Oodles of Odle lead to victory

Jared Jeffries was a game-time decision.\nJarrad Odle was game-time surprise. \nA bruised thigh hobbled Jeffries and forced him out of the game for five minutes in the first half Saturday in Assembly Hall, but IU might not have needed Jeffries to beat Louisville. \nAll the Hoosiers needed was Odle's pinpoint accuracy, physical mentality and a career high 25 points to extend their home winning streak to 10 by knocking off Louisville 77-62 in front of 17,456 fans. \nOdle eclipsed his previous career high -- 16 at Northwestern in the Big Ten opener -- with more than four minutes to play and scored seven consecutive points after Louisville pulled to within six, the closest it got in the second half. The Odle-led charge pushed IU's lead to 12 and helped bury the Cardinals (13-9). \nDespite playing a non-conference game, IU moved into first place because of Ohio State's loss at Michigan State Sunday.\n"I tried to take what they gave me," Odle said. "I took a lot of lay-ups, and when you take lay-ups, it's a lot easier to hit than jump shots. I knew somebody was going to have to step up today."\nOdle did, recording his second straight double-double, finishing with 11 rebounds. He hit 10 of 11 from the floor and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. And he had help. Tom Coverdale scored 16, and Kyle Hornsby and Jeffries chipped in with 11 each. Reece Gaines led Louisville with 17. \nOdle scored eight points in the decisive Hoosier run, which came at the close of the first half and carried over into the second half. IU (16-7) trailed 30-28 with 5:20 left in the first half, but out-scored the Cardinals 29-10 over a 15-minute stretch, holding Louisville to 3-of-20 shooting and forcing five turnovers. \nSix Hoosiers scored during that spurt, and IU opened a 57-40 lead, its biggest of the afternoon. \nLouisville put together a 15-4 run to respond and cut the lead to 61-55, but Odle hit two free throws to stop the comeback, then picked up a loose ball at mid-court, hit a lay-up and completed a three-point play, then sank a twisting lay-in to give IU a 12-point lead with 4:03 left. \n"Odle is playing great basketball right now," Coach Mike Davis said. "It was an outstanding game for him. He needs to go out with a bang. He's a big part of this basketball team."\nOdle, who led Indiana's high school ranks in scoring during his junior season at Oak Hill Academy and scored 50 points in a game there, said he wasn't surprised by his outburst. Others were. \n"He's the recipient of a lot of attention on Jeffries," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "He was terrific tonight."\nLouisville's top scorer, Reece Gaines, wasn't. \nGaines finished with a team-high 17 points, but couldn't shake the defense of IU's Dane Fife and A.J. Moye. Gaines hit only 6 of 19 shots from the field and missed eight of his nine three-point tries. In a second half in which Louisville shot 28 percent, Gaines went 3 of 14 from the floor. Gaines' backcourt mate, Erik Brown, hit 3 of 10 from the field. \n"Reece Gaines got caught up trying to score on skinny, non-athletic-looking me instead of trying to win the game," said Fife. \nFife, who averages nearly 10 points a game, was the only Hoosier starter that didn't score, but his physical presence was enough. \nFife jawed with Gaines and the Hoosiers and Cardinals tangled on several occasions. Odle suffered a bruised thigh and Moye left the game after colliding with Louisville's Ellis Myles in the second half. \nIU and Louisville combined for 43 fouls and 46 free throws and five players finished with at least four fouls. It was a game nothing like IU sees in the Big Ten.\n"I'm glad this game is over," Davis said. "It's a difficult team to play against. For us to get a win today, it was really big. This is the toughest game we've been in defensively. We won with heart. We battled the whole way."\nLouisville's ability to stick around through the second half was something IU hadn't seen since edging Penn State by seven Jan. 5. The Hoosiers are winning home games by an average of more than 16 points, but Louisville kept the lead within sight much of the second half and had the lead in the first half.\nThe Cardinals led by as many as four in the first half, which featured five ties and six lead changes. IU took the lead for good at 34-32 and closed the first half with a 14-2 run to take a 42-32 lead. \nJeffries re-aggravated his thigh with 16:41 left and left the game until the 10:33 mark, but Davis said he didn't think about resting Jeffries until the game was squarely in IU's hands. \nThat happened with just more than one minute left, thanks to Odle, whose reverse lay-up with 1:30 left sealed IU's victory. \n"You really don't want close games, but you need close games to see where you are as a basketball team," Davis said. "When we play hard, we're a very good basketball team"