Indiana ends regular season in disappointing fashion, with tournament chances nearing zero

At approximately 10:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9, Indiana looked like it had turned a corner. It looked like Darian DeVries was building something in year one. It looked like the Hoosiers were on their way to an NCAA Tournament — their first since 2023. It looked…

But that didn’t end up being reality.

Despite IU winning five of six, three of which ending up as Quadrant 1 victories, and playing incredibly competitive basketball, the end of the season didn’t see the same success — not even close.

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Indiana was once 17-8, 8-6 in Big Ten play, but finished the regular season at 18-13 and 9-11 in conference action. The reality is, the Hoosiers had a very mediocre regular season and aren’t an NCAA Tournament team barring a miracle in the Big Ten Tournament.

After beating Oregon in that Feb. 9 matchup — the high point of year one with Darian DeVries — Indiana lost at Illinois by 20, lost at Purdue by 29, lost to a then-3-13 Northwestern team at home, lost to Michigan State by 13, before finally picking up a much-needed win over Minnesota.

Losing four of five sent Indiana’s season into a nosedive, but it still had hope at salvaging DeVries’ first year, at least as far as the tournament was concerned.

The final regular-season matchup of the year, a road game at Ohio State, presented an opportunity to make a statement to wrap up the Big Ten regular season and jump right back into a projected at-large spot. It was a chance for the Hoosiers to put their rough stretch behind them and spark momentum into postseason play.

And IU was down by 17 points at the half.

It simply wasn’t competitive. Just like the Illinois game, just like the Purdue game, and just like stretches of the Michigan State game. Northwestern may have been a close one, but the same problems that resulted in that stunning loss at home were were the same issues seen in the one-sided defeat to Ohio State.

Instant Analysis: Three takeaways from Indiana’s 91-78 loss to Ohio State

“I would say in this stretch outside of the Minnesota game, we’ve given up too many 3s, like too high of percentages, too clean of looks. And that’s really caught up to us in those games,” coach DeVries explained.

And that was certainly evident against the Buckeyes, as they shot 8 of 13 from deep in the first half compared to Indiana going 1 of 8.

For a team that was branded as a high-energy, 3-point shooting ballclub, Indiana was the complete opposite of that on Saturday night. It couldn’t make a 3-point shot for its life early on, and fittingly, may have seen its tournament life fade away.

“We want to put ourselves in a position to win the game, and for us to have a stretch like that, it’s certainly disappointing,” DeVries added.

The Hoosiers will move on to the Big Ten Tournament, but they’ll do so with a sour taste in their mouths. If IU could’ve just won a singular one of their five losses in the final six games, the outlook would’ve been so much better, but DeVries believes his team has to move on.

“I think the biggest thing is it’s the next chapter now. The regular season’s over. Now you prepare for post-season play,” DeVries said. “Postseason play, it’s just you get ready for that next one, and you play as long as you can and win as many games as you can, and that’s going to be our mindset. So, worry about the one in front of you. The one in front of us is going to be Wednesday, and that’s really all we care about at this point.”

It’s fair to not get caught up in the past, but the final six games of the season decided what this team’s fate will be unless Indiana can get extremely hot in Chicago. It’ll take at least two, but more likely than not, three wins to even have a chance to sniff an at-large bid.

And with how Indiana wrapped up the regular season, there’s no indication that multiple wins in the Big Ten Tournament are a real possibility. The Hoosiers peaked at the wrong time, it appears, and it’ll cost them a chance at making DeVries’ first season as Indiana head coach a successful one — as far as making the Big Dance is concerned.

Postgame Q&A: Darian DeVries, Reed Bailey react to Indiana’s loss at Ohio State

It doesn’t doom the Hoosiers moving forward in DeVries’ tenure, but they certainly would’ve liked to experience tournament action in 2026. With Lamar Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries and the rest of the seniors departing once the year is over, this group won’t be remembered for any sort of March Madness run.

And that’s largely what college basketball revolves around nowadays. So much work gets put in from the offseason to every single game during the regular season, all to appear on that 68-team bracket when it’s released on Selection Sunday.

Indiana had a chance to be one of those teams if it could’ve found a way against Ohio State, but it wasn’t even within striking distance after 20 minutes of action. Far too many turnovers, far too few made shots, all the while Ohio State was playing smart and hitting shots at an incredibly efficient rate.

The Buckeyes were simply the better team in the game that clinched Bruce Thornton‘s place as the program’s all-time leading scorer. They had everything that Indiana would’ve liked in a must-win game, but Indiana didn’t meet the mark.

None of it is a knock on Indiana’s character or effort level, but in order to win basketball games, you have to play good basketball — and there wasn’t much of that from the Hoosiers on Saturday night.

It closes the book on the 2025-26 regular season, one that saw the most losses since 2021 (Archie Miller’s final season) and the fewest Big Ten wins since 2022 (Mike Woodson’s first season).

And for a once 17-8 and 8-6 team, it feels largely disappointing. Indiana basketball has had its fair share of seasons that felt that way over the years, and I suppose you can add ’25-’26 into the mix.

If they beat Ohio State, things could’ve been different. A shot at an NCAA Tournament berth would’ve been possible, something that most would agree this team should’ve achieved.

But that’s just woulda, coulda, shoulda — and not indicative of Indiana basketball’s actual reality.

The season may not be over, but after the defeat to the Buckeyes, it’ll take almost an impossible climb to get back to where Indiana was 26 days ago.

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