Sports

Indiana Basketball Coach Refuses To Explain Star Center’s Mysterious Absence After Photo At Pub

by Last Updated
Oumar Ballo Indiana Basketball Upstairs Bar Suspended NIL
Getty Image / iStockphoto

Oumar Ballo reportedly received an NIL deal worth more than $1 million to play his sixth season of college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers. However, the 7-foot center was absent from the starting lineup against Winthrop on Sunday and did not play a single minute.

Head coach Mike Woodson refused to address the situation, which only creates even more mystery about what is going on.

Ballo, who spent one year at Gonzaga and three years at Arizona, transferred to Indiana during the offseason. He played — and started — all 12 previous college basketball games during the 2024/25 season. He was dressed out and on the court for warmups but did not participate.

Indiana defeated a pesky Winthrop team by nine points without Ballo on the floor at any point during the game. The Big Ten Network said he was out with a “lower body injury,” but it is entirely unclear as to where they got that information. Woodson would not confirm or deny.

I’m not going to address that. But didn’t have a lot of lead time. But that doesn’t matter.

— Mike Woodson

Despite what the broadcast said about Ballo’s supposed injury, a post shared to X approximately two hours before tipoff seems to explain what really happened. Especially after Woodson mentioned the lack of “lead time.” It appears to show Ballo at the legendary Upstairs Pub on the night prior to the game.

Woodson said that the staff will “sit down on Monday and address Ballo’s situation” prior to Thursday’s road game at Rutgers. However, his lack of clarification raises a question about the era of Name, Image and Likeness. Do the fans and boosters who are paying Ballo’s seven-figure salary deserve a better explanation?

To make matters worse, Garrett Larson of IU Sports Media said that Oumar Ballo was “reportedly seen out again at The Vid,” a different bar in Bloomington, on Sunday night. That is not confirmed.