How bad was it? Pretty bad as Auburn hands Indiana basketball worst loss of Mike Woodson era

ATLANTA — Indiana basketball suffered its worse loss of the season on Saturday afternoon at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

The Hoosiers lost 104-76 to Auburn in a game that wasn't competitive over the final 15 minutes.

It was similar to the disappointing loss they suffered to UConn in the Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden earlier this season. Indiana coach Mike Woodson used that game against the defending national champions as a measuring stick of sorts in a bid to show his team what his expectations are.

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Indiana (7-2; 2-0 Big Ten) fell well short of those expectations once again on Saturday.

It was the most lopsided regular season loss of Woodson's tenure — IU lost by 29 points to St. Mary's in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament — and the first time the program has given up more than 100 points in a game that didn't go to overtime since 2016.

Woodson said his team "caved in."

"They physically took us out of everything we wanted to do," Woodson said. "I’m not happy with the way we played tonight."

Early in the second half, Malik Reneau and Johni Broome had a stare down and bumped chests. They clashed repeatedly coming out of halftime with Indiana leaning on Reneau to cut into Auburn’s 19-point lead.

Reneau was largely responsible for an 8-0 run coming out of halftime with three baskets at the rim at Broome's expense.

Indiana flirted with getting back to within 10 points, but Auburn answered with a barrage of 3-pointers — the Tigers went 8 of 12 in the half — to push the lead to 20 points and never looked back after that.

"We got to get back on defense," Reneau said. "There were a lot of plays where we are losing our man or we aren't knowing who we are picking on. I think we got to sprint back on defense and be able to recognize who our man is or who is front of us to just get a body on a body to cover that 3-point line. I think that's the main thing."

The game got off to a promising start for IU when it's season-long 3-point shooting slump took a brief hiatus in the opening minutes.

On the first possession, Reneau zipped a cross court pass to Gabe Cupps in the corner where the freshman guard buried a 3-pointer. The Hoosiers made 3-pointers on their first three trips down the floor and were 4 from 4 to start the game as they jumped out to a 22-10 lead.

Things cooled down considerably after that: they didn’t hit another 3-pointer until there was 7:16 left in the game (they finished 6 of 17).

Auburn went on a 21-4 run and even managed to extend its lead during that stretch without hitting a field goal for three straight minutes. Jaylin Williams had a put back slam with 5:34 to go in the half to give the Tigers a 32-26 lead.

After Indiana forward Payton Sparks had a layup with 10:13 to go in the first half, it didn’t score again until Malik Reneau’s 3-point play at the 1:45 mark. The Hoosiers missed nine straight attempts at one point and also turned the ball over six times during the field goal drought.

The Tigers went into halftime leading 52-34.

Woodson had to shorten his bench in the half with starting point guard Xavier Johnson (foot) missing his third straight game and Trey Galloway, Kaleb Banks, CJ Gunn and Cupps all getting in early foul trouble. Cupps had to stay in the game after picking up his second foul with 7:23 to go.

"Not having X, I'm not suing that as an excuse, he's a senior point guard that can score the ball and make plays for us especially when we we're being pressured like we were," Woodson said. "That hurt."

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 blown out by Auburn, worst loss of Woodson era