Luke Goode continues to elevate his game, making ‘big shots’ for Indiana basketball along the way

As the ball found Luke Goode’s hands in the short corner on the right side of the floor, he released it with confidence, watching it fall through the basket. It was the final shot he’d take in Friday’s 77-76 win over Ohio State, but it was the biggest shot he’d take, lifting Indiana basketball to a gritty and much-needed win.

With five lead changes in overtime, Goode’s go-ahead three with 1:07 left on the clock was the last change on the scoreboard. While it was the biggest shot of the night, it wasn’t the only big shot that Goode hit.

Goode, who poured in a career-high 23 points, was the catalyst for Indiana’s run in the second half. After watching a tie game quickly shift to a six-point halftime deficit, the messaging was clear. Let’s ‘flip the script’. That’s exactly what Indiana basketball, and Goode, did.

“One of the biggest trends of our losses this season is we get down 2, 3, 4 possessions and essentially quit in a sense,” Goode said. “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’.”

After tailing 35-29 at halftime, Goode was the spark for Indiana basketball — scoring 16 of his 23 points in the second half and overtime, including all four of his made 3s. That included three of his 3s in a five minutes span to flip the six-point deficit into a four-point IU lead.

“It’s a credit to my teammates,” Goode said. “They did a great job finding me and I hit the first couple shots and they did a good job of reading the defense — we scouted them where they’d be coming from on the trap, (Oumar) Ballo made a couple passes, I made a couple shots in transition. Once you see one go down as a shooter, you get pretty confident to get 2, 3, 4 (to go down).”

That confidence has translated into a career year for the IU wing. He’s averaging 8.3 points while shooting 38.4 percent on 1.7 made 3s a game. He’s also playing a career-high 23.3 minutes a game. His points, made 3s per game and minutes are all career-highs.

After being inserted into the starting lineup, his play has elevated. He’s averaging 12.0 points and shooting 43.6 percent from three on 2.4 makes per game. In his last five games, he’s bumped that up to 13.4 points a game and is shooting 52 percent from there on 2.6 makes per game.

He’s scored in double figures in four of the last five games.

None of those games were bigger than Friday’s, however.

“He got some good looks. They were doubling Ballo and we kinda set it up that way on the back side that he can get some looks,” IU head coach Mike Woodson said. “He knocks some shots down for us. Big shots. We needed every one of them that he made.”

While his play on the floor has been elevated, he’s always been one of the vocal leaders of this team. Since day one, Goode has been one of the guys this team has leaned on, mainly because he’s done it before. He’s been part of two Big Ten championships during his four years. His freshman year was a regular season championship at Illinois and last year was a conference tournament championship.

After back-to-back 25-point losses, Goode spoke up even more — making it known that the recent play from Indiana basketball was unacceptable and embarrassing. He backed up that talk on Friday night.

“I’ve taken in upon myself the past couple of days,” Goode said of his vocal leadership. “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.

“Explaining how hard it is to win in the Big Ten. At the end of the day, we were 13-3, lost a couple. You look at other teams around the country in power conferences, there are some teams under .500. We took a step back and said, ‘listen, we had a reality check. We have to bounce back from it and do what we do as a team’. … If we want our season to go the right way, we have to play tough and play together.”

While Friday’s win won’t change everything, it certainly stabilizes the season, if for just a moment. Big time players make big time plays and show up in big moments. That continues to be Luke Goode.

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball finds a way to ‘dig deeper’ in total team win just days after facing a ‘reality check’

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