Tom Izzo vocalizes support of Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson

Despite a shaky week for Mike Woodson and the Indiana basketball program, Sunday afternoon ushered in its fourth win in a row to close out the season — and put some doubters to rest.

Following IU’s 65-64 win over Michigan State, Spartans head coach Tom Izzo vocalized his support of Mike Woodson.

“I gotta say — it’s mind boggling to me that Mike (Woodson) has won 18 games in a conference that is really difficult, from 2 to 13 (seeds) and somebody’s gotta stick up for him coming back next year? What a joke,” Izzo said postgame. “What a joke, man.”

After Indiana’s four-game winning streak it brought its conference record back to 10-10 overall and its overall record to 18-13.

Coming into the recent four-game winning streak, Indiana basketball had gone 4-10 since Jan. 1. It also had lost four in a row and six of the last eight games.

Amid the losing streak, it was reported that Woodson would return next season for Indiana — despite strong belief from part of the fan base that he should be gone after this season.

“There should never be any questions about my job based on what I have done here since I stepped foot in Indiana as a coach,” Woodsons said on Sunday. “I’m not going to entertain questions about it because shouldn’t be anything out there floating around about my job. I’ve done my job and I’m going to continue to do it.”

After taking Indiana to back-to-back NCAA Tournament’s in his first two seasons, Indiana has struggled this year. There is no questioning that.

Indiana basketball is still ranked No. 93 in the NET rankings and No. 86 in the KenPom rankings. Indiana hasn’t been ranked that low in KenPom’s ratings since Tom Crean’s second season in 2009-10 when Indiana finished 194th.

However, the Hoosiers were picked to finish sixth in the preseason Big Ten standings. Following Sunday’s win — Indiana heads into the Big Ten Tournament this week as the 6-seed.

“We’re playing as good as any team in the country right now based on the last four games. We got to take it a game at a time, man. I’ll never jump ahead,” Woodsons said. “I don’t know who we’ll face the first game of the Big10 tournament, but one game at a time and see where it leads us.”

SEE ALSO: Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal announce they will return to Indiana basketball next year

Make sure to follow Hoosier Illustrated, part of the Full Ride Network, on Twitter @Indiana_FRN, Facebook and YouTube to stay up to date on all of the news, updates and coverage of Indiana University athletics. You can also listen to the Talking’ Bout the Hoosiers podcast on Spotify.

Looking for a place to get more Indiana content? Hoosier Illustrated has partnered with Tom Brady’s company ‘Autograph’ to streamline our coverage, so you can continue to do what you do best – follow IU sports. Use the CODE: Indianafr to get started today. For more info, you can start here.