Indiana's Oumar Ballo reveals he has received death threats through Hoosiers' struggles in 2025

Oumar Ballo was a part of an Indiana team with a ton of expectations. Ultimately, the Hoosiers fell short and resulted in Mike Woodson announcing he would be leaving the program midyear. The season ended on Thursday at the Big Ten Tournament with a loss to Oregon.

This was Ballo’s first season at Indiana after transferring in from Arizona. Unfortunately, he was on the receiving end of some direct messages when IU would lose games. Ballo says he was on the receiving end of death threats, pleading for people to change.

“We come here every single day, all we’re trying to do is win for these people,” Ballo said. “But we lose one game, two games, the next thing you know, your DMs are crazy. Death wishes, death threats, and stuff like that. Nobody wants to live like that. I hope people change stuff like that because this is not helping anybody.”

Ballo will end the season as Indiana’s leading scorer at 13 points per game while shooting 63.5% from the field. Big Ten honors saw him place as an honorable mention, just missing out on one of the teams.

A great individual season for Ballo but not one the team wanted to have. A 19-12 overall record while 10-10 during Big Ten play may be enough to sneak into the NCAA Tournament but just barely. Losing early in the conference tournament certainly does not help their case.

Either way, Ballo says to be exhausted from having to deal with all the messages heading his way. Losses might begin to stack up but at the end of the day, Ballo knows he and his teammates are humans. Receiving death threats on social media will take a toll on anyone.

“At the end of the day, we’re human beings,” Ballo said. “We have feelings. Just like you. You wake up, going to work, and somebody is wishing nothing but the worst for you and your work. It’s mentally draining and nobody wants to deal with that for a whole five months. It’s too much to take in for players and coaches. I hope they change, it’s time. They’re not helping us, they’re not helping anybody.”

Indiana now heads back to Bloomington to wait for Selection Sunday. Making the NCAA Tournament would be the third in Woodson’s four seasons in charge after previously being on a four-year drought under Archie Miller/Tom Crean.