Hopeless Hoosiers?

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Good morning! And welcome to an essential part of your morning — especially after a wild night of college hoops. There were only 36 games, but it felt like twice that many.

Thanks for reading. Let’s get into it.

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1. Illinois trounces Indiana, Mike Woodson’s seat heats up

No. 19 Illinois walked into Assembly Hall and absolutely dominated Indiana, 94-69 on Tuesday night. And Mike Woodson might never hear the end of it.

The Fighting Illini (13-4, 5-2 in Big Ten) poured in 60 first half points, the most they’ve scored in a first half on the road in 25 years. Even an Indiana killshot to start the second half couldn’t prevent Illinois from its largest-ever road win at Indiana.

Freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who hadn’t played in Illinois’ last two games and was questionable pregame, had a glorious return with 21 points and five assists. Junior guard Kylan Boswell had his biggest night as a Fighting Illini, finishing with a game-high and career-high 22 points, and sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic added 17 points and 11 rebounds.

It was the second-straight loss for Indiana (13-5, 4-3), which looked lost, lackluster and just plain bad. Indiana gave up its most points in regulation at Assembly Hall in school history, and the effort from players was noticeable. The performance raises questions about how they’ll finish in the Big Ten.

An even bigger story? Indiana getting booed off the floor heading into halftime and “fire Woodson” chants raining down. The Hoosiers’ 28-point halftime deficit was the largest at home in the past 25 seasons.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Woodson didn’t bother to show up to his postgame radio interview with Don Fischer. The Woodson era in Bloomington could be on the brink of total collapse.

2. Missouri proves it belongs in the SEC

Last year, Missouri didn’t have a single win in SEC play. Now, Dennis Gates and company are looking like a surefire NCAA Tournament team after an 83-82 win over No. 5 Florida in Gainesville. Not that it was a straightforward win.

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