IU ousted early in NCAA tourney

BOSTON -- When IU failed to score in the final 7:55 during the Feb. 1 loss to Louisville, those numbers became infamous.\nBut they just might have been replaced Sunday when the Hoosiers faced the University of Pittsburgh in the second round of the NCAA tournament.\nSenior guard Kyle Hornsby hit a three-point jumper with 10:18 left in the first half, and then junior center George Leach sank a hook shot with 6:33 left to play. That was the last score of the first half for IU.\nTwo points.\nIn the final 10 minutes of the first half that's all the Hoosiers' offense had.\nWith IU's help, Pittsburgh built a 10-point halftime lead that they didn't relinquish for a 74-52 win. The loss eliminates IU from the tournament.\n"I think we were trying to execute our stuff, but they were just trying to take us out of it," senior guard Tom Coverdale said with tears in his eyes. "Their big guys inside played great post-defense and really took us out of what we did. We have to execute at times like that and we didn't." \nThe Hoosiers (21-13) picked up in the second half where they left off in the first by committing a turnover (they had 16 total) and missing a basket on two consecutive possessions. It was Leach, who finished with a team-high 15 points, who scored underneath to draw IU within 10.\nBut IU had no answers for Pitt's junior Jaron Brown, who was seemingly unstoppable. In the first half, Brown was perfect on a mere two shot attempts, picking up five points.\nIn the second half, Brown had seven more looks at the basket, making all but one to lead Pittsburgh overall with 20 points. Brown scored 12 of those points in the final 10 minutes of the game.\n"Jaron played so well today," Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland said. "I was really excited with how he was playing."\nWhile Pitt executed their offense, IU couldn't get theirs started. The Hoosiers went on a small run at the start of the second half and drew within four with 15:17 to play. But the comeback would end there. Pittsburgh went on a 12-of-13 run, scoring 24 points in the final 12 minutes of the game.\nThe Hoosiers experienced two more scoring setbacks in the second half, going four minutes without a field goal between the 15- and 11-minute mark in the second half, and then finishing the game with six points in the final five minutes.\nCoverdale and Hornsby finished their careers at IU, scoring six and three points total, respectively. Coverdale dished out a team-high six assists. Senior forward Jeff Newton scored 14 points, the second-highest on the team, with a mere three boards in his last game. Wright led the team in rebounds with eight, while picking up 11 points.\nPittsburgh controlled the boards by grabbing 28 total rebounds, 11 more than the Hoosiers. Senior guard Brandin Knight scored 17 points for the Panthers, and had seven assists, five steals and just one turnover to help his team advance.\nBefore the 10 minutes with one field goal, IU managed to keep the score close in the first half. The Hoosiers held the lead twice and trailed by just one or two until Pittsburgh drained three consecutive three-pointers to take a commanding 31-21 lead.\nWhile the IU players were in tears after the game, IU coach Mike Davis sparked speculation in the post-game press conference about the possibility of him leaving before next year. All season, Davis has expressed anger at the lack of response from his team, and said that he would have to talk with his family over the next couple of weeks about future plans. \nDavis talked about the fans of IU basketball, who built up the egos of individual players. As a result, those players stopped listening to him, and started playing for themselves. With an uncontrollable and unproductive team, Davis may be exploring his coaching options at other places. \n"This team has been selfish from the time they were 8-0," Davis said. "I told my guys after the game this is the most selfish team I've been around from the standpoint of not executing what you try to teach them from day one. \n"(Pittsburgh) is a team that understands how to play and they play the way they're coached. My team hasn't done that for a long time"