The Indiana Hoosiers have beat the Ohio State Buckeyes; the Hoosiers are the 2024 college football National Champ...oh wait, wrong sport.
In all seriousness, the Hoosiers were able to walk away from an overtime thriller in Columbus against Ohio State with a 77-76 win over the Buckeyes. The Hoosiers weren't able to bring down the Buckeyes during football season, but they certainly did during basketball season.
After two straight embarrassing outings, head coach Mike Woodson was able to turn his team around quickly for a Friday night matchup against Ohio State that was make or break for this Hoosier team.
Indiana started Big Ten play 4-1, their best start since the 2015-2016 season, but then dropped two games in a row, making them 4-3, and are now 5-3 after their win against Ohio State. The losses against Iowa and Illinois really got Indiana fans fired up, though, as they are tired of Woodson being unable to win the big games and not fostering the expected culture for Indiana basketball.
The win over Ohio State was big for Indiana; there is no doubt about that because it keeps them in the Big Ten race and does help their NCAA Tournament resume, but Woodson can't think that the win suddenly saves his job.
In his time at Indiana, Woodson holds a 77-45 record at Indiana, making it to the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons with the Hoosiers. Last season was the first time he didn't make the tournament with a 19-14 record and going 10-10 in Big Ten play.
Woodson also owns multiple of Indiana's biggest losses in program history, one of them being the Hoosier's 94-69 loss against Illinois last week. If Woodson wants to secure his job, he needs to win the big games.
It is worth mentioning that the Hoosiers have been without their leading scorer, Malik Reneau, for six games now, but they are 4-2 in those games, so they have found ways to win without him.
The Hoosiers currently have seven games against ranked opponents left on their schedule, and if Woodson can't lead his team to a winning record or, worse, get any wins over these teams, he just might be looking for a new job at the end of the season.