Loss in border battle burns deep

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Devan Dumes knows “hate” is a strong word, which is why he chose his words carefully.

The Hoosiers’ most experienced player was down. One of IU’s most bitter rivals had just finished torching the Hoosiers for 40 minutes, and the fire inside Dumes still had a few embers aglow.

SLIDESHOW: Kentucky 72, IU 54

All afternoon, Dumes and his teammates listened to 23,767 fans scream and cheer against them while they were roughed up on the court. The junior guard said the hostile environment did not intimidate the prepared team, but admitted the game did bring out extra emotions.

The loss burns. Deeper than any of the Hoosiers’ other losses, Dumes said.

“It does. It really does,” Dumes said. “I don’t want to say the hatred (Kentucky fans) have for us, but the smell they have for us and the boos ...” he said, before trailing off.
What the Wildcats smelled was blood.

In the first six minutes, Kentucky jumped out of the starting blocks and trampled the Hoosiers, opening with a 14-0 run. When IU coach Tom Crean called timeout, Dumes grabbed the ball with one hand and slapped it loudly with the other, openly venting his frustration.

Two minutes later, Kentucky led 24-4. The blue mob was letting the crimson players hear it.

“It hit deep,” Dumes said.

The Hoosiers were no longer trying to execute on offense or get back on defense. They were just trying to survive, holding on for dear life.

“I use the term a lot of the time, ‘when the bullets are flying,’” Crean explained.

On Saturday, “the machine guns were flying, the tanks were out, there were a lot of things flying around,” he added. “(Kentucky was) playing great.”

With the exception of senior forward Kyle Taber, Saturday marked the first time the Hoosier players and Crean had ever faced Kentucky in a rivalry game.

Prior to Saturday’s border battle, Crean knew his team was going into a great college basketball atmosphere, but said the Hoosiers would have to play “pretty well” to make it a great game.

Instead, Crean said “everything that could go wrong did.”

The Hoosiers opened the game with one of the worst halves in school history. The team committed more turnovers (15) than they scored points (13). Thirteen points marks the fewest points IU has scored in a half since the team played UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007.

On the other side of the rivalry, the Wildcats hit nine of their first 10 shots, many of them highlight dunks.

At halftime, the score read 36-13.

“We just have to fight harder,” freshman guard Nick Williams said. “For the first eight to 10 minutes, they were tougher than us.”

And Kentucky’s fans were right behind them. Each basket early in the first half seemed to make the Wildcat faithful that much louder, if not stronger.

“It felt like the fans were right on us,” Williams said.

Freshman guard Daniel Moore – who grew up in Indiana and played high school ball at Carmel – said the Hoosiers were more frustrated than they were nervous during Kentucky’s big run.

“I’ve watched this (series) for a while,” Moore said. “It’s a tough one to lose, but all losses are tough, so it’s not like this one stands too much above the rest.”