It was over shortly after it started.

For the third time this season, Nebraska had its way against Indiana. It was a game that wasn’t much of a contest and this time, it ended Indiana’s season.

The Hoosiers faced the Cornhuskers in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament and were blown out, 93-66, to close out the 2023-2024 campaign. Indiana had won its first conference tournament game against Penn State the night before and held on to a tiny bit of hope.

It was a gritty win highlighted by Anthony Leal’s game-winning tip-in, but that hope quickly faded away and was long forgotten by the end of Friday’s game against Nebraska.

The reality of the program’s current state quickly caught up with everyone.

The first ten minutes saw competitive back-and-forth basketball with six different lead changes. But with 10:08 remaining in the first half, Nebraska took a 19-17 lead and never looked back. They flipped the switch and, from there, took complete control of the game, holding onto the lead for the remainder of the game. The Huskers would begin to torch the Hoosiers from the outside, knocking down three after three as a similar story from the previous two games unfolded.

Nebraska went on a dominating push and finished the first half on a 17-0 run, outscoring the Hoosiers 34-10 to close the half. Keisei Tominaga and Brice Williams were the most significant factors for Nebraska. The duo finished with a combined 32 points in the first half.

The half ended with a 30-foot Tominaga three-pointer that pierced the heart of the Hoosiers at the buzzer. A half of basketball was left to be played, but the damage had already been done. Indiana was already defeated.

Nebraska had dropped 50 points, leaving Indiana with a 23-point hole.

“They just started making – knocking down threes,” Xavier Johnson said postgame. “We started losing defensively. Tominaga started getting hot, and it was call it a day from there.”

The second half wasn’t much of a contest, as it was crystal clear that Indiana was no match for the third-seeded Huskers. Indiana had no answer for Nebraska’s offense like the first two games.

While Nebraska’s offense was the show’s star, Fred Hoiberg had another near-perfect defensive game plan for facing Mike Woodson’s offense. Hoiberg and the Huskers took away Indiana’s bread and butter post-play.

Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware never became much of a factor. Ware finished the game 3-10 from the field with eight points, and Reneau finished the contest with nine points. Reneau fouled out of the game with 9:07 remaining, having only played 22 minutes.

“I don’t think we executed,” Head coach Mike Woodson said. “We did a poor job executing offensively. Malik and Ware have seen double teams all year from the back side, from the top side, what we call the soft spot up top, to the ball. They’ve been doubled team all the ways you can double-team, but they didn’t read well tonight.

“They didn’t read the backside, and we were forcing things early to the point where we didn’t make the right play. I thought our intentions were great when we came out cause it was back and forth, but when it got to about 33-26, 27, we dropped the rope. They went in at halftime, and we just never recovered.”

The final nail in the coffin came when Woodson received his second technical foul of the day and was ejected in the game’s final five minutes. Woodson walked off the court with his head down and with very little emotion on his face.

As the final horn sounded, it sealed Indiana’s 14th loss of the season and its fifth loss by 20 or more points. The loss highlighted everything that went wrong for Indiana this season.

Indiana’s lack of versatility, poor guard play, unnecessary fouls, and inability to play a modern style of basketball were all displayed for those watching. The loss against the Huskers was everything that went wrong for Indiana this season put into a 40-minute window.

And now a mighty crucial offseason begins for Woodson and the rest of the program.

There is a high level of uncertainty about how next year’s roster will look, with Indiana having zero recruits in the upcoming 2024 class. The transfer portal looms larger than ever. The Hoosiers have a few confirmed pieces back – Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal – but the rest of the roster remains in question. Where does Indiana go from here?

“Again, we’ve been — we always meet every day, guys,” Woodson said. “We spend a lot of time, the coaches and I, together, and we talk about the what-ifs because you just don’t know based on the new system and the portal, you know, who’s going to be on your team, who’s not. Who are we going to entertain once the portal opens up?

“So I mean, it’s going to come very quickly, and we’ve got to be in position to do our homework and our due diligence on these players based on who we might want to come in to fill a spot to help us move forward next season.”

The Hoosiers finish the season 19-14 and with no NCAA tournament bid. The reality is something has to change. Indiana needs to catch up in the always-evolving world of college basketball. The program has to make changes, or else this time next year, a similar story might take place in the early parts of March.

“We’ve just got a lot of work to do this summer to get better,” Woodson said. “I don’t want to sit here this time next year and not be playing in the tournament.”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

Filed to: Mike Woodson, Nebraska Cornhuskers