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(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.
(02/11/13 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?”
(02/01/13 4:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>All season, IU men’s basketball players and coaches have preached taking the season one game at a time, no matter the opponent, no matter the location, no matter the rankings or the standings.To them, Saturday’s game may just be a matchup with the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines, taking place 9 p.m. in Assembly Hall.But to the students who will spend all day bundled up in layers of cream and crimson waiting for the best seats to catch a glimpse of Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps in the morning and watch the basketball game in the evening, and to the Bloomington residents who have watched IU crawl all the way back from obscurity in the college basketball world, Saturday may mean a little more.ESPN College GameDay is finally here.As the crew from Bristol, Conn., pays Hoosier Nation a visit Saturday, IU Associate Head Coach Tim Buckley said he hopes that everyone involved with bringing the program back to national prominence gets to enjoy everything the day brings.“I would hope the community, the students, all the people that were here when we were first getting started with this, I hope they feel the satisfaction of all the hard work and support and energy that they provide for the program,” Buckley said.“This is kind of the culmination of that. Obviously with a day like this, you want to be at your best and playing your hardest, and hopefully they get a chance to enjoy the whole situation.”To complete the atmosphere of ESPN College GameDay in Bloomington come two of the top three teams in the country. When the schedules were released in August, both IU and Michigan sat in the top five in the NCAA, with Indiana taking hold of the top spot until mid-December. Now, after shuffling around during the heart of the college basketball schedule, Michigan comes into Bloomington with a hold on the top spot in the country.At No. 1 and No. 3, Saturday’s matchup will be the highest pair of teams to ever play in Assembly Hall in its history as the Hoosiers attempt to take down their second top-ranked foe at home in two seasons.Although Buckley said that to him and the players, Michigan is simply the next team on the schedule, he said the community couldn’t have asked for a more perfect storm to roll into Bloomington for a primetime game on Saturday.“It was one of those things where we looked at building the program to a certain point, and hopefully having a great situation with them here,” Buckley said. “It’s probably worked out a lot better than a lot of people may have thought with having the No. 1 and No. 3 here."It’s one of those scenarios you hoped would play out that way.”Two weeks ago, IU and the rest of the country had a chance to watch ESPN College GameDay from just a couple miles up the road in Indianapolis where Butler hosted Gonzaga at Hinkle Fieldhouse in one of the storied buzzer-beater games of the season.Sophomore guard Remy Abell said having the GamedDay crew stationed twice in Indiana just shows how important basketball is to Hoosiers around the state, and said Saturday surely won’t disappoint.“Michigan is coming in here, and they’re a very good team,” Abell said. “They’re coming to Assembly Hall. College GameDay is coming to Assembly Hall. Great announcers. ESPN, Dick Vitale, the whole crew is coming, and it’s going to be fun.”At the same time, though, Abell said he knows the team can’t get carried away in the hype surrounding the top-ranked teams or the festivities inside Assembly Hall prior to the game.The sophomore had the fortune of playing in several big games on Branch McCracken Court last season, including IU’s win over top-ranked Kentucky, but he said everything surrounding Saturday will be even harder to handle, especially for IU’s freshmen class.“You’ve just got to tell them to stay focused on what we’re trying to accomplish and what we’re trying to get done,” Abell said. “There’s going to be some adversity, but we’ve got to stay together as a unit, stay together as a team.”Buckley echoed Abell’s hopes, saying the Hoosiers have to stay focused on the task at hand on the court, rather than the excitement surrounding it. “If the racecar driver focuses on the wall, he runs into it, so we don’t want to be focusing on the wall. We want to be focusing on the track,” Buckley said. “Our preparation is key, just like it is all the time. This atmosphere shouldn’t be any different for us that it has been the entire year.“We know we’re in a Big Ten race, and we’re going to play one of the better teams, not only in our league, but in the country, and we’ve got to be prepared.”
(01/31/13 7:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Out of the gate Wednesday night, it looked as though having a raucous home crowd and packed “Paint Crew” student section could be enough to keep the Purdue Boilermakers neck-and-neck with the No. 3 team in the country.But early foul trouble from two of Purdue’s key starters gave the IU men’s basketball team a window of opportunity to blow open the rivalry game.The Hoosiers took full advantage late in the first half, taking control of the rivals’ first matchup of the season, serving Purdue their worst home loss in the series 97-60 Wednesday night at Mackey Arena.In the game’s early minutes, both teams stayed within a single possession, but even down just one point, 16-15, with 11:42 remaining in the first half, the Boilermakers already were in a bit of a hole. Starters A.J. Hammons and D.J. Byrd had already racked up two personal fouls each, but Purdue Coach Matt Painter continued to keep his stars in the game.The Hoosiers began to pull away, building a double-digit lead over the next 2.5 minutes, but just minutes later, with IU up 34-25, Hammons received his third personal foul. Painter had no choice but to sit his starting center, and from there, IU finished the half on a 13-2 run in the final 4:18 with Hammons on the bench.IU Coach Tom Crean said it was huge for his team to really pressure the Boilermakers with Hammons on the bench.“He’s going to be very good, there’s no doubt about that,” Crean said. “Our guys never took their foot off the gas pedal, so to speak, and I think that’s really, really important for us as a team to take the next step.”Hammons, Byrd and the rest of the Purdue lineup racked up 11 fouls in the first 20 minutes, sending IU to the line for 17 free throws. Unlike some games earlier in the season, the Hoosiers took advantage of their chances from the charity stripe, missing just one attempt to help pad a 40.6 percent shooting half from the field.Aided by a strong half at the line, the Hoosiers went into the locker room up 47-27.But Hammons came out in the second half looking to will his team back, scoring eight of his team’s first 12 points of the half.Hammons also had a shot to bring his team back as Zeller was called for his second and third fouls with just 15:34 and had to take a seat on the bench with foul trouble of his own.But the Hoosiers matched Hammons and the Boilers step-for-step, as the IU lead continued to grow into the 30’s.The Paint Crew grew quieter as the half drew on, as Hammons and the Boilermakers couldn’t muster a comeback. With 10 minutes remaining in one of the biggest rivalry games of the college basketball season, Purdue fans began to file out in masses.Purdue’s freshman center finished with a game-high 30 points – half of Purdue’s points on the evening – but after the game, he said plainly that he wasn’t satisfied with his performance.“I didn’t play well because we lost,” Hammons said.Zeller posted a game-high 13 points in the first half and led the Hoosiers with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double in conference play this season.Senior forward Christian Watford followed with 17 points, including shooting 4-of-5 from behind the arc, as all of IU’s starting five reached double digits.After the game, though, Crean said that Wednesday’s win, IU’s largest margin of victory ever in West Lafayette, went beyond more than just the numbers.“I think they just played with a resolve,” Crean said. “You’ve got to be on top of your game. It’s not just the offensive and defensive execution.“It’s the attitude. It’s the energy. It’s the mental toughness, and our guys had that.”
(01/30/13 5:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For more than 100 years, the best college basketball players in Bloomington and West Lafayette have faced off in an annual rivalry that IU Associate Head Coach Steve McClain called one of the best in sports.“I don’t know how many you can find where it’s truly the biggest game,” McClain said. “I think every level has something like that, but when you think of this state, it’s about one game.”But from 2009 to 2011, Purdue got the best of IU, winning five straight matchups while the Hoosiers worked to rebuild the once-storied program.After a sweep of the series last year, the No. 3 Hoosiers will face a much younger Purdue team tonight in West Lafayette, with the Boilermakers starting three freshman after the heart of the program, including Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore, graduated during the past two years.McClain said Purdue’s freshmen have stepped up as the season has progressed, taking on a much larger role and leading the Boilermakers to a 4-3 record in conference play after starting the season on a 4-6 skid.“I think when you look at them, there’s no question they’re playing a lot of young guys, and their vets, (D.J.) Byrd and (Terone) Johnson, also are really stepping up and playing well for them right now,” McClain said. “You can tell they’re getting games under their belt and getting better every time they play. There’s no question when you look at their last five or six games, you see a team that’s getting better every time they walk on the court.”For the Hoosiers, the coaching staff decided to bring in a couple IU basketball legends, Joe Hillman and Brian Evans, to talk with the players Tuesday afternoon and explain, among other things, just what it’s like to play against a rival like Purdue, especially in Mackey Arena.“Those guys have obviously been there and done that,” junior forward Will Sheehey said. “They’re obviously a huge part of the tradition and whatnot. They have the wisdom. They’ve been there.“We have our game plan, and the coaches do too, but that’s just icing on the cake for guys like that to come in and talk to us.”But when the players take the court at 8:30 p.m. to face the Hoosiers’ biggest rival for the first time this season, senior guard Jordan Hulls said past experience or words of wisdom from Hillman and Evans can only take IU so far.He and his teammates have to execute the game plan and stay within themselves, Hulls said, and not get too caught up in what will be a raucous Boilermaker crowd.“We’ve just got to stick together,” Hulls said. “You know it’s going to be a crazy environment. It always is between us two. It’s a big game for us. You’ve got to let them know that it’s going to be a very physical, hard-fought battle.“It’s a rivalry game, so you can just throw everything out the window with what people may say. It’s going to be a hard-fought game. You’ve got to bring it no matter who you’re playing.”
(01/28/13 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior guard Victor Oladipo has had a coming-out season of sorts, making his way into the national media spotlight. Yet even two weeks ago, Oladipo’s name was absent from the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list.From start to finish, on either end of the floor, while throwing down dunks and pick-pocketing the Michigan State Spartans to a season-high 21 points and career-highs of six steals and three blocks in a 75-70 IU victory, the Upper Marlboro, Md., native made his case as one of the best players in the country as of late.Oladipo’s teammates have recognized his progression throughout the season, and IU Coach Tom Crean said after Sunday’s victory that his numbers, compared to this time during last season’s conference play, are night and day.Senior forward Christian Watford said Oladipo has always had the same energy and drive since he was a freshman, but now the Hoosiers are sensing the way he impacts the game at both ends of the floor.“That’s just Victor now,” Watford said. “It’s definitely a part of our offense now. We feel like we’re a great team when Victor does do this. He brings a lot of energy. Not only that, he gets us open by the way he attacks the basket.He did a great job tonight.”Oladipo said he’s also recognized improvement in his game, adding that coming in as a freshman, he had all the desire, but lacked the tools to affect his team like he wished he could.Now, he said, he has to bring it every game.“My freshman year it was kind of like I wanted to, but I wasn’t capable,” Oladipo said. “I started growing my sophomore year, and now junior year, I have to bring it every night on both ends of the floor so my team can win, and I have to keep doing that every night.”Just nine seconds into Sunday’s game against the No. 13 Spartans, the IU faithful could tell Oladipo had, indeed, “brought it.” Oladipo intercepted a pass from Branden Dawson, taking it the length of the court and finishing with his signature one-handed slam.But his precision in reading his opponents’ eyes created more than just breakaway dunks for his own highlight reel. After intercepting a Keith Appling pass midway through the first half, Oladipo almost instantaneously dished the ball off to open freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell. Ferrell wove through the Spartan defense for a layup to cap a 15-6 IU run that put the Hoosiers ahead 28-19, the largest IU lead of the afternoon.In all, Oladipo’s six steals created 10 points for IU’s offense, which was able to function at a much quicker pace than in previous conference games.Crean said Oladipo’s performance in practice on Friday while preparing to face Michigan State was possibly the best he’s seen from his junior guard since Oladipo stepped on campus more than two years ago.But Oladipo’s performance against Michigan State was not the product of just one solid practice, Crean said. He noted Oladipo’s instinct to be in the right place at the right time has come from the extra time Oladipo puts in every day.“From the start of this game, he had a knowledge base that he put into his game on how he was going to defend them,” Crean said. “He’s getting a knowledge base to go with those instincts and his talent and his athleticism, and the more he does that, the better he’s going to be. “Guys like that learn that your instincts like that can’t get better without that knowledge. They can get to a point, but the more you add that knowledge ... that’s part of the game, and that’s part of taking the next step.”
(01/25/13 5:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Playing in what IU Coach Tom Crean has called the “best conference in the country” numerous times this season certainly has its benefits.In preparation for the NCAA tournament this March, the Hoosiers will have played at least nine different teams who were ranked at some point during the 2012-13 campaign.But now, with just 12 games left in regular conference season play, the Hoosiers will play seven games against opponents currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. It’s a tough road for a team that at the beginning of the season sat atop the rankings in the country and one many thought could secure the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament come March.For Crean and his players, though, this road begins 1 p.m. Sunday in Assembly Hall as the No. 7 Hoosiers take on No. 13 Michigan State in the teams’ first battle of the season.The Spartans come to Bloomington with the best record in the conference at 6-1, a half-game ahead of the second-place Hoosiers (5-1). Like IU, the rest of Michigan State’s conference schedule contains more than half of the teams that are currently ranked.With a win Sunday, IU could hold a share of the conference lead with Michigan, if the Wolverines can beat Illinois when the teams play Sunday.If the Hoosiers and Wolverines were to win their mid-week games next week, both teams could play Feb. 2 for the outright conference lead as ESPN College Gameday comes to Bloomington.Crean said his players always emphasize the importance of only looking at the next game ahead, but after Wednesday’s contest against Penn State, even he could not help but recognize the uphill battle his players will face this week, starting with the Spartans.“We got a hard stretch coming up,” Crean said. “The next week is three games. It’s Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday and every game is going to be an absolute battle.”Sunday’s game marks a seven-day stretch where the Hoosiers will play three games, including Sunday against Michigan State, followed by a matchup with in-state rival Purdue Wednesday before taking on Michigan the following weekend.Crean said, though, that even though the latter half of IU’s Big Ten schedule is as tough as it is, the key to the rest of his team’s season is to stay focused on every team one at a time, no matter where they stand in the conference rankings.“It sounds very cliché-ish and corny, but you want to be on a one-game winning streak constantly,” Crean said. “These guys do an excellent job looking at each game. They’ve never played with the intention of the next game being on their mind, other than the game that they’re in. “Sometimes when you’re older and sometimes when you have a lot of expectations on you and you play in a league like this, you can look at the schedule and lose sight. Those teams get beat. You can’t get too high. You can’t get too low. You’ve got to take each game for what it is: the most important game.”
(01/24/13 5:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Until late in the second half Wednesday night, the IU men’s basketball team was shooting at a higher percentage in contested 3-point shots than on free throws.Though they finished just marginally better from the charity stripe, the 3-point shot sparked the Hoosiers, en route to a 72-49 defeat of Penn State Wednesday night in Assembly Hall.After a layup from senior forward Christian Watford to start the Hoosiers off, freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell hit a deep 3-pointer. Ferrell followed that up with another bucket to begin his run to a career-high 15 points of the night.Junior guard Victor Oladipo said after the game that he has seen Ferrell blossom as a confident shooter since the start of the season, and that Wednesday night he was not afraid to pull the trigger.“He can shoot,” Oladipo said. “It was all in his head at first, but he’s finally realizing that he can shoot the ball.”After the quick seven points spearheaded by Ferrell, the Hoosiers struggled for much of the rest of the half on offense, scoring just 26 points in the final 15:21 of the first half.But with 3:29 left in the half and the Nittany Lions still within nine points, junior forward Will Sheehey came alive from beyond the arc to spur the Hoosiers coming into halftime.Sheehey hit two consecutive 3-pointers in 1:06 as IU’s lead grew into double digits, where it would remain for the remainder of the game.After Sheehey scored just six points Sunday against Northwestern, which followed two scoreless outings against Minnesota and Wisconsin, Oladipo said seeing his teammate finally catch fire was just the spark the Hoosiers needed.“It’s big for our team,” Oladipo said. “Him coming off the bench and having games like that and impacting them on both sides of the floor is big for us going along.”Out of the gates in the second half, Sheehey’s spark from beyond the arc seemed to carry over to the rest of his teammates, as the Hoosiers hit six-straight shots from long range to help distance themselves from the Nittany Lions.Ferrell and senior guard Jordan Hulls hit back-to-back threes to begin the half for IU, and with just 1:05 off the clock in the second half, Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers was forced to call a timeout.The Hoosiers would hit four more 3-pointers in a row — another from Ferrell, along with one each from Sheehey, Oladipo and Watford.In contrast, though, IU struggled just a few feet in front of the 3-point line, where the Hoosiers shot just 21-of-37 (56.8 percent) on free throws Wednesday.The Nittany Lions racked up 29 personal fouls as a team, but the Hoosiers could not take advantage of their opportunities from the charity stripe, shooting only marginally better than their 55-percent mark from beyond the arc.Oladipo led the Hoosiers with 19 points and was the only Hoosier able to hit more than 50 percent of his 3-point shots as well as from the free throw attempts, shooting 100 and 75 percent, respectively.Ferrell followed with 15 points, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and Sheehey took a flawless night from distance, going 3-of-3 on 3-pointers to produce 12 points of his own.IU Coach Tom Crean said his top-three scorers Wednesday night weren’t just a product of getting in a rhythm as a team, though. He said his players who shot the ball the best against Penn State have spent extra time working on their shots out of practice, and it’s starting to show.“The guys that are making shots are spending the most extra time on their shooting,” Crean said. “I mean, it’s no accident. We spend a very good amount of time shooting the ball in our practice, but that’s never going to be enough if you’re going to be a great shooter.”
(01/23/13 5:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the teams’ first meeting of the season in University Park, Pa., the IU men’s basketball team kept Penn State to its second-lowest scoring total of the season, pulling off a 74-51 victory. All the while, the Hoosiers limited the team’s two active leading scorers, guards D.J. Newbill and Jermaine Marshall, to a combined 19 points.Since that evening more than two weeks ago, the duo has caught fire, each posting one game with at least 27 points as the Nittany Lions continue to search for their first conference win of the season.IU Assistant Coach Kenny Johnson said the Hoosiers were proud of stopping Newbill and Marshall the first time around, but in the last four games, the pair have looked even more aggressive. Johnson said they may be more difficult to stop tonight in Assembly Hall as the teams play their second matchup of the season.“Each game has a different flow to it,” he said. “They’ve had better games. Over the course of the season, sometimes one of them has a really big game while the other one is more of a facilitator.“I think they’re coming in now with more of an aggressive approach. I think they recognize now that for their team to be successful as they want to be, they’re going to have to be aggressive.”Both players have combined to average more than 30 points since the start of Big Ten play. In conference games, Marshall averages 16.3 points per game and Newbill 14.5. For the season, the two are now the second-leading scoring tandem in the conference with a combined 30.5 points per game, behind only Michigan’s Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., who sit at 34.4.In the first game against IU, though, Johnson said freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell was a key factor in holding both players to less-than-average outings.“Yogi is a very good defensive player,” Johnson said. “He has an ability to pick up and understand what our philosophy is on defense and his ability to dive into the scouting report and hopefully take away his opponents strengths or limit them.“He shows maturity beyond his years in his willingness to take on, certain nights, the best player, honestly, on the team and really trying to dive in and take him away or limit him.”Junior guard Victor Oladipo said his younger counterpart has been key in stopping some of the best scorers the Hoosiers have faced this season.But he also said that just as Ferrell has gotten more used to the flow and speed of the Big Ten game since the second conference game of his career against Penn State, both Nittany Lion guards have improved, as well. Holding both guards to mediocre games once again, even in Assembly Hall, will prove a tough task, he said.“They’re just staying with the attack,” Oladipo said. “They understand they have to have great games for their team to win. They’re to go out there to do whatever it takes to win, whether they score 30 or make big stops.“They’ll do whatever it takes.”
(01/22/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>EVANSTON, Ill.— As the IU men’s basketball team ventured into the Big Ten portion of its 2012-13 schedule, the Hoosiers had been tested very little late in games this season.With the exception of the two games IU took into overtime on neutral courts — producing a win against Georgetown in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a loss to Butler in Indianapolis — the Hoosiers had largely dominated their opponents early in the season, winning 10 of their other 11 nonconference games by at least 20 points.But Big Ten foes have produced a different beast entirely.The Hoosiers have scored early and often in the first half, averaging more than 38 points in the game’s first 20 minutes.However, in the second half of Big Ten games, IU is averaging just 33 points, and it has been in these final 20 minutes where teams have been able to creep back to steal wins, climb within a possession or simply make the game closer than many thought it would get.Sunday, though, when the Northwestern Wildcats clawed their way back to within five points several times, the Hoosiers did not appear to panic. They did not commit turnovers or miss late free throws that had plagued them in the past few games.“We just had to keep playing,” sophomore forward Cody Zeller said. “We were kind of in a slump there for a while where we couldn’t get anything going, but we’ve got a lot of guys who can score in a lot of different ways and a lot of veterans who kept their composure. It was good to see that as they made a few big plays down the stretch.”IU finished the first half with a 14-point lead, up 31-17. As the minutes went by in the second half, the lead teetered around 14. Up to 16. Down to 11. Up to 16 again.Then, just as Minnesota and Wisconsin had been able to do, the Wildcats reeled off a string of buckets as the IU offense stagnated.Northwestern went on an 8-0 run from 9:50 to 6:48, including a 3-pointer from Wildcat Jared Swopshire and bookended by a free throw from Reggie Hearn to cut the IU lead to 47-42.The Hoosiers would not allow the scoring margin to come any closer.IU fought back with its own 7-1 run as Zeller layed in two buckets close to the basket and junior guard Victor Oladipo nailed a 3-pointer to cap it off.IU Coach Tom Crean said he was glad to see his players fight back when the Wildcats were closing in.“We made some mistakes in the second half with a very hard team to play against,” Crean said. “Not only did we defend pretty well — not as great in the second half — but when the bell needed to be answered, we came down and scored three-straight buckets.”Northwestern would come within five points twice more, and they had to begin fouling IU players in hopes of pulling off the upset. They looked to an unlikely Hoosier who they hoped would miss shots at the line.Northwestern Coach Bill Carmody said he told his players to foul senior guard Jordan Hulls.Hulls had missed three-straight free throws earlier in the game, just as he did against Minnesota down the stretch the week before. Carmody said that most of IU’s roster is good from the line, but he saw Hulls possibly struggling and thought he would try to expose him again.But like the rest of his teammates Sunday, when it mattered most, Hulls pulled through, making all four of his attempts from the charity stripe in the final minute.Hulls said he is still rattled a bit when he misses multiple shots in a row, but he dared any team to foul him later on this season when the game is on the line.“I’m getting better when I just miss one, but when I miss three, it’s still kind of tough on me,” Hulls said. “That’s fine, put me on the line.”
(01/16/13 5:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>During the Tom Crean era in Bloomington, the IU men’s basketball team has surpassed several hurdles, but Hoosier fans may have to wait another year before IU can take down Wisconsin with Crean at the helm.After never truly getting into an offensive rhythm, save an 18-point first half performance from sophomore forward Cody Zeller, the No. 2 Hoosiers could not surmount a second-half comeback after falling behind by double digits, losing 64-59 to the Badgers Tuesday night at Assembly Hall.Coming into Tuesday’s matchup with Wisconsin, the Hoosiers had been held to less than 70 points just twice this season, both times resulting in wins against Georgia and Iowa.But in nine of the last 10 meetings between the Hoosiers and the Badgers, IU had reached the 70-point threshold just once, a Big Ten tournament loss last season 79-71.“They’re going to try to play a game in the 50s, and that’s just the way it is,” Crean said. “We didn’t want to play that way. I’m not as concerned about what we scored. I’m more concerned that when we missed shots that we still didn’t have that ‘we’re getting it done."Junior guard Victor Oladipo put the Hoosiers on the board quick, though, with a 3-pointer from the top of the key in IU’s first possession.From there, the Badgers were able to stifle most of IU’s offensive production in the first half, keeping the team to just 32 points as well as just three on the fast break.The lone bright spot for the Hoosiers in the first 20 minutes came from Zeller, who went on two scoring runs, of eight and six points, respectively, to help keep the Hoosiers in the thick of things. Along with senior forward Christian Watford’s 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left in the half, the Hoosiers went into the break with a 32-31 lead.But in the second half, it appeared that Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan had found a way to neutralize Zeller by eliminating him as an open option for that extra pass which burned the Badgers in the first half. Zeller managed just five points in the final 20 minutes to finish with a game-high of 23.And without much scoring late from Zeller, the IU offense struggled.“You get momentum going, and it’s amazing what can happen,” Crean said. “They played really hard, and they got the momentum. We didn’t make shots like we do, and it affected us, because they you’ve got to go down and play 35 seconds of defense.”The Hoosiers fell behind by as many as 10 points in the second half as Wisconsin built up a lead during a 2:54 stint midway through the period. As IU failed to score, the Badgers rattled off nine-consecutive points to go up 47-39.The Wisconsin lead would reach its peak at 51-41 to cap a 13-2 Badger run, but the game seemed to turn from there for a moment. The Hoosiers, as a team, seemed to find their offensive touch for the first time all game. Watford and Oladipo hit back-to-back buckets, with a steal from Zeller in between, and IU was back within a couple possessions.The game stalled for more than two-and-a-half minutes as several loose-ball and foul calls failed to go IU’s way, but with three-consecutive Hoosier free throws and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, IU was back within one, 52-51.But the IU offense could not keep the momentum going. The Hoosiers would make just one field goal after Ferrell’s three with 4:43 left, and down the stretch, Wisconsin again pulled farther ahead with a string of six free throws to end the game and give IU it’s 11th-straight loss to the Badgers.“We missed a lot of shots,” Crean said. “We missed 34 shots. A lot of things have got to go right for you when you miss 34 shots.”
(01/15/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As the last of the unbeaten teams in the college basketball world fell this past weekend, there now remain only two teams with flawless conference records in the Big Ten, arguably the toughest conference in the NCAA.They will face off today at Assembly Hall, but only one out of Indiana and Wisconsin will come away with sole possession of the conference lead.The Hoosiers enter Tuesday’s matchup as the No. 2 team in the nation after rising three spots from last week’s poll. IU’s only blemish this season came during a neutral-site matchup with Butler exactly one month ago as the Bulldogs prevailed in overtime, 88-86.Wisconsin comes in unranked after starting the season No. 23 in the preseason AP Poll. However, some could argue that with losses by Michigan and Minnesota, along with IU’s rough second half against the Golden Gophers, the Badgers may be the hottest team in the Big Ten. The Badgers, the team with the least recent loss in the conference, last lost Dec. 8, 2012, to now-No. 25 Marquette. Since then, Wisconsin won each of their last three non-conference games by double digits before wins against Penn State, Nebraska and a blowout win against then-No. 12 Illinois.Senior guard Jordan Hulls said he thinks Wisconsin has hit its stride, and grabbing a win against the Badgers, even at home, will be a tough task.“I think they’re playing really well as a team,” Hulls said. “We know what they’re capable of on both ends of the floor, running their stuff and doing what they want and playing at their own pace.“That’s something obviously we don’t want them to do, but they’re a great team, and we’ll manage it.”Not only has Wisconsin won six straight games this season, but they have IU’s number in head-to-head games the teams have played, whether at neutral sites, at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., or at home in Bloomington.The Hoosiers are winless against Wisconsin in 10-straight games, dating back to 2007, but Hulls said he and his teammates don’t take into account how IU teams of the past have struggled against the Badgers.“It’s a new year, so that’s just the way we’re attacking it,” Hulls said. “We don’t like to lose, obviously, but it’s a new year, and we’re just going to stay focused on that.”Breaking that streak would give the Hoosiers at least a game up on all their conference opponents, including Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State, all teams the Hoosiers still have two games against to finish out the regular season.Associate Head Coach Tim Buckley said his players have to keep their minds focused on beating Wisconsin, not on rankings, conference standings or past losses.“If you don’t come to play every night, irregardless of who the other team is, you can get beat in the Big Ten. It’s that kind of league,” Buckley said. “It’s still early in the conference season. You don’t want to get too high after a win. You don’t want to get too low after a loss, because you don’t want one loss to turn into two, so you’ve got to make sure you maintain that focus and stay in the moment.”
(01/14/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Even with 2:11 remaining, the Hoosiers were up by 11.After leading with 23 points at the end of the first half, the No. 5 IU men’s basketball team watched its lead get cut in half by a No. 8 Minnesota team determined to battle back after being almost defeated 20 minutes into Saturday’s game at Assembly Hall.IU turned the ball over eight times in a span of 14:13 during the second half. The Hoosiers scored just three buckets and made 19 of 28 free throws after a Trevor Mbakwe foul with 12:09 left put the Hoosiers in the bonus for the remainder of the game.But, despite the mistakes, they were still ahead by double digits for much of the half.IU’s lead would evaporate quickly, though.Minnesota attacked IU with a full-court press, pushing the Hoosiers close to the baseline corners and either forcing an errant pass or causing IU to step out of bounds. The Golden Gophers rattled off three consecutive 3-point baskets to cut the IU lead to just six points with 40 seconds remaining. On the following possession, the Hoosiers could not get off a shot, turning the ball over on an errant in-bounds pass from Christian Watford.With 19 seconds left, junior guard Victor Oladipo nearly gave Minnesota another 3-point play, fouling Minnesota’s Andre Hollins in the act of shooting a 3-pointer — a mistake Oladipo had made twice earlier in the half.“I was making dumb, little mistakes towards the end of the game,” Oladipo said. “I shouldn’t be doing that. I’m a junior now, and I’m a leader, and I can’t be making dumb mistakes like that.“To be honest, I felt like I almost blew the game away.”After Hollins made 2-of-3 from the line, Minnesota was within one possession of the Hoosiers for the first time since the 11:03 mark in the first half.The Hoosiers in-bounded the ball to senior guard Jordan Hulls, who was quickly fouled by Mbakwe.Hulls, who had a free-throw career of 87.8 percent coming into Saturday’s game and is one of the best shooters from the charity stripe in Hoosier history, missed the shot.And, then, he missed again.“We’ve got to hit those,” Hulls said. “It’s going to get us, if we don’t hit our free throws. Just a lack of focus, I guess.”Despite his “lack of focus,” Oladipo’s “dumb, little mistakes” and the string of late turnovers and poor shooting, the Hoosiers still came away victorious at 88-81.Several players said post-game the Hoosiers did not come out with the same energy level on the court that had allowed the them to close the first 20 minutes on a 36-14 run.“We just have to do a better job of playing the full game,” Hulls said. “We played real well in the first half, and then they came back. We knew they were going to come back and put up a fight. They’re a good basketball team. The second half — we can’t accept that. We know we have to play a lot better.”In the first half, the Hoosiers proved very efficient with the ball in their hands, dishing out 13 assists with just four turnovers. Whether it was the extra pass on the perimeter to find the open man beyond the arc or a no-look dish from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell in transition, IU had been able to catch the Golden Gophers off-balance.Ferrell said, though, the team’s second-half performance wasn’t reflective of better play from Minnesota. The Hoosiers just weren’t capitalizing.“I think it was just more on us,” Ferrell said. “They did a great job pressing, but I feel like it was more on us.We got complacent, especially on our jump shots and our transition defense. It just comes from within. We’ve got to bring our teammates together. That’s how we can have the same burst we had in the first half.”A previous IU team may have lost Saturday’s game.Last year, after leading Nebraska by as many as 13 in the second half amid a two-game losing streak that began with a home loss to Minnesota, the Hoosiers faltered down the stretch. They gave up the lead they had held for 31:31 to lose by one in the final nine seconds of the game.Even this season, IU led Butler by seven points with nine minutes remaining in the second half, and the Hoosiers battled to move the game into overtime before losing a four-point lead in the extra period.Oladipo said, with this win, he and his teammates can relish the fact they were able to work through adversity. Conference wins, he said, will always be hard to come by.“I feel good, but, at the same time, I know there’s a lot of stuff we need to work on,” Oladipo said. “There are big games down the road. We have to watch this tape and see what happened in the second half — what we did wrong — and correct it. There’s really good teams that are coming up, and we need to be ready for them.”
(01/11/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In conference play last season, the IU men’s basketball team thrived in Bloomington, securing an 8-1 record on Branch McCracken Court against Big Ten opponents.However, the Hoosiers failed to defend their home court against Minnesota.As the No. 8 Golden Gophers come into Assembly Hall on Saturday to face IU Coach Tom Crean’s No. 5 squad, defense may determine whether or not the Hoosiers can exact revenge against the only team able to beat IU at home last year in the regular season.Crean said his Hoosiers are well-prepared for Minnesota’s defense in their first top-10 matchup of the season.Playing the first two games of the conference season on the road, as well as a neutral court game against the No. 14 Butler Bulldogs, exposed the Hoosiers to the physical game of uncalled fouls they will see in the future this season during conference play, Crean said.“When you prepare for the Big Ten, you’re going to deal with a lot of fouling,” Crean said. “You’re going to deal with a lot of fouls that aren’t called because they aren’t going to call them at all.”“That’s the way Butler makes you play. They’re going to put so much pressure, in my mind, on the referees in the game to make calls, and we didn’t handle that well.“But, like Tim Buckley said, we win that game, maybe we don’t understand how important it is to play through those things.” Crean said, as they battled against those rough conference defenses of Iowa and Penn State, the Hoosiers responded, holding both teams to a combined 32 percent field-goal percentage.He said preparing for a defense like Minnesota’s comes down to more than just in-game experience.“The best way we can deal with it is to put hand pads and body pads and slam up into guys when they’re going to the basket and hold guys on cuts, and you start to prepare for it,” Crean said. “I think that’s one of the reasons you see the low-scoring affairs you have. We don’t really want to play that way. We want to get out and play and spread the court and be active and get the game going up in transition.”On Saturday, banging against pads and fighting through several bodies to get to the hoop will become a reality for the Hoosiers, who are against one of the biggest lineups in the Big Ten.Minnesota comes to Bloomington with six players standing 6 feet 8 inches or taller.In particular, sophomore center Elliott Eliason (6 feet 11 inches, 260 pounds) and sophomore forward Maurice Walker (6 feet 10 inches, 289 pounds) pose a big presence inside the paint.Both players have averaged less than four rebounds and four points per game so far this season, but, with sophomore forward Cody Zeller and the rest of IU’s inside game, they take up a lot of space in the paint. This may make it more difficult for IU players like junior guard Victor Oaldipo, who thrive in the fast break, to get to the basket with the ease they have been used to this season.Graduate student forward Trevor Mbakwe may not be as tall or as big as either of the two sophomores, but he has made a larger impact on both ends of the floor this season.Currently, Mbakwe leads the Big Ten in pulling down offensive rebounds with three rebounds per game, headlining a Minnesota squad that also paces the Big Ten as a team in that category.Mbakwe also sits at eighth in the conference in defensive rebounds per game (4.9), putting him in second in the Big Ten for total rebound average.He is also one of three Golden Gophers in the top 15 of the Big Ten in blocked shots.Crean noted his preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Zeller has received criticism for not playing up to expectations so far this season. The same pressure to perform at a high level will be present when he plays against Minnesota’s potent team Saturday.Crean said he thinks Zeller is on track for a player in the middle of his second season of college basketball.“He’s doing a lot more than most people could ever imagine doing with his size,” Crean said. “When you look at the athleticism, when you look at the quick twitch, when you look at his ability to go from point A to point B, when you look at the beating and the pounding he takes every game and the effort he puts forth defensively and offensively, Cody’s just scratching the surface.“It’s so easy to forget that he’s 19 years of age. It’s so easy to forget this is just his 15th game of his second season.”