BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana had more than a week to fix some things before Saturday’s non-conference game against Chattanooga, and coach Mike Woodson said he feels good about what they did during those practices.

But the end result certainly didn’t look like the Hoosiers got any better. They defeated Chattanooga 74-65, but had just a four-point lead in the final minute against the upset Mocs, who were 15.5-point underdogs.

Indiana got the win, but it wasn’t impressive at all. Woodson wasn’t really happy about it either. The Hoosiers are currently 9-3, but are nowhere near the level they need to be for Big Ten play that begins Jan. 2. So of course there was talk of getting this team “over the mountain”.

“Well, we just have to keep working at it,” Woodson said. “Man, we’ve been preparing for this team all week. “We’ve been working on a lot of things and I haven’t seen a lot of good from the work we’ve done this week. That’s kind of discouraging.

“The bottom line is we have to keep working at it and keep pushing the guys and making them better. That’s my job.”

Indiana hadn’t played since last Friday, when they allowed a 17-1 run that ended the Nebraska game in a loss. A long scoring drought has been a nightmarish theme this season, and it happened in all three losses to Louisville, Gonzaga and Nebraska.

It happened again on Saturday. Chattanooga, ranked No. 177 by Kenpom.com, led for most of the first half, but the Hoosiers took a 10-3 run to the locker room to take a 41-38 lead. The Hoosiers also came out firing, taking a 13-point lead (61-48) with 12:37 to play.

But then the Hoosiers went nearly 10 minutes without a basket, and the Mocs caught up to them, cutting the lead to 65-61 with 3:09 left. It’s a problem that just won’t go away.

“It’s two games in a row where there have been periods like that,” Woodson said. “I don’t know if guys are looking over their shoulders just based on the Nebraska game. “We didn’t play bad at Nebraska. Only the final six minute mark – (actually 6:51, 0:12 from the field) – where we couldn’t get any shots off.

“(Saturday) we went down the same path again, you know, looking and not being sharp offensively. As a coach, I have to get us over that hurdle and give them the confidence that there are going to be close games (in the Big Ten) and down the stretch you have to make plays.”

Indiana was able to complete it. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako, who led the Hoosiers with 14 points, scored on a layup with 2:50 left, and then Malik Reneau, Myles Rice and Trey Galloway all scored on three straight possessions.

Catastrophe averted.

Reneau also had 14 points and he and Mgbako were the only two Hoosiers in double figures. Oumar Ballo and Bryson Tucker had nine each, Galloway and Kanaan Carlyle had eight each.

The Hoosiers will now travel for a few days over Christmas and then return to work on December 26th. They have one non-conference game left, Dec. 29 against Winthrop at Assembly Hall. Then it’s 18 straight Big Ten games, starting Jan. 2 at home against Rutgers.

Indiana entered the season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press preseason poll but has been unranked since losing twice in the Bahamas in late November. There are still many questions about how good they actually are. They are ranked No. 56 in the Kenpom rankings as of Saturday.

The players are not worried. They know they have to get better, but the confidence is still there. Reneau was disappointed that a good week of training was not carried over. They still allow too many there pointers – Chattanooga made 10 – and they get lost on switches too often.

“Yeah, we definitely didn’t show what we did last week of practice because I feel like we had great practices this week,” Reneau said. “We still have to integrate the drills into the game and implement them the way we do.” Execute it in practice and everything will go smoothly.

“Definitely we need to focus most on the defensive team and keep working on it and getting better. But I feel like this break will help us clear our heads and get us back up and running.” I’m not ready for Big Ten play. I feel like we need to improve on a lot of things that lie ahead, but this break will definitely give us a chance to clear everyone’s head and, like I said, go ahead and come with a spark back when we come back from this break.”

Mgbako agreed.

“Yeah, I’m not worried at all,” he said. “We had a great week of training, but it didn’t work out as well as we wanted.” “But if we continue to build on what we’ve already cemented, it will show in the end.”