BLOOMINGTON—For all of the Indiana University men’s basketball fans, even those who left Assembly Hall early at the urgent throbbing of a beep-beep-beep warning signal and didn’t come back, the Hoosiers’ victory over Wisconsin was not a false alarm.
The repetitive beeps that buzzed with 10 minutes, 6 seconds to play in a tie game, did not represent a tornado warning, as many thought, but was a false fire alarm clearing the building.
The game was tied, the teams evacuated to their locker rooms, but when play resumed 20 minutes later, the Hoosiers halted a four-game losing streak, 74-70.
Freedman
When IU coach Mike Woodson, who has been rather gloomy in his assessments of the team’s performance lately, said this experience of game-interruptus was a first for him in his lengthy college and pro playing and coaching career, he may unconsciously have been referring to how long it had been between wins, too.
For a guy who had been wearing a frown 24-7 since Feb. 6, date of Indiana’s last win, over Ohio State, partially because of poor defense, partially because of poor free-throw shooting and partially because of poor 3-point shooting, he had to be pleased with a fast start (32-17) and holding off a nemesis Big Ten team in the clutch.
Things were even at 54-54 (when alarm adjournment kicked in), 56-56, 63-63, 68-68, and 70-70, before Hoosier Malik Reneau hit the winning basket on a low-post move.
“They’re not going to ever quit,” Woodson said of the 18-10 Badgers, who have dominated IU in recent years and beat the Hoosiers, 91-79, in Madsion Jan. 19. “They pushed us to the end.”
A major reason why the Hoosiers were around at the end when the Badgers edged out to three-point margins a couple of times while being led by Chucky Hepburn (15 points, 7 rebounds), was the overwhelming presence of Ke’lel Ware.
Ware was the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in 38 minutes, a force on both ends of the court.
“It was unbelievable,” Woodson said of the 7-foot sophomore. “He had a man’s game. He really did. He was fantastic tonight. We needed every bit of it in order to win this game.”
And every bit contributed by Reneau, who had 14 points and 8 rebounds, Mackenzie Mgbako, who also scored 14, including a crucial long-range jumper that knotted things at 63, and guard Trey Galloway, who for the second time recently collected 12 assists.
“We’ve got a lot of trust in Galloway,” Woodson said. “So, we trust when the ball is in his hands, he can make basketball plays. I thought tonight he delivered for us.”
Galloway was Mr. Point Guard on a night when Xavier Johnson returned after recovering from his second injury of the season, this one an elbow issue.
Johnson, who has been out since…scored 5 points, but also committed 5 turnovers. He showed flashes of his own point-guard leadership, but also appeared rusty after missing five games this time.
Pointing to a stretched-thin, inexperienced backcourt, Woodson has said the Hoosiers are not the same team without Johnson, that he is the X factor in the backcourt. Woodson hinted IU might have a much better record than its 15-13 if Johnson, a sixth-year senior, had been available all season.
“Again, he gives us defensive pressure out front,” Woodson said. “He gives us speed in terms of he’s the only guy that can really change directions and make plays off the bounce.”
Johnson may be able to do such things when healthy, but few players in the country can do the kind of things Ware can when he is on. He has a very soft shooting touch for a big man. Ware, a transfer from Oregon out of North Little Rock, Arkansas, hit 11 of his 12 field-goal attempts, including a straight-ahead three-pointer, not something opposing teams are likely to cover.
Woodson said he emerged from a “happy” locker room, as is fitting for a team snapping a losing streak and Ware, who sat out the loss to Wisconsin with illness, echoed the feel-good nature of the triumph.
“This win means a lot,” Ware said, not boasting about his own show. “It’s not even just about me. That whole team has just been, as y’all seen, on a little downhill. I feel like tonight we finally got over the hump everybody has been talking about.”
Ah, the so-called “hump.” The Hoosiers have three regular-season games before the Big Ten tournament. They have not shown consistency this year, but if Johnson can play his typical game and Ware can play his A-typical game, flipping the recent losing streak into a winning streak might yet excite IU supporters.