Conference curtain call

The No. 18 IU men’s basketball team will look to keep its defensive intensity when it travels to Penn State Sunday in the final game of the regular season.\nIU interim coach Dan Dakich said the team did a good job defensively in IU’s 69-55 victory over Minnesota Wednesday night, after the Hoosiers turned in poor defensive efforts against Ohio State and Michigan State.\nThe Hoosiers’ defensive performance against the Spartans was particularly disappointing to Dakich, as the Hoosiers gave up 59 first-half points.\nPrior to the turnaround against Minnesota, IU held several intense practices focusing on defense. One player, junior guard/forward Jamarcus Ellis, worked particularly hard in between the games.\n“He was great all day yesterday in practice,” Dakich said. “He was great Monday in practice. He accepted or bought into it, and I thought his play reflected that.”\nEllis’ performance in practice translated to the floor Wednesday night. The junior college transfer recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.\nEllis, known for playing with emotion, had a flare-up before halftime of Wednesday’s game against the Gophers.\n“He is a really competitive guy and a proud guy,” Dakich said. “And he got hit at the end of the half and got real emotional. And I took him out for the last second and then at halftime, we talked about it.” \nAfter his chat with Dakich, Ellis calmed down and went on to play a great second half, Dakich said.\n“The thing about Jamarcus is this: he appreciates when people try to calm him down and get him on the right path,” Dakich said. “And when you do that, he plays really hard.”\nThough his rebounding ability is often overshadowed by his teammate, conference rebounding leader D.J. White, Ellis is an impressive rebounder himself, pulling down 7.3 rebounds a game – good for third place in the Big Ten.\n“Every day I have to go against D.J. to get rebounds, so I think that makes me really tough,” Ellis said.\nEllis and the Hoosiers (25-5, 14-3) will close out their regular season \nSunday, looking to take down the Nittany Lions (14-15, 6-11) for the second time this season. IU won the first contest 81-65 on Jan. 20.\nThe Hoosiers are still alive for the Big Ten championship, but need some help in the form of a Wisconsin loss to Northwestern. The team has not given up hope on a Wisconsin loss, but the players are more concerned with taking care of business against Penn State.\nTo achieve success, Ellis said he has to help take pressure off White and freshman guard Eric Gordon by doing the little things that don’t necessarily show up in the box score.\n“I like to do a lot of things for my teammates, take a lot of pressure off D.J. and E.J. ... open up the floor a little bit,” Ellis said. “That is what I like to do; it makes the game more exciting to me, and it really gets the fans into it when they see a lot of hustle plays.”