Awesome Aussie

In IU's first four games, freshman forward Ben Allen never played more than 15 minutes, never scored more than eight points and never grabbed more than four rebounds. But Allen eclipsed all those marks Saturday night, warranting a steady stream of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, Oy, Oy!" chants from the crowd.\nCrikey!\nThe man from the land down under stepped up to the occasion, scoring 15 points in 23 minutes on 6-8 shooting, in a 79-63 IU victory against Easter Michigan University. \nThe Hoosiers (4-1) desperately needed the boost from the bench in a game where senior forward Marco Killingsworth drew double teams and fouls all night long.\n"That's the first time I've ever had (the crowd chanting like that)," Allen said. "When they get that 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!' chant going it really gives me a lift."\nThe freshman said he remained focused all week in practice after committing a quick foul in the Duke game and being pulled in less than a minute. IU coach Mike Davis said he got on his foul-prone forward a little this week, and shifted Allen's attention to moving his feet and avoiding the ref's whistle. \nAllen pleased his coach by playing 23 foul-free minutes against Eastern Michigan, but it was the Eagles' coach who was most impressed.\n"Ben Allen, if he is 18 years of age, is one of the best 18-year-olds I've ever seen," Eagles' coach Charles Ramsey said. "He is fundamentally sound, he can really shoot the ball and he's going to do nothing but get better."\nAllen came to IU primarily as a "catch-and-shoot" kind of guy, Davis said, but he displayed his increasing versatility by scoring four buckets from the post to accent his two treys.\n"(Assistant) coach (Kerry) Rupp has done a really great job with Ben to improve his post game," Davis said.\nIU needed the solid presence down under the basket from the Australia native as Killingsworth saw consistent double and triple teams before fouling out in the game's final minutes. Killingsworth's inconsistent court presence forced Allen to serve a variety of roles for the Hoosiers.\n"When Marco and I are playing, I've got the ability to step outside and hit the three because obviously he is going to draw a lot of attention down in the post," Allen said. "Whereas with me and (Robert) Vaden, I'm going to draw a crowd and free up Vaden on the perimeter."\nJoining Allen in a night of solid bench play was junior guard Errek Suhr. No longer a surprise, Suhr incited perhaps the largest crowd eruption of the evening when he drained a three and got fouled with 6.7 seconds remaining in the first half -- doubling IU's lead to eight.\nThat three-ball was, again, one of many for the Hoosiers who hit double digits again in the 3-point column with 10. Senior Marshall Strickland led IU with three long balls on five attempts, actually dropping his season 3-point percentage to 62.5. \nA primary reason for IU's outside success has been more zone defenses from opposing teams. Ramsey said he never coached as much zone as he did Saturday, and several other teams have tried that approach to easily double team Killingsworth inside. But as far as sophomore forward Robert Vaden is concerned regarding the zone: bring it on. \n"I like playing against a zone because you can always pick it apart," he said. "I think that's one of the worst things you can do is play zone in college basketball because you can find open shooters"