Defense lets up in blowout loss

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- After Saturday's win over Xavier, IU coach Mike Davis said his team was further along defensively than it was offensively. Apparently, he forgot to tell his team that.\nIU allowed Wake Forest to shoot 50.7 percent from the field, 56.3 percent in the first half, on its way to an embarrassing 100-67 defeat in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday, moving IU's record to 2-2 on the season, and Wake Forest's to a perfect 4-0.\n"Like coach (Davis) said, we need to get a collective fight," senior guard A.J. Moye said. "Not four guys on one possession, three guys on one possession. It's got to be five guys on every possession. And when you get beat 10 possessions in a row, that's what happens. The lead expands. The lead expands, and you're left with that."\nIn the second half, IU had no answer for the Deacons' Eric Williams. The sophomore center scored 14 of his team high 25 in the second half as Wake Forest extended its 22-point halftime lead to as much as 38 points.\nMoye, sophomore forward Sean Kline, and freshman forward Pat Ewing Jr. guarded Williams most of the game. It didn't help that IU's tallest player, 6-11 senior center George Leach, is out indefinitely with a knee injury.\n"Williams is really good, and I don't want to take anything away from Williams because he's a really good basketball player, but with George in the lineup, he blocks some of those shots," Davis said. "The one thing you can't do to George is turn around and shoot over him."\nWilliams led the Deacons in scoring, and freshman guard Chris Paul added 20. Wake Forest was able to create much of its offense, 38 points to be exact, through IU's 22 turnovers.\n"When our defense creates our offense, we have a good chance of winning," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said.\nWith 13:08 left in the first half, IU sophomore guard Bracey Wright picked up his second foul and headed to the bench with IU only down six. But before the half was over, the Deacons would push that lead to 22. Davis said having Wright on the bench hurt the Hoosiers.\n"Now our leading scorer, our best player goes out of the basketball game," Davis said. "When he picked up his second foul, I'm not sure what we were down by, but I know it wasn't 30 … Without him on the court, it killed us."\nIU struggled to handle the Wake Forest press, which resulted in numerous turnovers and points for the Deacons. The two main people at the point, Wright and sophomore guard Marshall Strickland, had five and seven turnovers, respectively.\n"It really wasn't the ball pressure," Strickland said. "It was the pressure on the wings. They took away all of the passes, and we had trouble getting into our offense."\nIU shot 33.2 percent in the first half. The Hoosiers were able to improve on that in the second half, ending the game at 38.9 percent. Wright scored 27 points in the game. He said he's still struggling to learn the point guard position.\n"Being the point guard on this team, I take the blame for what goes wrong," Wright said. "You can put that on my shoulders. I didn't get everybody mentally composed out there … Being the scorer on the team and being the point guard is real difficult. I have to find a way to do it."\n-- Contact Sports editor Tyler V. Hoeppner at thoeppne@indiana.edu.