Mike Woodson has been on the sideline for over 800 games in his coaching career. He's had no shortage of highs — like coaching the New York Knicks to a 54-28 record and breaking the NBA record for three-pointers made in a single season — or lows — like going 13-69 in his first season as a head coach with the Atlanta Hawks — but it seems fair to say that arguably the lowest moment of Woodson's career came during Indiana's blowout loss at Assembly Hall to the Illinois Fighting Illini on Tuesday night.

In front the home fans in Bloomington, the Hoosiers were run out of the gym to the tune of a 94-69 loss against their Big Ten rival on Tuesday night. It was the second-largest home defeat in the history of Indiana basketball, and to make matters even worse for the fourth-year head coach, Mike Woodson was serenaded with ‘Fire Woodson' chants coming from the Indiana student section. It's a sentiment that has been bouncing around the Hoosier State for well over a year now.

After the game, Woodson weighed in on an ugly loss and what has so far been a disappointing season from a team that made a splash in the transfer portal ahead of the start of the 2024-25 campaign.

“I love our fans and I respect our fans, but it’s up to me to get our players to play at a high level and that’s my job and I’m going to continue to work in that area and hope that our fans will stay in there and hang in there with us,” Woodson said after the loss, per Matt Ehalt of The New York Post.

Woodson is from Indianapolis and played for Bob Knight's Hoosiers in the late-70s. He scored over 2,000 points during his Indiana career, and returned with a hero's welcome in 2021 when he accepted the head coaching job. The Hoosiers are 76-45 under Woodson's watch, with NCAA Tournament appearances in his first two seasons. But all of the excitement that came with the return of a local product has since gone out the door, despite the fact that Woodson still has a better winning percentage than Tom Crean or Archie Miller.

Even with the loss to Illinois, thanks to a 13-5 record, Indiana is still firmly on the bubble, though their lack of a marquee win on their resume certainly hurts their cause. Fortunately, a crowded Big Ten race gives the Hoosiers plenty of opportunities to bolster their resume over the next two months.