Fife, Moye shut down Cards' Gaines

Reece Gaines is a pure scorer. That was obvious enough going into Saturday's game. In Louisville's previous two games, Gaines had 30 points against South Florida and followed that with 37 against Saint Louis.\nSaturday Gaines led his team in scoring again with 17 points, but that was on 6-of-19 shooting from the floor that included 1 for 9 from three-point range. Gaines hit double figures, but Coach Rick Pitino commended the Hoosiers defense for its ability to slow Gaines down.\n"You can't stop Reece Gaines or any other great scorer from scoring," Pitino said. "If you're playing great defense you get them to shoot a low percentage because scorers always take a lot of shots. So you have to give them the credit. \n"It's good defense. That's why he shot a low percentage. You have to give all the credit to IU."\nEarly on it looked as if Gaines would have a field day after Dane Fife picked up his second foul less than seven minutes into the game. A.J. Moye stepped in though to help out on Gaines, who came in averaging more than 21 points per game.\nFife took over in the second half, frustrating Gaines at times into taking shots he probably didn't want to take.\n"We had him scouted pretty well. We contested most of his shots," Fife said. "I think he was more worried about lighting me up in a one-on-one game than playing within the team and focusing on what he had to do to beat us. I think we really got into his head."\nAt times Fife and Gaines looked to be talking to each other on the court. Fife said he started talking once Gaines did, but Gaines said there was nothing said.\n"There was no personal interaction. I just missed wide open shots," Gaines said. "He did a good job playing defense, I guess, but I just missed wide open shots."\nThe Hoosiers might not have taken Gaines away completely, but they did enough to disrupt the flow of the rest of the Cardinals' offense. With Gaines being hounded, Louisville had trouble finding another scorer, which has been a problem for them this season. For the game Louisville shot just over 36 percent from the floor.\n"I think we put too much on Reece's shoulders. We expect him to score 30 points a night," Bryant Northern said. "Teams are just really looking to stop Reece. (We're) just going one-on-one too early in the offense."\nThe Cardinals lost to Saint Louis Wednesday night, 67-64. Northern said the Hoosiers probably played more physical after seeing what the Bilikens did to Louisville Wednesday.\n"I think they saw the St. Louis tape," Northern said. "I think a lot of teams are going to play us physical like that."\nInjuries, Injuries\nSince the start of the season the Hoosiers haven't had to deal with too many injuries -- until now.\nJared Jeffries had to leave Saturday's game for six minutes of the first half when he aggravated his right thigh contusion after a collision under the basket following a Luke Whitehead dunk. Jeffries finished the game, playing 32 minutes and scoring 11 points and grabbing nine rebounds.\nA.J. Moye went down at the mid-court stripe after a collision with Ellis Myles at the 7:56 mark of the second half. Moye was motionless for a minute, but walked off the court to the end of the bench. He did not re-enter the game, finishing with six points and four rebounds in 20 minutes.\nJarrad Odle also had a bruise on his left thigh that required some ice after the game. All in all, it was a rugged afternoon, but nothing too serious.\n"I think everybody's alright," Tom Coverdale said.\nFree throws\nLouisville's youth showed not only in their poor shot selection, but also at the free throw line. The Cardinals hit just 10 of 19 free throw attempts while IU hit 20 of their 23 free throws.\nWith 5:36 left, Gaines stepped to the line shooting two and Louisville down just eight. Gaines missed both, starting a stretch to end the game where the Cardinals missed nine of 14 free throws that could have kept them in the game.\n"It's not difficult (to watch) because we've lost so many games. I just go home and want to kill myself," Pitino joked. "It's not unusual for us. That's every night. It's nothing Prozac won't cure."\nA new rivalry\nPitino is thrilled to get back to playing IU, something he did every year when he was coaching Kentucky. Saturday marked the first game in the renewal of what should become one of the better regional rivalries in college basketball.\nHe would like his team to be more competitive in the future, but Pitino is content to be part of the rivalry for now.\n"I think this is going to be a great rivalry," Pitino said. "Hopefully we'll catch up to them in a hurry because they come back to Freedom Hall next year"