IU basketball finds a way to ‘dig deeper’ in total team win just days after facing a ‘reality check’

As the clock struck all zero’s and Bruce Thornton’s three rolled off the rim, joy and relief rained down from the IU basketball team. From coaches to players, there was pure excitement, a type of emotion that hadn’t been seen from the team much this year. After the 77-76 overtime win over Ohio State, all head coach Mike Woodson wanted to focus on what his group and their determination but certainly not the ‘outside noise’ that had been a dark cloud over the program the past week.

“I don’t care about the outside noise,” Woodson said firmly. “It (the win) shows you about the character about our team. I don’t even want to comment on the outside noise, it’s ridiculous.”

Friday’s win was much like the ups and downs of the season. After a decent start, there was a lull midway into the first half which transitioned into a potential snowball effect going into the half. A back and forth game for the majority of the first 14 minutes,  Ohio State used a quick 7-0 run that coincided with a 4:01 stretch from Indiana without a basket that led to a six-point deficit at the half. This was a spot IU had been in numerous times this year — taking a punch and then folding. While the team knew the trend, it didn’t want to make Friday another tick mark in that category.

“We can learn a lot (from these games). We can learn that we can do it,” IU wing Luke Goode — who had a career-high 23 points said. “One of the biggest trends of our losses this season is we get down 2, 3, 4 possessions and essentially quit in a sense … we were down eight late, I think it was, in the first half, we came together and said, ‘let’s change the script, let’s flip the script and go out there and get a win’.”

The script was flipped, and it was a total team effort. Goode had his career-high of 23 points, playing 41 minutes and all 25 in the second half and overtime. Oumar Ballo had 21 points, 15 rebounds and four assists, also playing all 25 minutes in the second half and overtime en route to 40 minutes. Kanaan Carlyle stepped up with Myles Rice in foul trouble all night, playing 36 minutes and finishing with 13 points in his first double-digit scoring game since Dec. 9. Then, it was Anthony Leal who made the key defensive stop, blocking John Mobley’s shot late in the game clock on the final possession.

In what has been a season of doubt, inconsistencies and difficult conversations, Friday was a result of one thing; the team truly coming together — maybe more then than at any point this season.

“I tip my hat to our team because they could’ve laid down but they didn’t,” Woodson said. “They came here to Ohio and got a win … It was a total team effort man, and we needed it after the past two games we had.”

“You always have to find a way,” Ballo said. “We always say you may not be feeling it, you have to dig deeper and I’m glad we came out on the top tonight.”

‘Dig deeper’ was a theme on Friday. Whether it Ballo falling on the floor for loose balls, grabbing offensive rebounds or Trey Galloway getting a timeout off of an inbounds pass steal as he was falling out of bounds. Or just the timeline shots made when they were needed.

Every punch that was thrown, IU responded.

After back-to-back 25-point losses in an ugly and embarrassing manner, there was a lot of soul-searching over the past few days. While certain players stepped up in more of a leadership role, it was Luke Goode who took a lot of the leadership role, being someone who has won at a high level in the Big Ten before, something nobody else on this roster has on their resume.

“I’ve taken in upon myself the past couple of days. I’m fortunate enough to play on a couple of teams that have won at a high level in the Big Ten in the past and I’m trying to bring that here, and that winning mentality here,” Goode said. “We gotta play as hard as we possibly can, who cares if we score 55 points. We should beat the team because of our defense and that’s the message I’ve been trying to get through the guys.”

Part of that message over the last few days was facing a true ‘reality check’.

“We took a step back and said listen, we got a reality check,” Goode said. “But we had to bounce back from it and do what we do as a team and we had two great days of practice … if we want our season to go the right way, then we just got to play tough and play together.”

After the last week of performances, questions about the pride of the IU basketball team was called into question. The fans and students let the players and coaches hear it on Tuesday and that trickled over into the last few days.

But if Friday showed anything, while IU still has a ways to go to truly get back on track this year — and one game doesn’t solve it — the pride is still there and a performance like that can do wonders for a team that may have been looking for a reason to come together and silence the critics.

“We got a group of guys in that locker room that have a lot of pride and they wear that jersey with pride, and sometimes things don’t go according to plan,” Woodson said. “I thought tonight, considering where we’ve been the last two games, they fought their asses off to win this ball game.”

“One-hundred percent, yeah, we represented Indiana basketball tonight,” Goode said. “… Tonight I feel like we represented the brand the best we could.”

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