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Friday, January 17
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Indiana Basketball Turnaround Starts With ‘Right Mindset’
1/17/2025 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Anthony Leal understands accountability and the necessity of facing hard truths.
Basketball truth doesn't get much harder these days for the Indiana Hoosiers (13-5 overall, 4-3 in the Big Ten), but with it comes opportunity if they are tough enough, determined enough and resilient enough to do what needs to be done in the wake of consecutive 25-point defeats, five losses by at least 16 points, and the ruthless reality of Big Ten competition, which resumes Friday night at Ohio State (10-7, 2-4).
"I don't think we carry on like normal," says Leal, a senior guard and a former Indiana Mr. Basketball out of Bloomington High School South. "Obviously, things need to be addressed between players and themselves and players and each other. That's really the root of it. We've got to lock in, look in the mirror, and understand how embarrassing and unacceptable this is and understand that nobody gets where they want to go if the team doesn't win.
"It's reassessing everything, setting our priorities straight man to man and man to himself and finding ways to win games."
The best teams, the championship teams, are always player led. Team leaders such as Leal, Luke Goode, Trey Galloway, and Malik Reneau must set the tone.
"Things aren't going the way they're supposed to go right now," Leal says. "That's a problem we all have to understand amongst ourselves first and then coming in with the right mindset every day.
"Sure, we just did lose two straight, but we're staring nine quad one games in a row in the face. We have two options. As long as we can all get on the same page about the fact that we can win these games, and turn the season around, we can make everybody's dreams come true.
"It's just approaching every day with a new, fresh mentality and understanding we do have a lot of work to do, and the work needs to be done."
The bottom line -- work must produce victories.
"It's up to me to get our players to play at a high level," coach Mike Woodson says. "That's my job and I'm going to continue to work in that area. I hope that our fans will hang in there with us."
The season isn't lost, Woodson insists. Talent and opportunity are there for a strong finish, although playing without injured leading scorer Malik Reneau adds to the challenge. The timetable for his return remains uncertain.
"You're missing your leading scorer the last five, six games," Woodson says. "That doesn't help, but we've won games without Malik. It's next man up. The last two games, we haven't fared well without him. Hopefully, we get him back soon and I can get guys playing back at a high level so we can get back on the winning track.
"We've got a long way to go in this Big Ten. Do I think we're good enough to win? Yeah, I do. I've got to get us to believe that and keep pushing these guys in the right direction."
Ohio State is coming off a 70-68 loss at Wisconsin. It trailed 37-20 at halftime before making a big second-half comeback that fell just short.
The Buckeyes have four double-figure scorers in Bruce Thornton (17.4 points, team-leading 74 assists), Devin Royal (13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds), John Mobley Jr. (11.9 points), and Micah Parrish (10.0, 4.5 rebounds).
Thornton shoots 53.1% from the field and 43.3% on 3-pointers. Mobley Jr. shoots 43.0% on 3-pointers.
Ohio State is 7-3 at home, but 1-2 in Big Ten play at the Schottenstein Center. Victories include Texas, Rutgers, Kentucky, and Minnesota.
This is the first of four road games in the next five contests for the Hoosiers, including consecutive games at top-20 teams Purdue and Wisconsin. Can they respond from Tuesday night's home loss to top-20 Illinois, during which they trailed by 30 points in the first half? Goode called IU's performance an "embarrassment."
"We have to wear this (Indiana) jersey with more pride as players," he says. "This program is too historical and too great to be represented like that.
"We will get this thing turned around. We've got confidence in our teammates, confidence in our coaches. We'll start being successful again."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Anthony Leal understands accountability and the necessity of facing hard truths.
Basketball truth doesn't get much harder these days for the Indiana Hoosiers (13-5 overall, 4-3 in the Big Ten), but with it comes opportunity if they are tough enough, determined enough and resilient enough to do what needs to be done in the wake of consecutive 25-point defeats, five losses by at least 16 points, and the ruthless reality of Big Ten competition, which resumes Friday night at Ohio State (10-7, 2-4).
"I don't think we carry on like normal," says Leal, a senior guard and a former Indiana Mr. Basketball out of Bloomington High School South. "Obviously, things need to be addressed between players and themselves and players and each other. That's really the root of it. We've got to lock in, look in the mirror, and understand how embarrassing and unacceptable this is and understand that nobody gets where they want to go if the team doesn't win.
"It's reassessing everything, setting our priorities straight man to man and man to himself and finding ways to win games."
The best teams, the championship teams, are always player led. Team leaders such as Leal, Luke Goode, Trey Galloway, and Malik Reneau must set the tone.
"Things aren't going the way they're supposed to go right now," Leal says. "That's a problem we all have to understand amongst ourselves first and then coming in with the right mindset every day.
"Sure, we just did lose two straight, but we're staring nine quad one games in a row in the face. We have two options. As long as we can all get on the same page about the fact that we can win these games, and turn the season around, we can make everybody's dreams come true.
"It's just approaching every day with a new, fresh mentality and understanding we do have a lot of work to do, and the work needs to be done."
The bottom line -- work must produce victories.
"It's up to me to get our players to play at a high level," coach Mike Woodson says. "That's my job and I'm going to continue to work in that area. I hope that our fans will hang in there with us."
The season isn't lost, Woodson insists. Talent and opportunity are there for a strong finish, although playing without injured leading scorer Malik Reneau adds to the challenge. The timetable for his return remains uncertain.
"You're missing your leading scorer the last five, six games," Woodson says. "That doesn't help, but we've won games without Malik. It's next man up. The last two games, we haven't fared well without him. Hopefully, we get him back soon and I can get guys playing back at a high level so we can get back on the winning track.
"We've got a long way to go in this Big Ten. Do I think we're good enough to win? Yeah, I do. I've got to get us to believe that and keep pushing these guys in the right direction."
Ohio State is coming off a 70-68 loss at Wisconsin. It trailed 37-20 at halftime before making a big second-half comeback that fell just short.
The Buckeyes have four double-figure scorers in Bruce Thornton (17.4 points, team-leading 74 assists), Devin Royal (13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds), John Mobley Jr. (11.9 points), and Micah Parrish (10.0, 4.5 rebounds).
Thornton shoots 53.1% from the field and 43.3% on 3-pointers. Mobley Jr. shoots 43.0% on 3-pointers.
Ohio State is 7-3 at home, but 1-2 in Big Ten play at the Schottenstein Center. Victories include Texas, Rutgers, Kentucky, and Minnesota.
This is the first of four road games in the next five contests for the Hoosiers, including consecutive games at top-20 teams Purdue and Wisconsin. Can they respond from Tuesday night's home loss to top-20 Illinois, during which they trailed by 30 points in the first half? Goode called IU's performance an "embarrassment."
"We have to wear this (Indiana) jersey with more pride as players," he says. "This program is too historical and too great to be represented like that.
"We will get this thing turned around. We've got confidence in our teammates, confidence in our coaches. We'll start being successful again."
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