374 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(02/26/13 4:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>All season, IU Coach Tom Crean has boasted about the depth of his No. 1 Hoosier squad.With a team filled with at least six starters, he said, it doesn’t as much matter where the production comes from as much as how his team is executing.But late in the second half against then-No. 8 Minnesota on Jan. 12, IU struggled to find the momentum to close the game out, both from starters like junior guard Victor Oladipo and IU’s sixth man, junior forward Will Sheehey.IU led by as many as 22 points in the second half and even 10 with just 1:10 remaining, but the lead dwindled to just three before five free throws from IU starters sealed the victory.The Hoosiers scored 52 points in the first half but mustered just 36 points in the second half off of 28.6 percent shooting from the floor in the final 20 minutes. The bench added just three points in the game, all off of free throws in the second half, and it was 0-of-8 from the field for the game.But Crean said as long as his team continues to score at the clip they’ve been, having been kept under 70 just three times during conference play, he’s not as concerned who’s making the buckets. If they’re able to score 88 points again against the Golden Gophers Tuesday night at The Barn in Minneapolis, he likes their chances, he said.“It’s just important that we play well for 40 minutes,” he said. “If you’re playing well and increasing the score while you’re in, if you’re impacting the game from both ends, that’s what’s most important. We’re scoring a lot of points, so where they come from is not as important as how we’re getting them, and what flow we’re getting them in, and are we getting them off our defense and are we getting to the foul line.”Sheehey said that coming down the stretch in the regular season and going into the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament, it’s important for the younger guys to realize that as they may see fewer minutes, it’s not as important for them to knock down shots to feel like they’re making a impact.He said he’s seen the freshmen putting in more time in the gym during the past couple weeks and feels like they’ve been making more of an impact, even if it may not always show up on the stat sheet.“If shots don’t fall, shots don’t fall, but you can still affect the game in so many other ways,” Sheehey said. “For me, when I was a freshman, I thought the way to affect the game was to come in and score, but that’s really not the main thing. It’s really on the defensive side first.“If you do that, you’ll be OK, because you get a stop here, a stop there and a defensive rebound or two, and then you kind of get into a good feel, and I think that’s what our team needs.”
(02/20/13 5:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>EAST LANSING, Mich.-Victor Oladipo couldn’t have picked a better time to reach 1,000 points for his IU career.With 47 seconds left and the Hoosiers down one point, the junior guard found was still searching for his 14th point on the night that would push him over the 1,000-point threshold for his IU career.He found himself right underneath the basket as freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell missed a jumper, and Oladipo gently tipped it in for his 1,001st point and the IU lead.“No play is ever over until the ball goes through the hoop,” Oladipo said. “I was just crashing just in case, and luckily the ball came right to me, and I tipped it in. That’s all she wrote.”He scored the final six points for IU to dig the No. 1 Hoosiers out of a late deficit and giving them the win against No. 4 Michigan State 72-68 at the Breslin Center.Coming into the game, all eyes were centered on Oladipo and sophomore Cody Zeller as they inched close to the 1,000-point milestone for their IU careers. Seniors guard Jordan Hulls and forward Christian Watford had already surpassed the mark, but until Tuesday, no IU team had ever had four active players with at least 1,000 points on the same roster.Zeller left little to chance in his run to 1,000, scoring six of IU’s first eight points early on.His first two buckets came inside over Michigan State’s Derek Nix. Nix made headlines late last week, making comments to local reporters that he felt his team wasn’t getting enough respect and that Zeller and Oladipo were nothing special.“That’s his opinion,” Oladipo said. “If that’s how he feels, that’s how he feels. We just came out and played Indiana basketball tonight, and that’s why we won.”Oladipo led the Hoosiers with a game-high 19 points, followed by Zeller with 17, letting their games do the talking.Zeller hit his mark with a long jumper with 15:39 left in the first half, but from there on, he would go dry from the field for the rest of the half. He added just two more free throws to end the first 20 minutes with eight points.Oladipo picked up right where Zeller left off, hitting IU’s third 3-pointer of the half with 9:48 left in the half to boost IU’s lead to 21-16 after the Hoosiers had fallen behind by three early on.Michigan State battled back to within three points before four straight Oladipo points started an IU run that gave the Hoosiers their largest lead of the half at 32-24 before going into the locker room ahead 36-30.But early on in the second half, Zeller wasted little time getting back on the board. He answered a quick layup from Michigan State’s Branden Dawson with a drive from beyond the 3-point line to keep IU up six.He gave IU it’s largest lead in the second half with a layup with 16:04 left to put IU up 45-38. From there on, though, Michigan State began to catch some traction.With the exception of a Hulls 3-pointer, the Spartans clamped down on IU’s offense, scoring 11 of the game’s next 14 points to take their first lead since early on the first half at 49-48.IU fought right back with a run of its own. Ignited by a 3-point play from Zeller and a conventional 3-point play from Hulls, the Hoosiers took back the lead, up 57-51 with 9:49 left.Michigan State’s Adreian Payne came right back with his own run, scoring seven-straight points, taking back the lead and the momentum as Michigan State led 60-59 with 6:27 left in the game.Nix added two layups, but freshman Gary Harris split his free throws with 1:38 remaining as Michigan State led 67-63.A 3-point play from Watford got the Hoosiers within just a single point, but Oladipo proved to be the difference with the game on the line in the waning moments.The Spartans managed just two Harrris free throws in the final two minutes, as Oladipo scored the final six points for the Hoosiers to seal the four-point victory.“I was just being aggressive, finishing plays out, doing whatever I needed to do to help my team win, whether it was crashing the glass like I did or getting big stops, getting big rebounds or hitting big free throws,” Oladipo said.Although Oladipo stole the show to clinch the victory while surpassing the career milestone, he said after the game that without Zeller along side him, he wouldn’t be the attention-grabbing athlete who has caught so much national media attention lately.“I already know who the player of the year is, and it’s Cody Zeller,” Oladipo said. “Without him, we couldn’t win. Without him, I couldn’t be successful. Nobody would be successful. Indian basketball wouldn’t be back without Cody Zeller.”Crean added that even in Zeller’s remarkable feat of 1,000 points in less than two full seasons, what really impresses his coach is the way he makes players like Oladipo look even better.“Cody is so much more than any big man or any type of scorer,” Crean said. “He facilitates so much, and he creates so much attention from the defense, and he’s so willing to find his teammates.“If he was hung up on scoring, he might have gone over 1,000 a while back, but because he’s hung up on winning, that just comes naturally.”
(02/20/13 3:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>EAST LANSING, Mich.-Victor Oladipo couldn’t have picked a better time to reach 1,000 points for his IU career.With 47 seconds left and the Hoosiers down one, the junior guard was still searching for his 14th point on the night, which would push him over the 1,000-point threshold for his IU career.After nine points in the first half, Oladipo had scored just four points since 4:32 left in the first period.He found himself right underneath the basket as freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell missed a jumper, and Oladipo gently tipped it in for his 1,001st point as well as the IU lead.He scored the final six points for IU to dig the No. 1 Hoosiers out of a late deficit and vault them to a 72-68 win over No. 4 Michigan State Tuesday at the Breslin Center.Coming into the game, all eyes were centered on Oladipo and sophomore Cody Zeller as they inched close to the 1,000-point milestone for their IU careers.Seniors guard Jordan Hulls and forward Christian Watford had already surpassed the mark, but until Tuesday, no IU team had ever had four active players with at least 1,000 points on the same roster.Zeller left little to chance in his run to 1,000, scoring six of IU’s first eight points early on.His first two buckets came inside over Michigan State’s Derek Nix. Nix made headlines late last week, making comments to local reporters that he felt his team wasn’t getting enough respect and that Zeller and Oladipo were nothing special.Oladipo led the Hoosiers with 19 points, followed by Zeller with 17, letting their games do the talking.Zeller hit his mark with a long jumper with 15:23 left in the half, but from there on, he would go dry from the field for the rest of the half, adding just two more free throws to end the first 20 minutes with eight points.Oladipo picked up right where Zeller left off, hitting IU’s third 3-pointer of the half with 9:48 left in the half to boost IU’s lead to 21-16 after the Hoosiers had fallen behind by three early on.Michigan State battled back to within three points before four-straight Oladipo points bolstered a 7-2 IU run to give IU its largest lead of the half at 32-24.IU went into the locker room ahead 36-30.But early on in the second half, Zeller wasted little time getting back on the board. He answered a quick layup from Michigan State’s Branden Dawson with a drive from beyond the 3-point line to keep IU up six.Zeller grabbed an assist off a pass to Hulls, setting up a 3-pointer to put IU back up seven as the Hoosiers and the Spartans traded buckets early on in the second half.He gave IU it’s largest lead in the second half with a layup with 16:04 left to put IU up 45-38. From there on, though, Michigan State began to catch some traction.Outside another Hulls 3-pointer, the Spartans clamped down on IU’s offense, scoring 11 of the game’s next 14 points to take their first lead since early on the first half at 49-48.IU fought right back with a run of its own. Ignited by a 3-point play from Zeller and a conventional 3-point play from Hulls, the Hoosiers took back the lead, up 57-51 with 9:49 left.Michigan State’s Adreian Payne came right back with his own run, scoring seven-straight points, taking back the lead and the momentum as Michigan State led 60-59 with 6:27 left in the game.The Hoosier offense continued to struggle. Oladipo was the only Hoosier to score during Payne’s run, giving him 13 for the night, just one point shy of the 1,000 mark as Michigan State slipped ahead once again, 60-59.Nix added two layups, but freshman Gary Harris hit 1-of-2 free throws as Michigan State led 67-63 with just 1:38 remaining.A 3-point play from Watford got the Hoosiers within just a single point, but Oladipo proved to be the difference with the game on the line in the waning moments.The Spartans managed just two Harrris free throws in the final two minutes, as Oladipo scored the final six points for the Hoosiers to seal the four-point victory.
(02/19/13 4:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For much of the 2012-13 men’s college basketball season, the talking heads of the media have debated which team, IU or Michigan, would come out on top in arguably the best conference in the country.Yet as No. 1 IU travels to East Lansing, Mich., tonight for the team’s second meeting against Michigan State, it is the Spartans who have unseated the Wolverines as the team with the best shot to challenge the Hoosiers for the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.On Monday the Hoosiers (23-3, 11-2 Big Ten) continued their reign atop the college basketball polls, but the Spartans have jumped up eight spots over the past two weeks to sit as the No. 4 team in the nation. They have also jumped into a tie for first place in the Big Ten at 11-2 in conference play. When the teams first faced off Jan. 27 at Assembly Hall, a 75-70 victory for IU, the Spartans held the No. 13 ranking while the Hoosiers had dropped to their lowest spot this season at No. 7.Since then, both teams have endured the rigors of the Big Ten conference season and continued to improve.IU Coach Tom Crean said he’s taken notice.“I thought they were really good when we played them, and I think they’re really good now,” Crean said. Since the Spartans’ loss to IU last month, they’ve become the hottest team in the conference. MSU has won five straight games, including a 23-point rout of Michigan in East Lansing a week ago.The Hoosiers also took down Michigan within the confines of Assembly Hall earlier this month, and they registered their only road victory against a ranked opponent this season — a convincing 81-68 win against then-No. 10 Ohio State.Senior guard Jordan Hulls said wins against ranked opponents, especially on the road, give the Hoosiers some good experience coming into the Breslin Center. Yet with Michigan State playing as hot as anyone in the conference, IU has to focus in on today’s game and put aside the rankings and past games this season, he said. “Each team is different,” Hulls said. “Different matchups, different players, obviously. It definitely helps that we have done that before, but like I said, it’s a different mindset, different type of game.“We’ve got to be able to go up there and execute the way we know we can.”Sophomore forward Cody Zeller said the stiff competition in the Big Ten this season has prepared IU for a game of this magnitude.“It is a big game because both of us are atop the Big Ten, but every game is a big game in this league because there’s hardly any room for error,” Zeller said. “You can’t have any time to relax.”And if taking over the driver’s seat in the conference race wasn’t enough, the Hoosiers got some more motivational material late last week.Spartan Derek Nix said he felt Michigan State and his teammates weren’t receiving the respect they deserve from NCAA media and NBA analysts.Nix specifically called out junior guard Victor Oladipo and Zeller. He said that Michigan State’s Branden Dawson and Adreian Payne, respectively, are every bit as good as the two National Player of the Year candidates, who routinely make appearances in the top 15 of mock NBA draft boards. Crean noted that with a road conference game and sole possession of first place in the Big Ten on the line, his players don’t need anything more to get fired up to play in the Breslin Center tonight. Nix, on the other hand, may have to live up to his words against a fired up Hoosier squad.“They don’t need any more of an edge going into this game,” Crean said. “They know who they are. They’re starting to realize what they’re capable of. They know the pageantry of it — most of them have been up there. They know the environment, and they’re extremely locked in.”
(02/18/13 4:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Even with a lopsided victory last month in West Lafayette against Purdue, the IU men’s basketball team wasn’t quite satisfied. Although they handed the Boilermakers the team’s worst-ever home loss in Mackey Arena, the Hoosiers gave up 30 points to freshman center A.J. Hammons, while holding the rest of his teammates to the same number.Going into Saturday’s home rematch against Hammons and Purdue, IU Coach Tom Crean said Hammons’ career performance was still fresh in their minds.After experiencing the freshman’s breakout game first-hand, the Hoosiers made certain there would be no repeat performance Saturday, holding Hammons to just six points while defeating Purdue 83-55.“They saw the film and saw plenty enough on how A.J. had 30 points in that first game and all that,” Crean said. “We came out and had a little different viewpoint on how we were going to defend him.”Rather than marking Hammons with sophomore forward Cody Zeller as IU did for much of the first meeting, Crean decided to go with a different matchup. Senior forward Christian Watford guarded Hammons for much of the game, holding him to just 3-of-10 shooting from the field as well as limiting him to only three rebounds.Crean hinted after the teams’ first meeting earlier this season that the Hoosiers may need to double-team Hammons in order to keep him from getting too many touches in the post. While Watford gave up three inches to Zeller, Crean said he was pleased his senior was able to hold his own down low Saturday and prevent Hammons from torching the Hoosiers from the foul line, where he shot 10-of-12 against IU in Mackey Arena.Saturday, he didn’t take a single foul shot.“That was a big key for us today,” Crean said. “We didn’t want to put him on the foul line. He makes them. He’s quick. We just needed to make life tough down there in a sense of being active. “If he gets you on his back, and you saw that late in the game, for his age, he’s almost unstoppable, and that says a lot.”Over the past few weeks, much has been said about Watford’s success from behind the 3-point line and at the charity stripe — he leads the conference in 3-point percentage and is second in free throw percentage. Saturday, though, Crean said Watford proved to NBA scouts he can be more than just an offensive threat.“Christian really rose to the challenge,” Crean said. “He can guard anybody. I’m glad people are seeing that. We had GMs here today. We had other NBA teams, and he can guard anybody. He has a toughness to him. “He can make shots. He can get to the rim. He can make foul shots, but he can really, really defend.”Zeller said oftentimes in practice, when Crean splits his players into teams for what he calls a “best-on-best” scrimmage, Watford has to take on the task of guarding Zeller. The 7-foot sophomore said that in those practices, Watford has given him a tough time, so he knew defending Hammons wouldn’t be a problem.“I knew he could do it,” Zeller said. “It kept me out of foul trouble, and he did a nice job with it.”Zeller even added he wouldn’t mind taking some time off from guarding the team’s big man. But for Watford, one game was enough.“I’m done, Cody,” he said.And for the Hoosiers, one game was all they needed.
(02/17/13 7:54pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Even with a lopsided victory last month in West Lafayette against Purdue, the IU men’s basketball team wasn’t quite satisfied. Although they handed the Boilermakers the team’s worst-ever home loss in Mackey Arena, the Hoosiers gave up 30 points to freshman center A.J. Hammons, while holding the rest of his teammates to the same number.Going into Saturday’s home rematch against Hammons and Purdue, IU Coach Tom Crean said Hammons’ career performance was still fresh in their minds.After experiencing the freshman’s breakout game first-hand, the Hoosiers made certain there would be no repeat performance Saturday, holding Hammons to just six points while defeating Purdue 83-55.“They saw the film and saw plenty enough on how A.J. had 30 points in that first game and all that,” Crean said. “We came out and had a little different viewpoint on how we were going to defend him.”Rather than marking Hammons with sophomore forward Cody Zeller as IU did for much of the first meeting, Crean decided to go with a different matchup. Senior forward Christian Watford guarded Hammons for much of the game, holding him to just 3-of-10 shooting from the field as well as limiting him to only three rebounds.Crean hinted after the teams’ first meeting earlier this season that the Hoosiers may need to double-team Hammons in order to keep him from getting too many touches in the post. While Watford gave up three inches to Zeller, Crean said he was pleased that his senior was able to hold his own down low Saturday and prevent Hammons from torching the Hoosiers from the foul line, where he shot 10-of-12 against IU in Mackey Arena.Saturday, he didn’t take a single foul shot.“That was a big key for us today,” Crean said. “We didn’t want to put him on the foul line. He makes them. He’s quick. We just needed to make life tough down there in a sense of being active. “If he gets you on his back, and you saw that late in the game, for his age, he’s almost unstoppable, and that says a lot.”Over the past few weeks, much has been said about Watford’s success from behind the 3-point line and at the charity stripe – he leads the conference in 3-point percentage and is second in free throw percentage. Saturday, though, Crean said Watford proved to NBA scouts that he can be more than just an offensive threat.“Christian really rose to the challenge,” Crean said. “He can guard anybody. I’m glad people are seeing that. We had GMs here today. We had other NBA teams, and he can guard anybody. He has a toughness to him. “He can make shots. He can get to the rim. He can make foul shots, but he can really, really defend.”Zeller said that often times in practice, when Crean splits his players into teams for what he calls a “best-on-best” scrimmage, Watford has to take on the task of guarding Zeller. The 7-foot sophomore said in those practices, Watford has given him a tough time, so he knew defending Hammons wouldn’t be a problem.“I knew he could do it,” Zeller said. “It kept me out of foul trouble, and he did a nice job with it.”Zeller even added that he wouldn’t mind taking some time off from guarding the team’s big man. But for Watford, one game was enough.“I’m done, Cody,” he said.And for the Hoosiers, one game was all they needed.
(02/15/13 11:15pm)
Saturday afternoon, the IU men's basketball team will take on in-state rival Purdue at 2 p.m. in Assembly Hall for the second meeting of the two Indiana schools. When the teams first played this season on Jan. 30 in West Lafayette, IU won in dominating fashion, 97-60, yet the Hoosiers failed to stop freshman A.J. Hammons from dominating in the paint, as he went off for a career-high 30 points.
(02/15/13 4:29am)
If the Hoosiers allow Hammons another 30-point performance Saturday
night, Crean may not be very pleased, but IU will have to make sure the
freshman’s performance and confidence doesn’t spread to the rest of his
teammates.
(02/14/13 5:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Early on in No. 1 IU’s only matchup of the season with Nebraska, the Hoosiers struggled to get shots to fall while the team’s big man, sophomore forward Cody Zeller, dealt with foul trouble. The Hoosiers fell into a rhythm with Zeller on the bench late in the first half, and once Zeller caught fire midway through the second, IU broke away from the Cornhuskers for a 76-47 victory at Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers began the game shooting 2-of-11 from the field, while Nebraska, 3-8 in the Big Ten, hit four of the team’s first five shots to take an early 8-4 lead.The Cornhuskers were able to fend off the Hoosiers for several minutes, still leading 14-11 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half.Zeller exited the game for the remainder of the half just moments later after picking up his second foul of the evening, a call he could have easily avoided, IU Coach Tom Crean said.Zeller seemed to take advantage of his mismatch early on against Nebraska’s Andre Almeida, a 6-foot-11-inch, 314-pound center, using his speed to trip up the Cornhusker big man and forcing him into two early fouls.Zeller, though, was just 1-for-4 in those two trips to the free throw line.But senior forward Christian Watford said the Hoosier offense didn’t falter with the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year on the bench.“I don’t think we feel like our style of play changed too much,” Watford said. “We kept playing basketball and getting to the foul line.”Back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell and junior guard Victor Oladipo put IU up for good as Nebraska Coach Tim Miles was forced to take a timeout with 7:11 remaining in the half.Out of the timeout, Oladipo stole the inbound pass as IU challenged the Cornhuskers with a full-court press. Senior guard Jordan Hulls drove to the basket for a layup to boost IU’s lead to 21-14 to cap a 10-0 run.Nebraska made two-straight buckets to come within three points before IU closed out the half with six-straight free throws to end it ahead 27-18.Zeller started the second half on the floor, but less than three minutes into the half, he drew his third foul. IU had already broken the game wide open with a 7-0 run to begin the second half, and Crean decided his team could manage without Zeller on the floor.“He didn’t like sitting over there,” Crean said. “He knew they were going to come after him to get his third.”The sophomore forward sat on the bench for almost seven minutes as the IU lead crept up from 14 to 17 points.But once Crean put his big man back into the game, Zeller seemed to refocus, and his teammates took notice.“When Cody came in in the second half, he didn’t stop,” Watford said. “He came in and played with tremendous energy and got to the foul line and got involved.”Zeller scored his first field goal of the game with 9:54 remaining, and in the next six minutes, he would go on to score 11 of IU’s 19 points to finish as the team’s leading scorer of the evening. Zeller’s scoring spree included a series where he made a jumper before stalling Nebraska’s Dylan Talley near midcourt, stripping him and grabbing the steal before storming ahead for the two-handed dunk that invited a thunderous applause from the IU faithful.He would also make three more trips to the foul line, hitting all five of his attempts, unlike his performance in the first half where he shot just 3-of-6 from the charity stripe.Crean said after the game that teams will continue to center their game plans on how to stop Zeller at both ends, just as Nebraska was able to do for much of Wednesday night’s game. He added, though, that when Zeller fights through the pressure, he’s as good as anyone on the court.“He’s got to stay low. He’s got to block out,” Crean said. “He’s got to have his hands active. He’s so good when he gets down and when he bends those knees even a little bit, his athleticism is off the charts. We need him to be like that constantly.”
(02/13/13 11:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Early on in No. 1 IU’s only matchup of the season with Nebraska, the Hoosiers struggled to get shots to fall while the team’s big man, sophomore forward Cody Zeller, dealt with foul trouble. The Hoosiers, though, fell into a rhythm with Zeller on the bench late in the first half, and once he caught fire midway through the second, IU broke away from the Cornhuskers for a 76-47 victory in Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers began the game shooting 2-of-10 while Nebraska, 3-8 in the Big Ten, hit four of the team’s first five shots to take an early 8-4 lead.The Cornhuskers were able to fend off the Hoosiers for several minutes, still leading 14-11 with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half.Zeller exited the game for the remainder of the half just moments later after picking up his second foul of the evening. Zeller seemed to take advantage of his mismatch early on against Nebraska’s Andre Almeida, who is 6-feet-11-inches and 314 pounds, using his speed to trip up the Cornhusker big man and forcing him into two early fouls.But Zeller was just 1-of-4 in those two trips to the line.In his exit, though, the Hoosier offense seemed to catch fire.Back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell and junior guard Victor Oladipo put IU up for good as Nebraska Coach Tim Miles was forced to take a timeout with 7:11 remaining in the half.Out of the timeout, Oladipo stole the inbounds pass as IU challenged the Cornhuskers with a full-court press. Senior guard Jordan Hulls drove to the basket for a layup to boost IU’s lead to 21-14.Nebraska made two-straight buckets to come within three points before IU closed out the half with six-straight free throws to end the half up 27-18.Zeller started the second half on the floor, but less than three minutes into the half, he drew his third foul. IU had already broken the game wide open with a 7-0 run to begin the second half, and Crean decided his team could manage without Zeller on the floor.The sophomore forward sat on the bench for almost seven minutes, as the IU lead crept up from 14 to 17 points.But once Crean put his big man back into the game, Zeller seemed to refocus.He scored his first field goal of the game with 9:54, and in the next six minutes, he would go onto score 11 of IU’s 19 points to finish as the team’s leading scorer on the evening. Zeller’s scoring spree included a series where he made a jumper before stalling Nebraska’s Dylan Talley near midcourt, stripping him and grabbing the steal before storming ahead for the two-handed dunk that invited a thunderous applause from the IU faithful.He would also make three more trips to the foul line, hitting all five of his attempts, unlike his performance in the first half where he shot just 3-of-6 from the charity stripe.
(02/13/13 5:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With the game on the line last season in Lincoln, Neb., senior guard Jordan Hulls uncharacteristically missed the front end of a one-and-one with IU clinging to a one-point lead against Nebraska. Cornhusker Jorge Diaz hit both of his from the charity stripe with just nine seconds left and Hulls couldn’t connect on a last-second 3-point heave as the Hoosiers fell 70-69 in the team’s third straight loss.Even with the success and praise the No. 1 Hoosiers have received since that tough loss in Lincoln last season, Hulls said the loss is still hard to swallow as the Hoosiers prepare to face Nebraska tonight, this time in Assembly Hall.“The guys who were there last year and had to experience that loss — it left a bad taste in our mouths,” Hulls said. “We definitely don’t want to repeat that.”IU lost in a similar fashion last week. The team never quite closed out unranked Illinois on the road before Tyler Griffey rolled in a layup at the buzzer to take down the top-ranked team in the country.IU Coach Tom Crean said even though his team comes into tonight’s matchup with Nebraska a much more mature and experienced basketball team, last-second losses still sting.“We didn’t take care of business there (at Nebraska),” Crean said. “We didn’t finish it off. We allowed them to get momentum back. We allowed them to get the crowd in it. That loss was very disappointing. “It was a very tough locker room and a very tough trip home the next day. I think you remember those things.”Crean also noted that just as the Hoosiers come into the team’s only matchup of this season a different team — one that was able to hold onto a No. 1 ranking even with a loss last week — so, too, do the Cornhuskers. The Hoosiers will only see two players Wednesday that they battled last season in Lincoln. Seniors Dylan Talley and Brandon Ubel combined for 12 points and 13 rebounds in last year’s upset win. But the game was largely dominated by Bo Spencer, who hit four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 23 points. Crean said although much of the Nebraska roster doesn’t have a large amount of in-game experience compared to IU’s, they’ve taken on a different style under first-year Coach Tim Miles.The new style has improved a team that went just 4-14 in the Big Ten last season, Crean said.Tonight, Crean said, the Hoosiers can not let the Cornhuskers dictate the pace of the game, a mistake that has arguably led to at least two of IU’s three losses this season.“People don’t get up into them, and they can run their pace,” Crean said. “They get to shoot quick if they want to, and they can also take it down 25 or 30 seconds. That’s now how we play. We want to come out here and get after it, and we need our fans to do the same. “They believe they’re tough, and I haven’t seen anything in film to make me believe they are not, so then it’s a matter of your team coming in and establishing that we’re going to build on our toughness.”Junior guard Ray Gallegos leads the team in scoring with 13.3 points per game. Talley and Ubel round out the trio of double figure scores for the Cornhuskers, averaging 13.1 and 11.9 points per game, respectively.
(02/12/13 3:59am)
Sunday afternoon, the No. 1 IU men's basketball team took down then-No. 10 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, a bounce back win for the Hoosiers after they fell Thursday night in Champaign, Ill. on a last-second layup to the Fighting Illini.
(02/11/13 3:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>During his career at IU, senior guard Jordan Hulls has been criticized several times for uneasily putting up 3-pointers when he has an open look.This season, Hulls has rocketed into the top five in the country in shooting from beyond the arc. But Sunday at Ohio State, he launched several deep balls from well behind the 3-point line, some with multiple men in his face, to no avail.In the first half, as the Hoosiers battled with the Buckeyes to gain control of the important conference game, Hulls failed to pull through in his normal fashion, shooting just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.He missed two looks from beyond the arc early before clanking three attempts in just over two minutes in the middle of the first half.When it mattered, fellow senior Christian Watford had the hot hand and was there to lead or cap off several Hoosier runs. With the help of the deep ball, No. 1 IU to not only took control of Sunday’s game but also put away the No. 10 Buckeyes for good in the 81-68 victory in Columbus, Ohio.After Hulls missed his third 3-pointer in a short stint, the Hoosiers found themselves behind 13-11 after jumping out to an 11-4 lead early in the half.Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas proceeded to hit two 3-pointers during a 9-0 Buckeye run to give his team a boost, but as the Hoosiers struggled to find an offensive rhythm, Watford was there.He caught a pass from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, took his signature one step and sailed it through to end the 4:38 IU scoring drought.Later in the half, with his team up by three, Watford doubled IU’s lead with another shot from behind the arc. IU’s lead would never dip below four points for the remainder of the game. Watford said he knew it was important for him to step up and hit key shots Sunday, especially when the rest of his teammates weren’t feeling it from long range, shooting just 3-of-13 outside of Watford.“They look for me,” Watford said. “When those guys are not hitting, they look for me ’cause I just had the hot hand tonight. That’s what we do. I got lost in the game and would trail and spot up.”Since the start of conference play, Watford has seemed to be in a rhythm from beyond the arc, shooting 25-of-47 (53.2 percent) against Big Ten opponents, nearly five percentage points better than his season average of 48.8 percent.In the second half, much like in the loss to Illinois, the Buckeyes came out of the locker room quickly, cutting IU’s lead down to four points less than four minutes into the half.The Hoosiers began a run of their own, pushing the lead back into double digits as the Buckeyes tried to keep the game within a couple possessions.It was Watford, though, who gave IU its biggest lead of the game at 62-46 with 9:30 left in the half, a mark IU didn’t hit in the second half against Illinois.Watford said capping off that run with a 3-pointer and continuing to extend his team’s lead really made a difference in fending off the Buckeyes.“We knew they were going to make runs,” Watford said. “They were at home. They have their crowd and stuff. We just wanted to weather the storm.”
(02/10/13 12:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last season, after the Hoosiers suffered a loss at home to Minnesota – the only team to beat IU in Assembly Hall during the 2011-12 campaign – the Hoosiers continued on a three-game skid to fall to 3-4 in the conference play.After the home loss to the Golden Gophers, IU traveled to Columbus, Ohio just three days later, only to be trounced by Ohio State, 80-63.Sunday, just three days after No. 1 IU’s buzzer-beater loss to unranked Illinois, the Hoosiers will again travel to No. 10 Ohio State in hopes of turning around a surprise loss in the middle of the conference schedule.IU Coach Tom Crean said that even with the short turnaround between the Illinois loss and IU’s game Sunday, he put his players through a hard practice on Friday and had a long meeting to figure out what they could take from the loss.“If we’re going to be good, it’s not going to be about bouncing back,” Crean said. “It’s about making sure that you’re getting better because if you spend a lot of time bouncing back and worrying about your mentality, well then all the sudden that cuts into your preparation, and that cuts into what you need to do to win the game.“They were really down the other night, and we knew that we had some squandered opportunities, but we also said that there are a lot of different things you can look at. You can look at calls; you can look at non-calls. There are so many different things, but nobody cares.”Crean also hinted that after the loss Thursday night, there were other things behind closed doors that he and his staff had to deal with, of which he did not specify. He said, however, he felt comfortable his team was ready to focus on the Buckeyes. But the Hoosiers have to be prepared to guard each and every one of Ohio State’s players on the floor on Sunday. Last season in Columbus, while trying to slow down Jared Sullinger, a first-round pick in last year’s NBA draft, along with Deshaun Thomas, the Hoosiers gave up 28 points to Lenzelle Smith Jr.Smith, who averaged 6.8 points per game last season, more than doubled his previous career high of 12.This season, Thomas leads the Big Ten in points per game, scoring 19.9, and Smith follows as the only other man on the Buckeyes in double figures with 10.5.When the game gets down to the wire, Crean said that his players have to keep tabs on every man on the court and not lose focus in the moment, as they did Thursday, when they allowed Illinois’s Tyler Griffey an open lane to the basket to roll in a layup as time expired for the upset win.“You’ve got to weather the storms,” Crean said. “The crowd is fantastic. They’re right there on top of you. It’ll be unbelievable, and we’ve just got to stay truly committed to what’s important.“You can’t get caught up in the surroundings as much, and you stay true to the game plan.”
(02/08/13 5:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — About two years ago, the IU men’s basketball team snuck away with a win at home against then-No. 20 Illinois, 52-49.As the buzzer sounded, IU fans stormed Branch McCracken Court to celebrate the first Hoosier win against a ranked opponent since IU Coach Tom Crean took over the program in 2008.Thursday night, the tables had completely turned.With 0.9 seconds left and Illinois with the ball out of bounds, Brandon Paul found Tyler Griffey with a wide-open lane to the basket. He fed Griffey the ball, and the senior forward laid it in off the glass as time expired, securing the upset of the No. 1 Hoosiers 74-72 as a sea of orange soon consumed the court in Champaign’s own Assembly Hall.Crean said after the game that although it looked as though IU had a comfortable lead for much of the second half, they didn’t put Illinois quite out of reach.“We didn’t put them away when we had our opportunities,” Crean said, “That’s really what the bottom line is.“When you’re going against great talent, which this league is full of, you’ve got to stay committed for 40 minutes.”Both teams struggled early, trading leads for the bulk of the first half. Senior forward Christian Watford sunk a 3-pointer just nine seconds into the battle, but Illinois followed with two back-to-back shots from beyond the arc from guards Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson for the early 6-3 lead.Later on, with the game tied at 13-all, the Hoosiers used two 3-point shots of their own to spark the beginnings of a late first half run. Watford hit a 3-pointer with 9:26, and less than two minutes later, senior guard Jordan Hulls hit his first of three deep balls.After Paul fired another shot from beyond the arc, the Hoosiers took off, scoring 18 of the game’s next 25 points to finish the half with a 41-29 lead.But the Fighting Illini wouldn’t go away.Illinois started the second half on a 10-4 run to bring IU’s lead back into single digits, a theme they would continue to repeat throughout the second half.3-pointers from Hulls and freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell sandwiched a Zeller tip-in, and with 13:29 remaining, the Hoosiers were back up 12.The Hoosiers maintained at least a nine-point lead for the next six minutes until Paul came firing again, rattling off five-straight points for the Illini, capping it off with a 3-pointer with 5:53 left to pull the Illini within six once again.IU’s lead would never reach double digits again.The Hoosiers scored just one field goal in the final five minutes as Illinois inched closer before eight-straight Richardson points, including two 3-pointers, pulled Illinois even for the first time since 9:35 left in the first half.Crean said his team’s defense broke down late in the game, with players over-helping, giving Paul and Richardson wide-open looks from beyond the arc that they were able to take advantage of.“When they made some threes and got momentum because we didn’t stay where we needed to defensively, that’s what really hurt us,” Crean said.Junior guard Victor Oladipo countered with a quick bucket at the other end to put IU back up two, but with the ball in his hands for what could have been the final possession, Oladipo faltered.The Hoosiers turned the ball over 16 times, giving up 28 points.The last one may have been the most crucial.Oladipo lost control of the ball with nine seconds left, and Richardson drove down the court for a break-away layup before Oladipo saved the game for the time being with a block out of bounds.Illinois didn’t have any timeouts left and, Fighting Illini Coach John Groce said he had to call a play he thought his players were most familiar with. Crean said he hadn’t seen it in film while preparing for Illinois.After the game, Watford said in the midst of the inbounds play, he and Ferrell got tangled up, giving Griffey a wide open look at the basket for the upset, an opportunity that Crean said Illinois shouldn’t have even had. “When you get a chance to put someone away, you have to put them away,” he said. “We didn’t do it the other night against Michigan. We held on, but they made some threes late, but we had numerous opportunities in that game to put them away, and we didn’t do it tonight."
(02/07/13 4:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At the onset of conference play this season, it looked as if Illinois would be right in the thick of things, competing with IU, Michigan, Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten for the 2012-13 regular season title.When the Dec. 31, 2012 polls were released, the Fighting Illini were ranked as high as No. 11 in the country with a 13-1 record, including a convincing win against Butler — the only team the Hoosiers had lost to — to take the Maui Invitational title.IU stood at No. 5 in the polls, still trying to recover from the loss to the Bulldogs and waiting for the shuffling of the polls to begin during conference play.As IU travels to Champaign, Ill., today to take on Illinois in its own Assembly Hall at 7 p.m., both teams find themselves in different spots halfway through conference play.After defeating then-No. 1 Michigan last Saturday, the Hoosiers reclaimed the top spot in the country in this week’s poll, and they also sit atop the Big Ten standings with an 8-1 conference record.IU Coach Tom Crean said his players are prepared to take on what being ranked the top team in college basketball has in store.“I think the whole thing with the team is that they have been down this road before,” Crean said. “They know what it means to the opponent’s fan base. They know what it means to the opponent. They know what that means on a national level.“I think we understand the responsibility that comes with it, especially on the road and knowing that you are going to get the best shot from those teams.”Illinois, on the other hand, has all but free fallen out of the polls during the past month, going unranked after the release of the polls on Jan. 21. Since the start of conference play, the Fighting Illini have dropped seven of nine, including losing three of four in Champaign.Their lone win inside Assembly Hall, though, was against current No. 10 Ohio State in dominating fashion, 74-55.IU Associate Head Coach Tim Buckley said even though Illinois sits third-to-last in the conference standings, the Ohio State victory proves that they won’t be a pushover on the road for the Hoosiers.“We know we’ve got to go and play Illinois like the team that has played earlier in the year and played at their best because they are very capable of that,” Buckley said. “They’re a team that can score points. They can make threes. They can beat you off penetration, so our focus and our mindset defensively is going to be very important going into this game.”Buckley said when they’re in their rhythm, the Fighting Illini are one of the best shooting teams in the country, especially from beyond the arc.The team’s top three scoring threats, guards Brandon Paul, D.J. Richardson and Tracy Abrams, all average double figures in points, and six players on the Illinois roster average between 3.6 and 4.8 rebounds per game.For Illinois this season, Buckley said it just has come down to whether their shots are falling or not on any given night.Even though the Fighting Illini have struggled as of late, Buckley said he and the rest of the coaching staff have prepared their players to defend what Illinois does when they’re at their best.“They’re making shots and in their rhythm and playing the way they want to play,” Buckley said. “They’re probably playing better defensively. They’re playing better on the backboards.“You can’t let them get into that rhythm.”
(02/04/13 5:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With less than a minute to go, the game was not officially over. Michigan’s cries of desperation from beyond the arc were starting to fall as the Wolverines tried to pull off a miracle comeback in Assembly Hall.But the Hoosier fans who had braved the cold to rock ESPN College GameDay earlier that morning before setting decibel records during Saturday night’s game could tell what was coming.“We’re number one,” they chanted in unison.The polls will not be released until this afternoon. But after the No. 3 IU men’s basketball team took down the No. 1 team in the nation for the second year in a row, combined with No. 2 Kansas’ loss earlier Saturday, the cheers that shook Assembly Hall as junior guard Victor Oladipo threw down a windmill dunk just after the buzzer to close out Saturday night’s 81-73 victory might be accurate.Rumors surfaced as early as last April that IU would emerge as the No. 1 team in the country, and after being selected as the top team in the preseason polls, the Hoosiers kept their top spot until a neutral court loss to Butler in mid-December. Since that first loss of the season, Oladipo said the Hoosiers have been hard at work to make it back to the top once again.“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Oladipo said. “We started there, and we’ve had a hard road to get back here, but we’re just taking it one game at a time. It’s not how you start but how you finish. We’re just going to keep working.”Since then, three teams have held the No. 1 ranking, including Duke in two stints, during the five polls that have come out since IU’s loss to the Bulldogs. To some, it appears no team in the country wants to hold onto the top spot for long, but Oladipo said he and his teammates are prepared to take on the challenge of playing with a target on their backs.“We’ll play with a chip on our shoulder,” Oladipo said. “We’ve had a chip on our shoulder since I got here. We’ll continue to keep playing with that chip, ‘cause it can be taken at any second. We’re just going to go back and continue getting better, not only in games but in practices as well.”After the game, IU Coach Tom Crean said he thinks his Hoosiers have finally done something worthy of being named the top team in the country. “We were picked No. 1 back in April, but we hadn’t done anything, and all of a sudden when you lose, it’s like ‘How do you lose? We picked you number one?’” Crean said. And now that the Hoosiers have dismantled another No. 1 team, Crean said he knows the target moves onto their backs, and his players have to stay focused on every single game if they want to keep their spot on top.“We’ve got to be really good going into Illinois on Thursday night,” Crean said. “We played well tonight, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. It’s not coach speak. It’s facts, and the key for us is ‘can we get better?’ Can we get better knowing we’re going to Illinois on Thursday and Ohio State on Sunday?”
(02/03/13 8:27pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With less than a minute to go, the game was not officially over. Michigan’s cries of desperation from beyond the arc were starting to fall as the Wolverines tried to pull off a miracle comeback in Assembly Hall.But the Hoosier fans who had braved the cold to rock ESPN College GameDay earlier that morning before setting decibel records during Saturday night’s game could tell what was coming.“We’re number one,” they chanted in unison.The polls will not be released until this afternoon, but after the No. 3 IU men’s basketball team took down the No. 1 team in the nation for the second year in a row, combined with No. 2 Kansas’s loss earlier Saturday, the cheers that shook Assembly Hall as junior guard Victor Oladipo threw down a windmill dunk just after the buzzer to close out Saturday night’s 81-73 victory against the Wolverines might be accurate.Rumors surfaced as early as last April that IU would emerge as the No. 1 team in the country, and after being selected as the top team in the preseason polls, the Hoosiers held onto their top spot until a neutral court loss to Butler in mid-December. In overtime Dec. 15, the Hoosiers fell to the Bulldogs 88-86 and similarly fell in the eyes of the AP voters. Since that first loss of the season, Oladipo said the Hoosiers have been hard at work to make it back to the top once again.“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Oladipo said. “We started there, and we’ve had a hard road to get back here, but we’re just taking it one game at a time. It’s not how you start but how you finish. We’re just going to keep working.”Since then, three teams have held the No. 1 ranking, including Duke in two stints, during the five polls that have come out since IU’s loss to the Bulldogs. To some, it appears no team in the country wants to hold onto the top spot for long, but Oladipo said he and his teammates are prepared to take on the challenge of playing with a target on their backs.“We’ll play with a chip on our shoulder,” Oladipo said. “We’ve had a chip on our shoulder since I got here. We’ll continue to keep playing with that chip cause it can be taken at any second. We’re just going to go back and continue getting better, not only in games but in practices as well.”After the game, IU Coach Tom Crean said he thinks his Hoosiers have finally done something worthy of being named the top team in the country. He said back in April, when fans and the media first touted the Hoosiers as the next season’s team to beat, IU hadn’t proven itself.Now, after battling to take down No. 1 Michigan with a wire-to-wire victory, Crean said his players are better prepared to take on the challenge of being named the No. 1 team in college basketball.“We were picked No. 1 back in April, but we hadn’t done anything, and all of a sudden when you lose, it’s like ‘How do you lose? We picked you number one?’” Crean said. “When we weren’t number one in mid-December, they know what was said. They can feel all that. Were we getting worse because we lost by two? We didn’t play that great that day. It wasn’t like the sky was falling, and we had to come in here and make sure they understood that.“These guys have figured out that if they aren’t improving, someone else will in the program, and all these other teams are really improving, so we have to.”And now that the Hoosiers have dismantled another No. 1 team, Crean said he knows the target moves onto their backs, and his players have to stay focused on every single game if they want to keep their spot on top.“We’ve got to be really good going into Illinois on Thursday night,” Crean said. “We played well tonight, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. It’s not coach speak. It’s facts, and the key for us is can we get better? Can we get better knowing we’re going to Illinois on Thursday and Ohio State on Sunday?”
(02/02/13 7:53pm)
The morning started bright and early for thousands of IU men's basketball fans as students and Bloomington residents filed into Assembly Hall starting at 8 a.m. to grab seats to be a part of ESPN's College GameDay, shot live from Branch McCracken Court.
(02/02/13 1:14am)
Saturday, the IU men's basketball team will take on the No. 1 team in the country for the second time at Assembly Hall in two seasons. The Hoosiers come in ranked No. 3, and with Michigan comes the ESPN College GameDay crew to publicize one of the biggest games ever played in Assembly Hall.