Hoosiers battle Spartans, lose by 28

EAST LANSING, Mich. – A team as young as IU can be expected to lose its poise at times throughout the season. But on Saturday it was one of the more experienced Hoosiers who couldn’t control his temper. 
   
IU junior Devan Dumes was ejected late in the second half after receiving a flagrant foul for throwing an elbow towards a handful of Michigan State players.
   
The ejection capped off a miserable day for Dumes – who finished the game with just five points – and the Hoosiers; who were blown out 75-47. 
   
IU coach Tom Crean worried about Michigan State’s fast break offense and the potential of his team falling behind early in front of a hostile crowd. 
   
The Hoosiers limited Michigan State to just three fast break points and held their ground at the start of both halves.
   
But in the end, the Hoosier offense came up flat.
   
IU (6-16, 1-9) stayed close early by limiting Michigan State to 39.4 percent shooting at the half. In addition to its defense, IU got to the free throw line 15 times and hit 12 in the first half to help negate its poor field goal shooting.
   
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo credited IU for constantly changing defenses – something Izzo felt threw off the flow of his team early.
   
“Indiana did a great job coming out with a different defense,” Izzo said. “They switched everything. I thought it gave us a little bit of problems.”
   
Trailing by seven at the start of the second, the Hoosiers cut the deficit to three within the first minute. But the Spartans responded by going on a 13-1 run to effectively put the game out of reach.
   
The combination of the conference leading Spartans (18-4, 8-2) finding their collective shot and the Hoosiers never having theirs turned the game into a blowout, as IU could only muster 21 second half points.
   
Freshman Tom Pritchard said his team wasn’t assertive enough in trying to combat the stingy Spartan defense.
   
“I don’t think they did anything special except for just pressure and we had to come out and be more aggressive,” Pritchard said. “That’s something we’ve got to work on.”
   
The only real drama in the second half came courtesy of Dumes, who got away with elbowing twice before he got ejected. The off night for Dumes is just one game after he set a career high with 27 points against Iowa.
   
Taking a cue from Crean, Pritchard and Verdell Jones had no comment on the teams leading scorer being ejected.
   
“I’m sure people are wondering, I have not seen a clip of what happened at the end of the game,” Crean said. “So there’s no way I’m going to be able to comment right now. “
   
Despite the final score, Jones said the Hoosiers can take its competitive first half with the top team in the conference as evidence of their potential. Jones said the key is to play to that potential for an entire game, not just a half.
   
“We got to tie 40 minutes together,” Jones said. “And if we do that I think we can beat any team in the country.”