With season slipping away, IU makes a stand at Ohio State: 'They knew what was at stake.'
Anthony Leal is smiling like this is the best night of his life, and he has no idea how right he’s about to be. At the moment there are 42 seconds left in this IU basketball game at Ohio State, the score is tied, and Ohio State has the ball. The crowd of 11,157 at Value City Arena is into it and for the longest time the Hoosiers seemed out of it, but there’s Leal, gathering his teammates around him coming out of a timeout. Smiling, nodding, like he was made for this moment.
Not saying he’s wrong.
Pretty soon the Hoosiers have the ball, down two, and Trey Galloway is attacking the rim and noticing an unobstructed IU jersey to his right. It’s Leal. Galloway hits him with a pass in the corner, Leal rises for that righteous-looking jumper that earned him the 2020 IndyStar Mr. Basketball award, and he’s rainbowing home a 3-pointer for the go-ahead points with 22 seconds left.
Leal finds himself at the foul line moments later, shortly after an Ohio State turnover and Kel’el Ware breakaway — shortly after all hell breaks loose — and he’s standing there, smiling and nodding some more, like he was born for this moment.
Not saying he’s wrong.
Leal hits both free throws to seal IU’s 76-73 victory against a slumping Ohio State team that was hungry for this win. The problem for the Buckeyes, coached by Butler expat Chris Holtmann, is they ran into an IU team that played like its season was riding on this result.
Not saying they’re wrong.
“They knew what was at stake,” IU coach Mike Woodson said afterward. “We’ve been struggling.”
"We just — we didn’t quit"
You just never know with this IU team, do you?
Just when things are at their darkest — take your pick: either that 14-point loss Saturday to Penn State at Assembly Hall, or that 18-point second-half deficit Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio — the Hoosiers find something none of us knew they had. This is a team that had won just once on the road this season, two months ago at Michigan, and hadn’t shown the kind of resolve to rally from 18 down with less than 18 minutes to play.
Heck, the Hoosiers trailed by 12 with seven minutes left when they got serious about the business of winning this basketball game.
“You don’t like being in these positions very often,” Woodson was telling reporters in Columbus after the game, “but the focus was there. We just — we didn’t quit. We kept fighting and fighting until we finally made things bounce our way, and the result was a win.”
All of a sudden Malik Reneau and Trey Galloway couldn’t miss. All of a sudden Anthony Leal was blocking shots and making steals. Yes, Anthony Leal!
All of a sudden Woodson wasn’t forcing substitutions, but riding the hot hands. The five players that won this game — starters Reneau, Galloway, Ware and Mackenzie Mgbako, with Leal off the bench — played all but 22 seconds of the game’s final 9:20.
Galloway couldn’t come out. He scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, when he was 7-for-10 from the floor and 3-for-3 on 3-pointers. Reneau couldn’t come out; he scored 16 of his 26 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor. Ware couldn’t come out — he was defending the rim. Mgbako couldn’t come out; nobody on the bench was playing well enough to replace him.
And Leal for damn sure couldn’t come out. Because he was made for this moment.
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So many things we’re waiting to find out.
Like, the status of sixth-year senior guard Xavier Johnson. He has missed the past two games with an elbow injury, and Woodson said late Tuesday night he wasn’t optimistic Johnson would play again.
Like, the status of Ware. The 7-0 Oregon transfer came up with a loose ball in the final seconds and was heading for a breakaway dunk when something happened to his left leg. It looked like he rolled his ankle before takeoff, but on the bench he was grabbing his kneecap as trainer Tim Garl examined him and Leal hit those final two free throws. Ware didn’t do much Tuesday night — six points, one rebound in 26 minutes — which might be what Oregon coach Dana Altman was talking about when he questioned Ware’s motor. Ware walked into the locker room afterward without a limp, so maybe his knee isn’t an issue. Just his ticker.
Like, the status of the starting lineup. Woodson has replaced Johnson with Gabe Cupps, but Leal has made the biggest plays in the Hoosiers’ two latest wins — this one, of course, and the 74-68 victory against Iowa last week when he scored 13 points and hit a trio of 3-pointers. With an unhappy fan base, Woodson would be wise to throw them a bone and put the hometown kid in the starting lineup. Doesn’t hurt that Leal deserves it, too.
Like, the status of Woodson. Nope, he’s not getting run out of Bloomington after this season. Who’s reporting that? I just did. Woodson will be back next season, unless he decides he’s finished. Who knows?
Woodson did his finest work in his first 12 months on the job, convincing Trayce Jackson-Davis to return once — then twice — but this is not the college game he grew up loving. NIL distorts things, and the round-the-clock attention on the IU program is different, louder than anything he’d seen as a player for Bob Knight. The scrutiny is wearing on Woodson, but if he wants to return next season, the office is his.
Let’s see what happens over the following month. The Hoosiers have just enough firepower to hang with Kansas and beat Iowa at home, and just enough fight to rally from 18 down in the second half to win at Ohio State. This team isn’t going to the NCAA tournament, but beating Ohio State salvaged something, and IU still could win enough games to qualify for the NIT. That would make Woodson 3-for-3 when it comes to postseason tournaments. He turns 66 in March. Will he want to come back, or will he decide he’s done enough?
So many questions. Where did Trey Galloway’s 25-point explosion come from, and when might we see that again? Who flicked the “off” switch on Ware’s motor — one rebound in 26 minutes, seriously — and could someone please turn it back on, assuming his knee is OK? If the Hoosiers can win with their most consistent perimeter scorer, Mgbako, continuing his recent slump with a 3-for-12 outing, what can they do when he heats up again?
This IU season, like so many of the 20 before it, has been befuddling. Good, bad, worse, and then a glimmer of hope. The hope can be the cruelest part, but even as the Hoosiers fall farther out of the NCAA tournament picture, they still can put a smile on your face. Well, one of them can.
Anthony Leal was made for that moment, too.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU basketball stuns Ohio State as Anthony Leal makes game-winning plays
