IMPERFECT STORM

Sophomore guard Verdell Jones seemed as if he prayed in a free throw to trim Minnesota’s lead to 78-74, contorting his body as the basket prolonged IU’s shot at what would eventually be an 81-78 victory.

With the series of events preceding those free throws, his nervousness seemed warranted.

IU (8-9, 2-3) surrendered a lead that was once as large as 15 points, struggling as Minnesota mounted a 15-4 run to close regulation and force overtime.

The same turnovers, missed free throws and intangible mistakes present previously were there for IU in the final moments against Minnesota on Sunday.

But the play of Jones and freshman forward Christian Watford kept the Hoosiers from adding another loss to their Big Ten record.

“It’s definitely a team thing, but that competitive spirit in me just didn’t want to lose another game like that again,” Jones said. “We did that against Illinois; my stomach was sick for two days.”

In extra play, the Hoosiers trailed for the first time until Jones hit a fadeaway jumper to put them up 79-78.

He scored five of IU’s last seven points before two Watford free throws cemented a three-point win.

Averaging 2.68 turnovers on the season, Jones lowered his total to only two in a category IU coach Tom Crean called one of the game’s most vital stats.

“The turnover part, the rebounding part – those are by far the most important things,” he said. “They average 11 steals, they got six.”

Watford led the charge on the rebounding edge, but he had help from several other players.

Five IU players had more than five rebounds, including seven from Jones and junior guard Jeremiah Rivers.

Watford totaled 10 rebounds to complement his 16 points, none bigger than his last board. It led him to the charity stripe, where he finished 5-of-6, for a chance to extend the lead.

After missing a crucial free throw against Illinois on Jan. 9, Watford stood at the stripe Sunday and hit the two buckets to give IU its final lead.

“I was pretty confident going to the line,” he said. “Ever since I missed that one against Illinois, I’ve been shooting really well. So I felt real comfortable.”

But no player drew more attention, or fouls, than Jones.

He shot 19 free throws and scored 24 points in the game, although he did have some trouble in the closing minutes.

In the last six minutes of the game, IU missed four of its last 12 free throws.

Jones clanked three of those as part of his six misses.

The Hoosiers took 11 more free throws than Minnesota, shooting 25-of-40 from the stripe.

The Gophers only had 29 attempts from 15 feet out and made 18 of their free throws.

“The first thing my dad told me when I went to say hi to him after the game was, ‘You gotta make some free throws, man, or the game wouldn’t have been that close,’”Jones said.

IU stalled after the spell in which senior guard Devan Dumes scored 13 first-half points.

A 2-3 zone forced the IU offense into passivity, as they refused to move the ball and force movement within the Minnesota defense.

But a Watford dunk and a Jones 3-pointer changed that near the 8-minute mark as IU took a 66-55 lead.

“When we were in game plan mode and the creativity came out of that, we were fine,” Crean said. “When we started trying to take jump shots that weren’t there, getting away from getting to the basket, then we struggled.”

Yet the Hoosiers managed to outplay Minnesota at the end of overtime, as hot-hand Devoe Joseph cooled with Rivers defending him, leading Minnesota coach Tubby Smith to say the Hoosiers proved that “they have matured.”  

Crean has talked about older players making their teammates accountable, and Jones put the maturation on display when freshman forward Derek Elston missed a late-game box out.

“I just said it was gut-check time,” Jones said. “No one can get rebounds over us. We had to get every loose ball, every rebound. I think the team
responded to that.”