The Indiana basketball program is preparing for an intense clash with the 10th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. However, the Hoosiers could be without a key contributor for the matchup. Mike Woodson gave a murky injury update on sophomore center Kel'el Ware.

Kel'el Ware's injury could hurt the Hoosiers ahead of their Big 10 matchup

Mike Woodson said Ware is still being held out of contact portions of practice, per Zach Osterman of the Indy Star.

“He was on the floor a little (Wednesday),” Woodson told the Star. “He did some warm-up drills with us. Nothing where he's had contact, where he has to cut and block out and block shots, things of that nature. He just basically did some endurance stuff with us on the floor during our warmups.”

Ware suffered an ankle injury during Indiana's Jan. 19th contest against the Wisconsin Badgers. Hopefully, the sophomore will have a speedy recovery.

The Hoosiers are 12-7 and sit in the middle of the Big 10 conference standings. Indiana would not be in the position it is in without Ware's contributions. The star center nearly averages a double-double with 14.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Nevertheless, Coach Woodson will come up with a plan to account for Ware's absence if he is not recovered by Saturday.

Indiana has a tall task ahead of them. The Illinois basketball team is coming off a stinging 96-91 loss to the Northwestern Wildcats. Surely, the Fighting Illini will be eager to take care of business in Champaign against the Hoosiers.

As Big 10 basketball continues to heat up, it will be interesting to see how Indiana fares against the stacked competition.