Mike Woodson was once a team captain under legendary coach Bob Knight at Indiana and is currently in his second season as head coach of the Hoosiers.
A former backcourt teammate of Isiah Thomas while at Indiana, Woodson returned to his alma mater at the start of the 2021-22 season and guided the Hoosiers to their first NCAA Tournament bid in six years, an appearance that resulted in a First Four win over Wyoming before bowing out following an 82-53 loss to Saint Mary’s in the East Regional first round.
The former NBA head coach of the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks is hoping his team can learn from last year’s experience as the fourth-seeded Hoosiers prepare for their 41st trip to the NCAA Tournament. They are facing No. 13 seed Kent State on Friday night in the opening round of the Midwest Regional at MVP Arena.
The nightcap of the four-game schedule is set for 9:55 p.m.
“Each and every game you go out, it’s a game of inches in tournament play. I can relate back to when I was in college. We lost to Villanova at the buzzer after being up the whole game,” Woodson said. “I mean, nobody wants to go home in March Madness and I get it. That’s why you’ve got to be ready to play every minute, every second of every game that you get an opportunity to play.”
Indiana (22-11) opened the season with seven straight wins and won both Big Ten games against league regular-season and tournament champion Purdue — the Boilermakers are the top seed in the East Region — but limped to the finish of the season by splitting its last six games, including a 77-73 setback to Penn State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament last week.
“I’ve got to think that this year, these guys who were with us last season, they tasted it,” Woodson said. “Just like the Big Ten Tournament, we tasted it last season and I just couldn’t get us over the hump….
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