BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball got tripped up at Assembly Hall on Thursday night in a disappointing 68-54 loss to Illinois.

Then again, sandwiching a 10-point home loss to an average Big Ten opponent between 25-point-plus massacres of conference foes – Penn State and Indiana – is taking up-and-down to an extreme. By now, we know what the No.

After sixth-year center Oumar Ballo controlled the loose ball, he looked to one teammate — senior forward Luke Goode. As quickly as the pass arrived in Goode’s hands, it left them. He rose up from the right wing, releasing the orange ball into a backdrop of scarlet and gray.

On Thursday, in a home game against Illinois, Indiana also demonstrated that it is still a work in progress. The Fighting Illini blitzed Indiana with a 25-point first quarter. Whi

The Hoosiers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, but even as they turned up their intensity to cut into the Fighting Illini’s lead, their efforts fell short. Indiana suffered a 54-68 loss to Illinois on Thursday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Illinois faces Indiana. Our college basketball odds series has our Illinois Indiana prediction, odds and pick for Tuesday.

After the first-half de-pantsing by Illinois, Indiana further embarrassed itself when Goode dangerously barreled into Illini center Tomislav Ivisic, who barked at Goode, setting off a mini-scrum in which Ballo – in his most spirited action of the night – rushed from halfcourt to the baseline to get in a shove on Ivisic.