Hoosiers record worst-ever loss at Assembly Hall as Crean ejected

IU coach Tom Crean could see it in his team.

He could sense IU reaching the point where it surrenders a large lead to end the first half. But there was nothing he could do as his team trailed — except take his frustrations out on the referees.

Sophomore guard Verdell Jones held Crean back after he received a second technical foul and was ejected for the first time in his tenure as IU coach.

The Hoosiers were behind big in their 78-46 loss to Wisconsin when Crean became irate with an official near the scorers table during the biggest loss ever at Assembly Hall.

He did not mention the ejection once in his opening statement.

“People are used to a certain thing,” he said. “And there is going to be a mentality that we’re going to play with, that I’m going to coach with.”

He received the second and third technical fouls of his two years in Bloomington on Thursday, the first two of this season.

Fans chanted Crean’s name as he walked off the court and into the north-side exit.

The team was trailing 58-33 when he left at the 9:53 mark in the second half, but it didn’t matter to fans. They had a renewed enthusiasm behind every response to a referee call or play from an IU player immediately afterward.

Many had already turned toward the exits. Those who remained cheered on the team following Crean’s ejection, reveling in the only interesting portion of what had become a 32-point blowout.

IU assistant coach Bennie Seltzer took control of the team for the banished coach.
Crean had, however, made attempts to keep his team in the game before taking two technical fouls.

But a timeout Crean called with the game knotted at 20-14 did nothing, and Wisconsin went on to stage a 19-8 run to end the first half.

“This is where a lack of leadership kicks in,” Crean said, referring to his team’s response after the timeout. “We’re just not there yet.”

His team continued to be outplayed and never lead after it opened the game 4-2.
Wisconsin had a 17-point advantage at halftime, but quickly turned that into a 25-point lead by the 10-minute mark.

Freshman forward Derek Elston said Crean’s ejection was a sign he refuses to continue losing the way IU has as of late.

“He’s just like us,” Elston said. “He doesn’t want to get pushed around in this league, and neither do we. After that happened, we all just were like, ‘We need to start taking this personally.’”

The loss ties last season’s longest losing streak in the Big Ten. IU was on pace to drop its ninth consecutive game in almost identical fashion to the manner in which it had lost all the others.

Crean changed that.

Crean’s actions took attention from a game typical of this season. IU was trailing a better, more experienced team, and after Crean left, fans became as hostile as he was.

They screamed obscenities at players whose names they did not know. They screamed at Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. They screamed for the sake of screaming.

Junior point guard Jeremiah Rivers, the son of a coach, said Crean was more tactful than the fans who rallied behind him.

“I think it was just an outcry of his passion,” Rivers said. “That’s all it was. Not generated towards the fouls, or what we were doing wrong, what we were doing good. Or what Wisconsin was doing wrong, what they were doing good. It’s just an outcry of his passion and how much he wants Indiana to win.”