Tom Crean said he and his team will take something away from every game this season, with Wednesday being no exception.
IU's 83-58 marks another first in a season of firsts for the Hoosiers, Crean explained.
First road loss.
After leading 18-17 early in the first half, a lot went wrong for the Hoosiers (4-3). They committed a season-high 26 turnovers (seven by Dumes, six by Story). They shot only 37.7 percent from the field. Not including freshman guard Matt Roth, they hit 2-14 from beyond the arc.
"I think 26 turnovers tells the story," Crean said after the game.
After hitting the first shot of the game, Malik Story was yanked in the opening minutes for missing a defensive assignment. His sub: IU outfielder/basketball player Kip Schutz.
"It's time for him to get out there and play," Crean said, adding the walk-on, "finally got his legs under him."
IU was outscored on the fast break 20-4, large in part due to Wake Forest's balancing scoring attack. The Demon Deacons had four players in double figures, with James Johnson leading with 21. Jeff Teague had 14 and superfrosh Al-Farouq Amini had 12 (including several big dunks).
Roth led the Hoosiers in scoring with 12, hitting four of his five three-point attempts, his only shots of the game. Freshman guard Nick Williams pulled down 10 rebounds in the losing effort. Freshman forward Tom Pritchard, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, finished with four points (1-7 FG) and eight rebounds.
Crean said he thought Pritchard was starting to receive "star treatment" which he first noticed in Maui.
One final note, on a positive note, Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio opened his press conference with some praise for Crean:
"Not many guys in this business would do what (Crean) did, making sure when he got in there he cleaned that program up a little bit, both on the court, off the court and academically. A tremendous amount of credit goes to Tommy. They'll be as good as they can possibly be with him coaching. They'll be as good as they can possibly be, and they gave us a tough time tonight"
