Hoosiers aim to end losing streak, seeking first road win

Just because Tom Crean is a big believer in tradition doesn’t mean he wants to break all of IU’s records.

The Hoosiers’ (5-10, 0-3) loss to Illinois Saturday marked the halfway point in their season. With 15 games left in conference play, this year’s team is on pace to break a record that wasn’t meant to be broken: the school record of 17 for most losses in a season.

IU would need to win nine of its last 15 games to avoid tying the mark, an unlikely feat at best.

In search of their first road victory of the year, the Hoosiers will travel to Columbus, Ohio today to face a young but talented Ohio State (11-3, 1-2) team. An upset win against the Buckeyes would snap the Hoosiers’ six-game losing streak. A loss would extend the skid to seven and mark the program’s longest since 1964.

Crean has reiterated throughout the season that while the goal is to win
every game, the team, facing unprecedented challenges, would be losing perspective if it focused only on wins and losses.

That might be why Crean tried to block the Big Ten standings out of his head Monday morning. Hours before his team practiced that afternoon, Crean participated in his weekly Big Ten teleconference.

He thanked the teleconference moderator for “reminding me of our record, too.”
While IU’s first-year coach is likely thinking of every possible way to improve the Hoosiers’ record, he isn’t dwelling on the loss column.

“I think everybody inside our program ... knew it was going to be a tough road ahead, and it certainly is,” Crean said.

The loser in eight of its last nine games, IU hopes to bounce back after the team’s humbling 76-45 loss to the Illini.

After going through the “process” from April to June in the first few months in his position, where problems were inherited and decisions had to be made, Crean said he knew in his head this season was going to be a challenge.

“But until you go through it, you have no idea,” he said.

It’s also one of the biggest problems the Hoosiers face every game: Everything is new to them.

Crean said he tries to pull every lesson – positive or negative – from each game and apply it to the team as part of “the experience factor.”

But there are some things Crean and the IU coaching staff just can’t mimic in practice, which too often turns games into the place of learning.

In Ohio State, a young team by almost everyone’s standards – except the Hoosiers’ – IU faces a conference team with length and depth. B.J. Mullens, one of the most heralded freshmen in the country at 7-foot-1, comes off the bench for the Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes have no seniors and seven of their top eight scorers are sophomores or younger. The team’s only returning upperclassman of note, junior forward David Lighty, is out for the next few weeks with a broken left foot.

Still, Ohio State coach Thad Matta’s team is significantly more experienced than the Hoosier squad. It has lost its last two games in the Big Ten but beat several top schools earlier in the year, including back-to-back victories in December against then-No. 22 Miami (FL) and then-No. 7 Notre Dame.

Leading the offensive attack for the Buckeyes is sophomore wing Evan Turner, who is averaging 15.9 ppg and played well in both of the Buckeyes’ losses to the Hoosiers last season. Also scoring in double digits is sharp-shooting sophomore
guard Jon Diebler, averaging 10.9 ppg.

But like Crean, Matta is still tinkering and toying with his lineup, trying to get as much out of his team as possible.

“We’re still getting more of a rotation down, but we’re constantly playing with different situations,” Matta said during the teleconference. “When you have a team like we have, as young as we are, any given night, some guys might get a little bit better, and we’ll look to go with those group of guys.”