Illinois dominates Indiana during chippy finish in Bloomington
Illinois and Indiana met in a crucial midseason matchup in Bloomington on Tuesday night. With both programs coming off of losses, all eyes were on which team would register a bounce-back performance.
This time, it was Brad Underwood’s squad registering a massive road victory, 94-69, over Indiana. Illinois delivered a resounding 60 first-half points before cruising down the stretch to the win.
Kylan Boswell led all scorers with 22 points while Kasparas Jakucionis (21 points), Tomislav Ivisic (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (12 points) also chipped in double figures. The Illini dominated the glass (51 rebounds to 37 for Indiana) and forced 11 Hoosier turnovers.
For Indiana, the Hoosiers shot just 22.2% from 3-point range in a recurring theme for the program. Oumar Ballo led Indiana with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Unfortunately, the game took an ugly turn with less than 2 and a half minutes remaining. Indiana’s Luke Goode was whistled for a foul while attempting to box out Ivisic, and the Illini big man took offense to something involved in the play.
Ivisic got in Goode’s face and was quickly pushed back by Myles Rice. The situation further escalated when Ballo came running in with a shove that knocked Ivisic to the ground under the basket.
It created a mess for officials to clean up:
Things are escalating quickly in Bloomington pic.twitter.com/Qe04nKDKaH
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 15, 2025
In the aftermath, Ballo was ejected while flagrant fouls were issued to Ivisic, Rice and Gibbs-Lawhorn. Goode also fouled out of the game on the play.
After the game, Goode said he talked to the Illinois coaching staff, his former team, and said he had no negative intentions on the play itself. Underwood also downplayed the incident after the game and described Goode as “one of us” in his comments.
Indiana’s Luke Goode said he talked to the Illinois staff after the game (about the scuffle). Said he was only trying to give a hard blockout, had no bad intentions. #iubb
— Jeff Rabjohns (@JeffRabjohns) January 15, 2025
#illini Brad Underwood on Luke Goode, who transferred to Indiana
“I’m always going to dap him up.”
“He’s one of us. He’s got a degree from our university. Helped win 2 championships. I’m always going to be thankful for everything that he did.”
Illinois smoked Indiana 94-69.… pic.twitter.com/PMmVyKCtsU
— Carson Gourdie (@GourdieReport) January 15, 2025
On a larger scale, Illinois continues to show its one of the top teams in the Big Ten and the entire country. Despite a disappointing setback at home vs. USC, the Illini rebounded with a dominant effort and can now turn their attention to a massive showdown vs. No. 12 Michigan State on Sunday.
As for Indiana, there’s a larger cause for concern. It had appeared the Hoosiers were finding their way after a loss to Nebraska led to 5 straight wins, but that has not been the case.
Instead, the Hoosiers now have back-to-back blowout losses to Iowa and Illinois. And barring a drastic turnaround, Mike Woodson’s chances of getting the team back in the NCAA Tournament is unlikely.