BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson tried to use Tuesday night’s 87-66 loss to Purdue as a teaching moment for Kel’el Ware.

Woodson told reporters after the game that Ware didn’t play “tough enough” in a matchup against Zach Edey. The defending Big Ten player of the year had a game-high 33 points and 14 rebounds.

“Edey kind of had his way,” Woodson said.

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Edey went to work when Indiana was trying to claw its way back into the game in the second half. He met minimal resistance from Ware on a pair of baskets that pushed his team’s lead back to 17 points with 7:42 to go.

The 7-foot-4 center consistently got the positioning he wanted in the low post leaving IU players trying to contest easy looks at the rim from behind, which resulted in Edey going 11 of 12 from the free throw line.

“You know, again, Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and Race (Thompson), they are not here,” Woodson said.

It didn’t help that Ware picked up two early fouls for slapping at the ball against Edey. He spent nearly 12 minutes on the bench as the Boilermakers jumped out to a double-digit lead. Ware, who came into the game averaging 14.8 points and 9.6 rebounds, had five points and six rebounds in 26 minutes.

“He held Ware accountable,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “He’s a tough cover.”

Part of that is the “football mentality” that Painter tells Edey to play with. The Boilermakers want Edey to stay in attack mode, and that’s what he did on Tuesday night until he subbed out with 2:27 left.

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It was the 12th career 30 point game and Purdue is 10-2 in those games (one of those losses came against Indiana last year). Edey is averaging 30.6 points (57.6%) and 16 rebounds in the last three games between the teams.

Woodson has mostly been complimentary of Ware this season.

The former five-star recruit and McDonald's All-American arrived in Oregon last year as a hopeful lottery pick only to see his one-and-done plans get sidelined amidst questions about his effort. He signed with Indiana looking to put that narrative behind him.

Woodson addressed the topic a day before IU welcomed Purdue at Assembly Hall.

“It's like night and day from the time we got him to where he is today in terms of going hard and understanding that you just can't take possessions off,” Woodson said, of Ware. “From where he was, man, he's come a long way, and it's kind of nice to see because a lot of people just didn't expect that because he hadn't played.”

The hope for Woodson is that Ware will be motivated to have a better showing in the rematch against Edey on Feb. 10 at Mackey Arena.

“I think Ware could have done a better job in battling but he didn't, and you know, it's something to learn from,” Woodson said. “The beauty about this, we've got to still go to Purdue and see him again, so maybe we can regroup and see what happens when we get there.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball center Kel'el Ware not 'tough enough' vs. Zach Edey