Defense saves day for Hoosiers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Men's basketball coach Mike Davis said he heard everything from the raucous crowd at Halton Arena last night, especially from the student fans near the Hoosiers' bench.\nBut Davis kept smiling back at those fans, letting both the crowd and his players know he wasn't flustered by Charlotte's early offensive outburst. In the end, the 65-61 win by the Hoosiers was something Davis expected.\n"That's my game," Davis said of talking with the crowd. "If the guys see me calm and relaxed, then they're going to be relaxed. I thought we had the better team."\nIU would eventually vindicate Davis' confidence, and it would do so by going back to what it does best and that's play defense.\nAfter watching the 49ers jump out to an early lead that would eventually balloon to 12 with just over 16 minutes left in the game, the Hoosier defense responded. Charlotte had nailed seven three-pointers on their first 11 attempts of the game, but they would only make two of their last 12 finishing nine of 23.\nSenior guard Dane Fife gave credit to Davis and the coaches, who gave credit to the IU defense at the end of the first half even though the No. 22 Hoosiers were in a 31-26 hole. \n"Even though we only had 25 points, they only had 31 points in the first half, so Coach was happy about that," Fife said. \nA big reason Davis wasn't too upset at the break was IU (1-0) had been relatively successful containing Charlotte guards Jobey Thomas and Demon Brown. Thomas had opened the game with five quick points, but both he and Brown would end the half with eight points each. \nJunior guard Tom Coverdale and Fife combined to hold Thomas to just three-of-11 from three-point land as he finished with 13 points. Freshman guard Donald Perry met Brown at midcourt each time down the floor, pushing the 49ers' offense further from the basket. Brown would finish with 11 points.\nDavis said he learned from last year's game, where the Hoosiers rallied from as many as 17 points in the second half to win 76-72 at Assembly Hall last December.\n"I watched tape of last year's game, and in the first half they got a lot of easy shots," Davis said. "The way we got back in the game was on the defensive end. We had to get into them because they can really shoot the basketball."\nAs they began to come to life on the offensive end, the Hoosiers big men began to help the guards on defense. The 49ers ran Thomas through double screens on the wing and through two screens on the baseline throughout the game. \nBy having the big men pop out, Davis took some of the pressure off his guards.\n"He made some good adjustments at half and told our big guys to step out and help on the three-point shooters coming off of screens," Fife said.\nA big contributor to that effort was sophomore center George Leach. Davis said Leach played the best game of his career and included in that was four blocks. His defense had a huge impact on the game.\n"Their big guys would not take shots," Davis said of the end of the game. "George has a great presence."\nLeach, who in the past would be off the floor with any pump fake, said he had been trying to stay in position.\n"I've been working all week on my timing," Leach said. "I just figured I would carry over what I worked on."\nAlong with the team's six blocks, the Hoosiers also forced 14 turnovers and had five steals.\nCharlotte (1-1) coach Bobby Lutz said he was impressed by the Hoosiers' execution on the defensive end. After shooting just under 41 percent from the field in the first half, the 49ers hit only nine of 32 shots in the second half. For the game, they shot just over 34 percent from the field.\n"We were trying to get the best shots we could," Lutz said. "They did a great job. That's the difference. Right now they're a better team than we are."\nA big reason why Davis had confidence that his defense would come through is condition. The Hoosiers had said throughout the preseason they were in the best shape of their lives. They proved it Sunday night, allowing Davis to throw his arms into the air in front of those same fans that were heckling him.\n"That was what got us over the top in this game," Fife said. "Down the stretch, (Davis) says we're going to out-condition these guys. We're in better shape, we worked too hard and it showed"