Live blog: Northwestern 77, IU 75 (Final)
With the ball at half court and 5.2 seconds left on the clock, the Hoosiers had a chance to snap their nine-game losing streak and steal a win for the first time since Dec. 10.
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With the ball at half court and 5.2 seconds left on the clock, the Hoosiers had a chance to snap their nine-game losing streak and steal a win for the first time since Dec. 10.
There is a lot of snow outside.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kelvin Sampson wants to return to college basketball in the next five years. That much is apparent from the Indianapolis Star’s report that the former IU coach has appealed the punishment the NCAA levied on him two months ago. On Nov. 25, the NCAA’s Committee of Infractions announced they were placing a five-year “show cause” order on the coach, which would likely keep Sampson from returning to college basketball during that period. But the Indianapolis Star is reporting that Sampson is appealing the rule for two reasons. He believes the committee misinterpreted former IU assistant coach Rob Senderoff’s testimony and also believes the NCAA enforcement staff was biased and made a prejudgment of guilt before all interviews were complete. In November, the NCAA placed IU on a three-year probationary period stemming from the major recruiting violations committed under Sampson and Senderoff. The NCAA found IU guilty of “failure to monitor,” but decided no further penalties were necessary. The NCAA placed a three-year “show cause” on Senderoff, who is now an associate head coach at Kent State. Sampson’s appeal comes two months after it appeared the former Hoosier coach had moved on. After being the point of ridicule for making impermissible phone calls and committing recruiting violations at Oklahoma and IU, Sampson is now an assistant coach in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks. After the NCAA made its ruling in November, Sampson released a statement that said he was “deeply disappointed” in the NCAA’s findings but admitted the “accusations at hand are things that happened on my watch, and therefore I will take responsibility.” The statement concluded, “it is time to move on.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Plenty of people pitched in, but the collaborative effort wasn’t enough as the Hoosiers found themselves unable to ground the Gophers.For the ninth consecutive game, IU (5-13, 0-6) emerged the loser. But all was not lost. Like the message scrawled across the back of the white T-shirts handed out before the game, the Hoosiers never gave up.The Gophers led by five points or less during the final 10 minutes, but the Hoosiers were never able to take the lead. Ultimately, it was the Gophers who were the ones hunting, and the Hoosiers, the hunted.For the first time all season, IU coach Tom Crean said he looked at his team and saw not only the preparation and desire to win, but the belief that it could.Nevertheless, the Gophers overcame several season-best performances by the Hoosiers to prevail Sunday.1. The student section and the ‘White Out’It wasn’t until the final seconds Sunday that the white began to make its way out of Assembly Hall. Thanks to IU Athletics Director Fred Glass, the 16,539 fans in attendance, whom Crean called the best crowd of the season, received free white shirts as they entered the arena and successfully executed the “White Out.” After the game, Crean said a campus police officer guarded the white shirts the night before.Not only did the freebies have a stunning visual effect, but they rallied a home crowd that has at times fallen stagnant this season. The students’ enthusiasm (with the exception of a puker behind Minnesota’s hoop, who was chucked from the game) ignited IU when it needed a boost. Freshman forward Broderick Lewis, who played 12 minutes, said the crowd continuously energized the team.“You could feel it every time we made a stop or a big play,” he said.2. VJ3’s half-court bombSenior forward Kyle Taber grabbed the ball after Minnesota’s Lawrence Westbrook made a short jumper with five seconds left in the first half.He quickly established himself out of bounds, saw the Gophers were slow to get back on defense and passed to a streaking Verdell Jones. Jones turned toward the hoop, dribbled and shot from the corner of the IU emblem that marks half court.Bucket.The deep 3 brought the Hoosiers within one at halftime, 31-30, and gave them momentum heading into the locker room.3. Tijan Jobe’s perimeter defenseNothing excited the crowd as much as seeing junior center Tijan Jobe play at the point of the Hoosiers’ 1-3-1 defense and disrupt the flow of Minnesota’s offense. With 3:16 left in the first half, Crean put Jobe in, to the delight of the home crowd. With his 7-foot-5.5 wingspan blocking the passing lanes and catching the Gophers off guard, Jobe forced a Minnesota turnover and collected two rebounds in his three minutes of play. The student section chanted his name, something both Crean and Jobe said they thought was special. “How many guys who play less than 10 minutes in a season get a standing ovation from the home crowd?” Crean asked after the game.Jobe said he was relatively comfortable playing out on the perimeter and said it “pumps energy into you” to hear 16,000 fans chanting your name.4. 3-point shootingThe Hoosiers scored 12 of their first 14 points off shots from behind the arc and had the help of the 3-point shot all game. In addition to Jones’ half-court prayer, junior guard Devan Dumes hit 4-of-6 from deep and freshman guard Malik Story connected on 2-of-3.Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said his team made a conscious effort to limit the Hoosiers’ 3-point shooting in the second half.“I thought they hit some really big 3s,” Smith said before pausing, “from deep.”5. Boost from the bench Looking to get more from his reserves, Crean continued to utilize his bench players, who responded Sunday. IU’s bench outscored the Gophers (21-19), led by freshman guard Story’s 14 points.After playing only three minutes in IU’s last game, Crean said he saw the “sense of urgency” in Story he’d been looking for this week in practice.Jobe, Lewis and freshman guard Daniel Moore made several plays for the Hoosiers when the team was in a pinch. Moore’s highlight came early in the second half when he used two hands to steal the ball, executed a perfect pirouette at half court and finished with a breakaway layup.
Before there was Barack Obama, Sam Cooke sang "a change is gonna come."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Outside of optimism and the ability to lead, there are few parallels when comparing Winston Churchill and Tom Crean.Yet a free white T-shirt will forever connect the two.Every fan in attendance of the men’s basketball game Sunday will receive a free T-shirt in honor of the white out when the Hoosiers (5-12, 0-5) host the Minnesota Gophers (16-3, 4-3).The Hoosiers are currently amid an eight-day break from conference games following the team’s 65-55 loss to Penn State on Jan. 17. Riding their longest losing streak since 1964, the Hoosiers are hoping to get a boost from a vibrant Assembly Hall crowd this weekend.Driving home from Columbus, Ohio, last week, IU Athletics Director Fred Glass had an idea. Looking for a way to engage the crowd, and most importantly, students, Glass decided to organize a white out. He knew handing out free T-shirts at the gate would increase the promotion’s chances of running smoothly and soon found out the University’s contract with adidas would cover the cost.As Glass sat behind IU’s bench during the Buckeyes’ clobbering of his department’s prized program, he saw something. Despite the odds or the score, Glass saw a team that didn’t quit – a team that gave maximum effort.Brainstorming in the car, a famous Churchill quote popped into Glass’s mind.“Never, never, never give up.” “And I thought of the Churchill thing because, to me, that really crystallizes what this team is all about. They never quit,” Glass said Wednesday. “Coach isn’t quitting. They aren’t quitting.”So Glass had a shirt designed with the quote in big crimson lettering. Below it, crossed out, read “Winston Churchill, London, 1941.” In its place: “Tom Crean, Bloomington, 2009.”When Churchill spoke those famous words in 1941, it had been 10 months since England had joined the war against the Axis powers. His country endured “terrible catastrophic events” and the “ups and downs” were beginning to take their toll on his proud people.“We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished,” Churchill said. “All this tradition of ours, our songs, our school history ... were gone and finished and liquidated.”But Churchill knew his country wasn’t finished. Things were beginning to look up, and the grueling 10 months had taught him a lesson he deemed worth noting.“Never give in,” he told his people. “Never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”On Sunday, when IU Athletics hands out the thousands of free T-shirts, it will have been about 10 months since Crean and the Hoosiers waged war against unprecedented challenges. The program endured terrible catastrophic events, and the ups and downs of the season were beginning to take their toll on his proud people.A year ago, the basketball team stood alone, and to most bystanders the program seemed finished. Thanks to a myriad of mistakes, integrity was gone and pride, absent.But Crean and Glass believe that, like England, IU basketball is not finished. The grueling 10 months have taught Crean and the Hoosiers a lot – a lesson IU Athletics deemed worth noting.“It hurts so much when you work as hard as we have and you come and play a game and you’re so close but you end up losing,” freshman guard Verdell Jones said. “That’s one of the hardest feelings to deal with.”But the “never quit” motto has helped Jones and his young teammates fight through this season’s adversity.“That’s one of the greatest things about Coach Crean: He’s always on a positive side, pushing us towards the good,” Jones said. “After the Northeastern and Lipscomb losses we got a little down ... but (Crean) is bringing us back up right now and now guys are believing we can win.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The view wasn’t any better, but for the first time all season Saturday, Assembly Hall’s balcony was packed.In the 24 hours preceding the game, IU Athletics sold 1,500 student tickets for the unprecedented price of $5, leading to one of the Hall’s best turnouts of the year. A minute prior to tip-off Saturday, a press release was sent out announcing IU Athletics Director Fred Glass had lowered balcony seats to $5 for the rest of the season.During his time as a student on campus, Glass, who graduated in 1981, couldn’t purchase season tickets to half the games the Hoosiers played in Assembly Hall due to the demand. Now, a student can walk up to the ticket office on game day and gain admission for the price of a foot-long sandwich. On Oct. 28, the day he was hired, Glass acknowledged the program “uncharacteristically” had student season tickets still available. It took Glass less than a month in office, and only one home game, before he decided to take action and lower ticket prices.Noting attendance around the conference has been down, Glass said in the press release that some of the ticket problems are “likely attributable to the challenging national economic situation.”But some of it, likely, is due to the team’s performance on the court. The Hoosiers (5-12, 0-5) have lost their last eight games, four of which have come at home. The team’s losing streak is the longest since 1964 and the team’s 0-5 start in the Big Ten is the worst opening stretch since the 1940s.On Saturday, the program that takes so much pride in tradition continued to rewrite history in the wrong way. The Hoosiers surrendered their first loss to the Nittany Lions inside Assembly Hall ever, previously winning the first 15 match-ups.With a packed house of 15,626 people loudly cheering every basket and providing “great support,” freshman guard Verdell Jones said he thought Saturday’s game would snap the skid.“I really thought this was going to be the game we got a ‘W,’” he said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t. Hopefully, Minnesota will be.”The Hoosiers never led in their 65-55 loss to Penn State. After the game, IU coach Tom Crean said his team lacked “basketball maturity” at times, which cost them in critical possessions.“I just want to see them get a win so much right now,” Crean said. “We all come from winning, and we come from (playing and coaching) big games … but with this team, you want them as a team to feel that thrill of winning, and we still don’t understand how long the game is.”Crean added, “A win would do a lot of things for us right now, but we don’t have it.”Instead, the team will take some much-needed time off to regroup and prepare for Sunday’s game against Minnesota. “We’ve won before; it’s not like we haven’t won a game yet (this season),” senior forward Kyle Taber said. “But it has been a while. We know we’re right there. We are just taking every step we can to get back to that point.”Despite losing 10 of their last 11 games, spirits remain high around Crean and the team. Crean said he felt a “great buzz in the building” Saturday and said the program will continue “to do everything we can to make this season better.”Taber and Jones both said although the team isn’t winning, the students continue to offer support.“They tell us keep our heads up, just to keep playing hard and it’s a growing experience,” Jones said. “They always tell us they have our back.”
Times are tough for the Hoosiers.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hall was packed, the crowd was loud and the team was beatable. But for the eighth straight game the Hoosiers lost, losing to Penn State inside Assembly Hall for the first time in school history.It’s been 38 days since IU got its fifth and most recent victory over Cornell on Dec. 10. After Saturday’s game IU coach Tom Crean conceded that the “thrill of winning” is gone from his players.“I just want to see them get a win so much right now,” Crean said.IU’s cold shooting and timely Nittany Lions’ baskets kept that from happening Saturday night. The Hoosiers (5-12, 0-5) mounted several second-half runs but failed to gain any ground on a resilient Penn State team, resulting in another humbling loss.The men’s basketball program that takes so much pride in tradition is now rewriting history: IU is now amidst the team’s longest losing streak in over four decades. The last time the Hoosiers opened Big Ten season with five straight losses was 1944.“We’ve won before, it’s not like we haven’t won a game yet,” senior forward Kyle Taber said. “But it has been awhile. We know we’re right there. We are just taking every step we can to get back to that point.”Thanks to $5 student tickets, implemented by new IU Athletics Director Fred Glass on Thursday, the Hoosiers had one of their largest and loudest home crowds of the season (15,626). But the backing of a loud fan base wasn’t enough. Penn State routinely hit momentum-busting shots in the final minutes every time the Hoosiers seemed poised to make a run. With 1:25 left, Penn State’s Stanley Pringle hit a deep three-pointer that put the Nittany Lions ahead 10 and sent the loyal fans still in attendance home.“Coming out and seeing the great support from the crowd…I really thought this was going to be the game we got a ‘W,’” freshman guard Verdell Jones said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Hopefully, Minnesota will be.”Pringle (19 points) and the Nittany Lions’ other three top scorers combined to score as many points as the Hoosiers’ entire team Saturday. Junior guard Devan Dumes led IU with 13.In search of perimeter defense and substitutes who could give him valuable minutes, Crean continued to tinker and toy with his rotation Saturday.Against the Nittany Lions, Crean played 6-foot-6 freshman walk-on Broderick Lewis 16 minutes, despite the West Lafayette, Ind. native only logging 28 minutes prior to the game.Freshman forward Malik Story – who has played 306 minutes in IU’s first 17 games – only saw the floor for three minutes Saturday.“I’m not playing guys for the sake of playing them,” Crean said after the game. “I want people who want to be battlers, who want to win. Broderick is showing signs (of that).”Crean went on to explain Story’s absence be saying the freshman has lacked “a sense of urgency” in recent games and practices.“We’re not in a position to play guys through things right now, we’re trying to be desperate…I want these guys to understand the train stops for no one,” he said.The Hoosiers now have eight days before they play their next game, when they host Minnesota on Jan. 25. Crean said he’s been looking forward to the week off for quite some time.“I was hoping we’d have a few more wins under belt,” Crean said. “But we’ll dive in, try and get better and understand that we’re getting closer.”
The Hall was packed, the crowd was loud and the team was beatable. But for the eighth straight game the Hoosiers lost, losing to Penn State inside Assembly Hall for the first time in school history.
In one of their most winnable games in conference season, the Hoosiers fell once again, losing, losing to Penn State inside Assembly Hall for the first time in school history.
Happy Friday, everyone. The first week of classes is over for students (hooray), but like the Hoosiers, a long road lies ahead. The Hoosiers return to Assembly Hall tomorrow for their first home game in 10 days when they host Penn State (6 p.m. tip-off). Just wanted to do a little link dump: here's what we had in today's paper in terms of men's basketball:
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In three seasons, Eric Gordon has gone from a man among boys to a boy among men.“Look how fresh he is!” screamed one of Gordon’s NBA teammates. “He got his draft suit on!”The former Hoosier wasn’t wearing the cream blazer he donned on draft night when he was selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers, but he was unusually dressed up.A herd of local reporters waited to interview Gordon as he changed meticulously following his hometown pro debut. If “E.J.” had his choice, he’d likely prefer to keep to himself by his locker. Instead, he was moments away from answering questions about the game-winning shot he made in double-overtime to lift the Clippers over the Indiana Pacers.He checked the mirror to make sure his tie was knotted just right and buttoned his vest carefully to the dismay of the gathering herd on deadline.His teammates curiously watched the spectacle, as every person and camera entering the locker room ignored the veteran players in favor of waiting for a word with the rookie. To his chagrin, the former Indiana Mr. Basketball was the center of attention once again.Gordon continued to dress slowly. He looked back from his locker to see how large the mob had grown. He re-checked his tie. Maybe he thought they’d leave. You’ll never see Eric Gordon this afraid on a basketball court.***A little more than two years ago, Gordon had just finished carrying a different team to victory in a different Indianapolis gym.Then a senior at North Central High School, Gordon torched rival Carmel for 30 points in the Panthers’ victory. The sold-out crowd watched the future Hoosier hit shots from every corner of Marion County and throw down a one-handed dunk during a dead ball that nearly caused a riot.But Gordon kept his head down as he trotted off the floor. One of the top recruits in the nation at the time, Gordon’s well-documented recruitment almost rivaled the attention his basketball ability received. He was a star among his peers and in the hallways of his school. Everyone in the gym that Friday seemed to claim some connection to the local prodigy.He’d committed to playing for Kelvin Sampson the next season, but on that night he honed his focus on Carmel.He overpowered the Greyhounds, often juking out their entire team before gently laying it in off the glass. After the game he called Carmel’s defense “pretty physical” – long before he’d played in the Big Ten, exchanged jersey paint with Chester Frazier or played in a single NBA game. The most talented high school player in the state appeared nervous as he answered questions from a newspaper intern.Rarely making eye contact or raising his voice loud enough for a person within arm’s reach to hear, Gordon only conceded that he “started to make a difference” in the second half after he admitted to getting frustrated and maybe forcing too many shots.Unlike 3-pointers, Gordon has always been reluctant to pull the trigger on speaking up.Tommy Pribbeno, a “good acquaintance” of Gordon’s since Fox Hill Elementary School, grew up with the basketball star.As you could expect, Gordon was a “shy kid” and a “phenomenal athlete.”Pribbeno sat in the Conseco Fieldhouse stands during the Clippers’ 117-109 victory against the Pacers. Along with several friends, Pribbeno had secured the tickets weeks before in anticipation. In honor of Gordon’s return, Pribbeno held a blow-up picture of little Eric Gordon’s fifth-grade yearbook, with the 20-year-old Gordon’s face superimposed. “We’d play soccer in elementary school, and he was always the best,” Pribbeno said. “One time, Eric was playing goalie, and I laid out and blocked his goalie kick, got up and scored. It was probably the proudest athletic moment of my life.”Gordon estimated nearly 500 friends and family members were in attendance to watch him make his pro hometown debut that December night.“It was good to see so many familiar faces when I was out there on the court,” he said.***Like most veterans, Marcus Camby likes to tease the team’s stud newbie.Making sure the former Hoosier was in earshot, Camby asked a reporter, “I thought he went to IUPUI? You sure he ain’t go there?”Camby and a few teammates cracked up at the ribbing. It’s all good-hearted. Gordon’s teammates often go to great lengths to get a reaction out of the quiet rookie.“If only we could get him to talk,” Camby said. “He’s a real quiet dude.”Like Gordon, Camby is new to the Clippers this season. The two arrived this summer with equally lofty expectations. A 12-year veteran and former Defensive Player of the Year, Camby pulled rank on the rook and claimed the No. 23 jersey when he arrived, the same number Gordon wore at IU and North Central. But the center has given the 20-year-old shooting guard something in return: respect – something Gordon has earned by showing up sometimes three hours before his teammates to work on his game.“I used to watch him. I’ve seen the games he used to play on ESPN,” Camby said. “I always thought he was talented, and I think he has a real good chance to be a superstar in this league.”Camby would know. After dominating at Massachusetts for three years, the center was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the No. 2 overall pick. He found himself in a similar transition to Gordon: young, living in a new city far away from home and battling “against grown men” every night.“When I came into the league, we had (Charles) Barkley and all those big, tough, mean guys,” he said. “I can’t even imagine coming in at 19, especially coming into a big city like L.A. It can be overwhelming at times.”With an 82-game schedule, 42 of them on the road, Gordon has found himself constantly traveling and away from familiar faces. His Facebook statuses read like a circus schedule: one night in Milwaukee, then on to Memphis and San Antonio. An east coast road trip here, a few games in California there. But Gordon seems to be handling the adjustment well. Camby said he thinks his teammate has taken most things in stride.“The NBA is a whole different level,” Gordon said. “It’s all about keeping pace. You don’t want to have too many highs or lows. You just got to stay even keeled throughout the whole season.”***Much like he did at the end of his career at IU, Gordon began this season in a shooting funk. He struggled to recover from a hamstring injury he sustained in summer league. But the first-year guard has continued to make his way into Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy’s rotation. The first few weeks, he was barely getting off the bench. Earlier this month, he posted back-to-back 30-point efforts.In the month of January, he’s become one of the team’s most potent offensive threats, averaging 22.3 points in 41.2 minutes per game. “When he starts knocking down those shots ... everyone in Indiana has seen that before,” Dunleavy said.***His 15-point effort (5-of-13 shooting) wasn’t glorious, but Gordon’s return to Indianapolis as a Clipper brought his Hoosier hoops career full circle.He emerged on the scene three seasons ago as a high school prodigy, took his game to the next level as a Hoosier, receiving Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and returned to play as a professional in the town in which he grew up. With the exception of a hint of a beard and a different jersey for the third consecutive year, not much had changed about the baby-faced Clipper.He’d put last season behind him. This past summer, while participating in the NBA Rookie Photo Shoot in New York, Gordon said it’d been “crazy just to see everyone I played with gone. Seems like every week there is something new.”Days before the Pacers’ game, Gordon made national headlines when he told the Indianapolis Star that drug abuse was behind some of IU’s problems last season. But he declined to elaborate the following day, adding, “Whatever happened in the past, I’ll just leave at that.”Finally dressed and looking sharp for the nightly news, Gordon engaged the reporters. He was still a reluctant interview, but he’d made significant strides in terms of shyness. He blushed crimson when he made a joke about hopefully beating Kobe Bryant in his own gym and said he enjoyed playing in Los Angeles.But he went out of his way to downplay his performance on the court that night. He said he felt “a little more nerves” than usual and said he didn’t shoot the ball as well as he expected.When Gordon hit his game-clinching 3-pointer in double-overtime, his father, Eric Gordon Sr., jumped out of his seat in celebration. After the game, a reporter asked E.J. what he thought was going through his father’s mind.“I don’t know,” Gordon said. “He’s probably just happy I finally hit a shot.”Humility is an eight-letter word Gordon is likely too shy to spell.
Move over Subway, IU Athletics has an offer that will rival cheap foot-long sandwiches.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>COLUMBUS, Ohio – If you miss the first five minutes of a Hoosier road game this season, you might not want to bother tuning in.Odds are the game is already over.Add Ohio State to the list of teams that have blown out the Hoosiers before they were winded. The Buckeyes shot lights-out in the opening minutes, hitting seven of their first 10 shots and scoring their first 27 points off 3-point plays (eight 3s, one traditional 3-point play).Much like in IU’s games against Illinois and Kentucky, the team found itself facing an insurmountable lead just minutes into the game.Five minutes in, the Buckeyes led 15-6; 10 minutes, 27-10. By halftime, the only question remaining was how much Ohio State would win by.Twenty-four. IU lost, 77-53.In the team’s five road games this season, IU’s opponents have hit an alarming 62 percent of their first 10 shots, setting the tone for lopsided losses for the cream and crimson.On Tuesday, the Buckeyes finished one short of a school record, hitting 11 3-pointers in the first half. Sometimes they were contested, other times they were not.“We were just taking shots they were giving us,” said Ohio State guard Jon Diebler, who hit five of Ohio State’s 13 3-pointers. Whether it’s been a barrage of 3-pointers, an array of alley oops or an abundance of turnovers, IU has found itself on the wrong side of double-digit leads early in four of five road games.“We’re not doing everything we can,” junior guard Devan Dumes said of the opening minutes. “It’s not a given they should just do that. If we come out with more intensity every time and stick with our game plan to a ‘T’ it will help us.”In the first five minutes of IU’s five road losses this season, the Hoosiers have combined to be outscored, 63-24. By halftime, the Hoosiers have been down by an average of 19.2 points per game.“We get into these situations in the game and at some point in time we realize we can compete in the game,” IU coach Tom Crean said after the game. “But unfortunately, the other team has already made a substantial mark at that point in how the game is going to be played.”With a young, inexperienced group, Crean said the Hoosiers need “to be ready to fight at the start of the game.” Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, IU has yet to open a road game with a strong performance.“I think it’s mental,” freshman guard Verdell Jones said. “We just have to come in and understand with each other that we’re going to come out and fight, buckle down and get some stops.”Crean said he’ll continue to exhaust all options when it comes to improving his team. He said the Hoosiers will continue to have “competitive and combative” practices and hopes the team will show improvement early in the game when playing in road battles.“I think about it 10 times a day,” Crean said. “’What can we be doing differently?’”
Another road game, another blowout loss. The Hoosiers dropped to 0-6 when not playing at a neutral site or inside Assembly Hall this season after losing to Ohio State Tuesday night. IU's (5-11, 0-4) seven-game losing streak marks the program's longest streak of that kind since 1964.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>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.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Last year’s infamous chest bump pales in comparison to the in-game beat down the Fighting Illini laid on the Hoosiers Saturday.After holding their own but losing in their first two conference games, IU coach Tom Crean and his team got the kind of Big Ten welcome many had been bracing for all season.A 31-point thrashing marked the biggest loss by the Hoosiers in the rivalry’s 161-game series.IU’s orange rivals to the west opened the game on a 21-2 run and never relaxed their grip of the lead. The Illini led by 25 at the half and continued to humiliate the traditionally proud basketball school in the second half, brushing off the Hoosiers 76-45 and handing their longest losing streak – at six – since 2004.Crean saw the writing on the wall early and called for a timeout just 87 seconds into the game after Illinois hit their first three shots. But things soon “snowballed” and the game got out of hand, much like it did a month ago against Kentucky, Crean said.“It seemed for awhile that everything that could possibly go wrong … just did,” Crean said.Maybe it was payback for last year. Maybe there were lingering feelings of bitterness from Eric Gordon’s recruitment. Or maybe it was Illinois coach Bruce Weber wanting to backup his June forecast that, “Indiana will suck.”Either way, Illinois and a sold-out Assembly Hall (the first sellout of the season) came out thirsty. Thirsty for the Hoosiers’ crimson blood.“They jumped on us early, and obviously we couldn’t handle the pressure,” freshman guard Nick Williams said. “We tried to come back later but it was too much for us. Today, we couldn’t handle the pressure. Most of it was us, but some of it (was them).”Crean aired a laundry list of problems the Hoosiers experienced Saturday, from getting a hand up on a shooter to finding players on his bench who can contribute in short spurts.In search of that spark, Crean played 13 different Hoosiers Saturday. When asked by a reporter after the game about his bench usage, Crean interjected.“I don’t know if I wanted to go that deep,” he said.In addition to Illinois’ hot shooting (51.0 percent for the game, 13-of-25 from beyond the arc), the team scored 31 points off of IU’s 19 turnovers. While the Hoosiers out rebounded the Fighting Illini 35 to 23, they were beat in almost every other facet of the game.“They were excellent. We never matched them,” Crean said. “We never matched that toughness or that mentality that they had.”Absent from a majority of Saturday’s melee was Devan Dumes, the team’s leading scorer. Crean benched Dumes from the starting line-up after the junior guard missed the team bus, something Crean called an “honest mistake.”When Dumes did finally enter the game six minutes in, it lasted only briefly. The junior suffered a sprained ankle running back on defense did not return. A team spokesperson said Dumes would undergo an X-Ray when he returned to Bloomington and his teammates were hopeful he’d be ready to go Tuesday.After halftime, Dumes slowly made his way back to IU’s bench on crutches. For the remainder of the game, Dumes sat behind the bench dejected and demoralized, barely raising his head high enough to utter a word to anyone.Williams picked up some of the offensive load in Dumes’ absence, leading IU with 12 points. Freshman guard Verdell Jones, playing in his hometown of Champaign, added 10.Far after the game had already been decided, Crean continued to coach with his trademark emotion and passion, barking orders to plays and subbing others in-and-out frantically. He ignored heckles from students in the Orange Krush and stared forward, in search of ways to make his team better.In the postgame press conference, with new IU Director of Athletics Fred Glass watching from the back of the room, Crean continued to look toward the future rather than acknowledge the misery of the losing streak and the past.“We are rebuilding in a lot of ways and the one that thing that I’m going to stay true to is that I plan to be here for a very long time,” he said. “I plan to get this staff to where it has to be and to where this is a meaningful game.”
The Indiana-Illinois rivalry was anything but that Saturday.
Verdell Jones sat in the stands last January as Eric Gordon and the Hoosiers were relentlessly booed and heckled during their infamous trip to Champaign.