins in their last five games heading into a crucial matchup Tuesday at Oregon.
Indiana senior Luke Goode helped Illinois reach the Elite Eight last season, and that experience has helped him quickly become a leader for his home-state Hoosiers. He scored 18 points on 5-for-9 3-point shooting in Saturday’s 78-62 victory over Washington, a win that has Indiana gaining momentum in the season’s final stretch.
“It’s March now,” Goode said. “It means more for everybody playing around the country, especially teams that are battling to get into the tournament, and they need to win games. I think our urgency has definitely picked up big time. Our team is coming together at the right time and it shows out there. Everybody is playing for each other. We’re all rallying around coach and coming together for a greater purpose.”
Less than a month ago, Indiana announced coach Mike Woodson would step down at the end of the season. The Hoosiers were 14-10 overall and 5-8 in Big Ten play. NCAA Tournament hopes were slipping away, and the season reached a low point. Many fans were ready for a program reset, but the players and coaches didn’t give up on the season.
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Since their home loss to Michigan on Feb. 8, the Hoosiers have won four of five games, including their two biggest wins of the season – at No. 11 Michigan State and by 15 points at home against No. 13 Purdue That’s put Indiana among the last four byes to the big dance, according to Joe Lunardi on Monday.
Goode agreed that the recent stretch of play is similar to what he envisioned this Indiana team could be when playing well.
“Yeah, every season has its ups and downs. Our down was a little longer than we would have liked throughout those five or six we lost in a row,” Goode said. “But we’re building momentum at the right time. We’re on the up-slope at the right time, and we just gotta keep going.”
On-court adjustments from Woodson like shortening the rotation with more minutes for Anthony Leal, staggering Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo’s time even more, and putting Trey Galloway in a facilitating role have helped the Hoosiers make a significant turnaround.
So has the acknowledgement that it’s all over soon.
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“I think urgency is the word I come back to,” Goode said after Indiana’s 78-62 win at Washington Saturday. “I think we sat back and realized this is it for most of these guys. The seniors, coach is leaving, so everybody’s future is in question. This is the last time that we can come together as a team, as brothers in the locker room who have trained together since June to play for a championship and to get into the tournament. I think we just have the urgency that we came out, and it’s time to win.”
Goode said Indiana had three goals going into the season – win the Big Ten championship; win the Big Ten Tournament; and win the national championship. The Hoosiers entered the season ranked No. 17 in the nation and picked second in the preseason Big Ten media poll. While they haven’t lived up to those expectations, Goode noted that two of their three goals are still in front of them.
There wasn’t a certain day or meeting when things shifted, according to Goode. But the team leaders reiterated every day in the locker room that what they set out to do is still possible. He and Woodson agreed the team is playing a more stress-free brand of basketball of late.
“You can call it that. I call it when you win, it eases the mind,” Woodson said. “You do things that you think you’re accustomed to doing. And when you lose, you’re looking over your shoulders. You’re worried about what people are saying. All the shit that really don’t matter. I mean, we need right now to support these players, man, because they are playing hard. They are trying to win basketball games.”
The Hoosiers have stayed out west ahead of Tuesday’s 9 p.m. ET game at Oregon. They’ve put themselves in much better standing for the NCAA Tournament with recent wins, but still need to finish the regular season strong against Oregon and Ohio State and perhaps pick up another win or two in the Big Ten Tournament.
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Goode wasn’t fazed by the increased amount of travel before the Washington game, but he knows the Hoosiers have to stay locked in as they approach a more challenging opponent Tuesday.
“No, shoot, I felt good today,” Goode said Saturday. “So no [travel] challenges for me, but I think the guys are just a little tired. We came out and played hard and took care of business. It’s just maintaining that mentality and moving onto the next one.”
Alabama football completed Step 1. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday, earning its first College Football Playoff victory.
With the first round completed, UA has a tougher test ahead. No. 1 Indiana awaits in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal, on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. As Alabama celebrates its victory and begins to prepare, here’s what to know about the 13-0 Hoosiers.
The coach
To say that Curt Cignetti has done a good job at Indiana is perhaps college football’s largest understatement. Cignetti, who took over last season, has turned the Big Ten’s ultimate doormat into the nation’s top team.
Cignetti joined up from James Madison before the 2024 season. He immediately took a program that had grown stale under Tom Allen to the CFP, then turned around and did even better this year.
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“I just know that winning lifts all boats,” Cignetti said after the playoff field was announced. “In terms of fan support in the stadium, donations, all parts of the university, downtown when you pack the stadium, bring a lot of people to Bloomington, it helps their sales. A lot of pride in Hoosier Nation. The largest alumni base in America, over 800,000 people. I’d say right now the arrow is pointing up. We probably got a lot of momentum going in those kind of areas.”
Cignetti has a connection to Alabama as well. He worked as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban from 2007 through 2011, helping set the groundwork for Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
In addition to Indiana in James Madison, he was a head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon after leaving the Tide.
The quarterback
For the first time in program history, Indiana has a Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza beat out a group of finalists that included Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.
Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards this season, with 33 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has completed 226 of his 316 passes so far.
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“Our focus right now is winning the College Football Playoff,” Mendoza told reporters Monday in Bloomington. “That’s what would make this trophy so much sweeter. I believe this trophy is a little bit of a push of confidence on us, on the team, that we’re making history for the IU team in history to be 13-0 and also to bring home a Heisman Trophy to Bloomington.”
The junior, who hails from Florida, transferred into Indiana from Cal this year. He spent two seasons in Berkeley before joining the Hoosiers.
The season
Indiana was the losingest program in the Football Bowl Subdivision entering this season. Some predicted it would be a step back for the Hoosiers, who lost several key players from last season’s playoff team.
Instead, IU won its first Big Ten title since 1967. It enters the CFP undefeated.
“I think that if we hooked everybody up in this room on a lie detector test and told them, hey, do you think Fernando Mendoza is going to win the Heisman this year and we’re going to be 13-0, Big Ten champs, the team has a lot of self-belief and unwavering belief, but I think it’s tough to make those predictions,” Mendoza said Monday.
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To cap off the season, Indiana, which had faced criticism for its strength of schedule throughout the year, pulled off a huge upset in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat then No. 1 Ohio State, earning the top seed in the CFP and a spot in the Rose Bowl.
Months after being named the 2024 Indiana Thoroughbred Owner’s and Breeder’s Association’s Horse of the Year for 2024, multiple stakes winner Demolisher was euthanized after a bout with laminitis.
“We went from the highest highs as Indiana Horse of the Year to the lowest low ever when we had to say goodbye,” said Resia Ayres, who bred and raced Demolisher with husband Ken.
Unraced at 2, Demolisher proved worth the wait as he won the first five starts of his career in 2024, topped by stakes wins in the Governor’s Handicap and the To Much Coffee Handicap. All five of those wins came at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He closed out the season with an unplaced start in the Bryan Station Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland.
In March the son of Dominus was honored as ITOBA’s top Indiana-bred 3-year-old male and its Horse of the Year.
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“It’s about as high as we ever expected to have any of our horses,” Ken Ayres said at the time. “It’s hard to put words to it. Obviously, we’re super excited about it.”
For several years, the common refrain among some state lawmakers has been that they had no desire to tackle the issue until the federal government reclassified the drug. That argument will be removed if the president’s order receives federal regulatory approval as directed.
