Hoosier players claim victory

Throughout Wednesday night\'s game, men's basketball coach Mike Davis was smiling, then glaring, then laughing and finally showing exasperation by slouching back in his chair.\nDavis' reactions might be misleading. The Hoosiers won their second and final preseason game last night, beating Nike Elite, 98-76, in front of 11,238 fans at Assembly Hall. \nJunior guard Tom Coverdale led the Hoosiers with 18 points and eight assists. Senior guard Dane Fife had 15 and junior forward Jeff Newton added 14. Sophomore forward Jared Jeffries pitched in 13 points and nine rebounds.\nBut Davis managed to find some flaws in his team's effort, pointing to the start of each half in particular and the Hoosiers' defense.\n"I thought tonight was sluggish," he said. "I wanted to try some different lineups tonight and the way some guys played tonight, I cannot play them Sunday."\nThe Hoosiers' numbers weren't as good as they were in their first exhibition game, which resulted in a 105-59 dominating win against Athletes in Action. Still, they didn't look too bad.\nOnce again, offense wasn't the problem. IU shot 54 percent from the floor overall and 59 percent from three-point territory. The Hoosiers adjusted to a 2-3 zone in the middle of the first half by knocking down a pair of three-pointers.\nThe Hoosiers also out-rebounded Nike Elite 44-29.\nBut in what was a physical game, Davis pointed to the defensive effort, especially during the middle of the second half, as something he didn't like. \nIn the first four minutes of the second half, IU was looking to put Nike (3-6) away after a 13-3 spurt gave the Hoosiers a 67-37 lead. But Nike Elite would use a 15-2 run to close the lead to 75-59 on an Antwon Hall three-pointer with a little over eight minutes left. \n"I was very disappointed with our defense," Davis said. "You can't relax against guys like that. We gave up too many open shots."\nThose guys included former Florida guard Ted Dupay, who led Nike Elite with 23 points, including five three-pointers. Several of Dupay's triples were from a few steps behind the arc.\nNike Elite shot just under 44 percent from the floor, but Davis said he wanted something closer to 34 or 35 percent.\n"Defensively we slipped a little bit," sophomore forward A.J. Moye said. "(Davis) wants us to communicate more. We had big leads and we didn't have that sense of urgency."\nThe Hoosiers did pick it up after their lead was cut to 16 and that would be as close as Nike Elite would get the rest of the way. IU rebuilt its lead to as much as 25 with just over four minutes left to put the game far out of reach.\nAs was the case with most of the Hoosiers, Fife shot the ball well, connecting on 5-of-7 from the floor and on 3-of-5 from three-point range. Davis said he sent a message to Fife early in the week by putting him on the second team in practice in an effort to motivate him.\n"I got his attention," Davis said. "We're shooting the basketball well from the three-point line."\nJunior guard Kyle Hornsby had another effective game, pouring in 12 points, 11 of which came in the first half. He also had four assists, but Davis is content to have Hornsby just shoot the ball throughout the game.\n"It's very important for him to put two halves together," Davis said. "He's capable of doing that."\nSimilar to their first half against Athletes in Action 11 days ago, the Hoosiers grabbed a big halftime lead, this time a 54-34 cushion. In their first nine games, Nike had never been down by more than five points at the break.\nThroughout the first half, IU continued to stretch is lead. The Hoosiers led 15-8 just over five minutes into the game and would lead 32-18 with under 11 minutes left in the half. Their biggest lead came at the 3:17 mark, when freshman guard Donald Perry's second three-pointer gave the Hoosiers a 50-29 lead.\nIn the end, Davis would have liked a little more from his players going into their season opener Sunday at Charlotte. Either way, Davis admitted Sunday will be a test.\n"It's going to be a difficult game for us," he said.