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(01/08/09 2:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Following coach Tom Crean’s personal keys to games – smart shot selection and tenacious defense – IU raced out of the gates in its Big Ten home opener against Michigan and seemed destined to notch its first conference win. But in the end, the basic of all basketball fundamentals doomed the Hoosiers.IU (5-9, 0-2) squandered a 20 point second half lead, eventually succumbing to Michigan 72-66 in overtime. The Hoosiers made just two of eight free throws in overtime to seal their fate.The end of the game spoiled a nearly flawless first half in which the Hoosiers built a 17 point lead and limited the Wolverines to just 25 percent shooting while making 50 percent of their buckets.The Hoosiers extended the lead to 20 early in the second half, but the Wolverines methodically picked away at the lead – cutting it to seven with 12 minutes left and then down to four with less than five minutes left.“The big thing was poise, poise, poise,” Michigan coach John Belein said. “We cannot win this game if everyone tries to do it all by themselves.”As the lead grew smaller the once energetic and raucous crowd became quieter and quieter. When the Wolverines hit back to back three’s to send the game into overtime the crowd – and the Hoosiers – appeared deflated.“Bottom line we did not guard nearly as well in the second half as we did the first,” Crean said.Michigan hit the first five points in the extra period; that coupled with IU’s inability to hit from the line resulted in the Wolverines stealing the win.Crean said free throws can be a mystery, and with a young team without a battle proven veteran to be a calming influence, the Hoosiers can be prone to poor free throw shooting such as Wednesday night.“We don’t know yet how to keep each others spirit alive,” Crean said.The Hoosiers won’t have much time to think about the loss, as they quickly must travel to Champaign to take on budding rival Illinois on Saturday afternoon. Crean said its crucial for the team to get right back to hard work.“It’s an unbelievable tough pill to swallow but they’ve got to learn you’ve got to turn right around,” Crean said. “ And get right back at it.”
(12/15/08 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>LEXINGTON, Ky – IU coach Tom Crean can prepare his young Hoosiers to the best of his abilities and have them ready for anything.But as IU has found out this season, you can’t prepare for height. Or athleticism. Kentucky jumped out to a 32-6 run and never looked back, crushing the Hoosiers 72-54. IU, now 5-5, never brought the game to single digits after Kentucky’s, now 7-3, initial spurt and could only muster 13 first-half points – its fewest total since its second-round NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA in 2007. The backing of a home crowd and the Wildcats’ superior athleticism proved to be too much for the Hoosiers early in the game. IU had nine more turnovers than field goals in the first half and committed seven turnovers before the first field goal. The Hoosiers have struggled this season when they have been matched up against longer, taller teams. Wake Forest, Gonzaga and now Kentucky have been able to exploit the lack of size IU brings to the court, translating to easy buckets and many IU turnovers.Freshman Tom Pritchard, the man usually assigned to match up against the opposition’s biggest player, admitted it can be difficult to prepare for teams with agile personnel. “I mean, it is tough because we don’t have anybody on our team that can be the athletic, long guy,” Pritchard said. “But we’re going to be playing a lot more teams like this, and we have to learn from these games here.”Freshman Nick Williams said part of the reason for the Hoosiers’ slow start against Kentucky was the team’s inability to recreate in practice the type of athleticism they see during games.“That’s exactly what happened today,” Williams said. “We haven’t seen this kind of team before, and they jumped out on us early.” Reminiscent of the Dec. 3 Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, N.C., Kentucky easily penetrated IU’s defense, leading to several highlight-reel dunks early in the game en route to making nine of its first 10 buckets. “Obviously, everything that could have gone wrong for us in the first eight minutes did,” Crean said after the game. “Their pressure, intensity and enthusiasm level was as high as I have seen it this year.”After a disastrous first half, the Hoosiers settled down in the second frame, outscoring the Wildcats 41-36 and turning the ball over just five times compared to 15 first half turnovers. But by then, the damage had already been done. Leading a balanced Kentucky scoring attack was sophomore Josh Harrellson, who scored 11 of his career-high 15 points during the crippling first half. One positive coming from the loss for IU was the return of IU freshman point guard Verdell Jones. Jones had missed the previous three games after a vicious collision left him unconscious during the Nov. 30 Cornell matchup in Assembly Hall. But Jones could only watch from the bench at the carnage during the opening few minutes of the game. “It was very frustrating,” Jones said. “At one point I wanted to take my stuff off and jump out there without coach knowing.”The Hoosiers know they will face teams similar to Kentucky this season, and Williams said the team can’t justify what happened on Saturday. “No excuses here,” Williams said. “We just got to get better.”
(12/12/08 4:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On a team that IU coach Tom Crean calls “thin,” Malik Story has been a valuable commodity.Coming off the bench or starting, playing power forward or point guard – wherever Crean has been lacking, he’s turned to Story to fill the gap. No wonder Story has an open mind on what his role is for the Hoosiers.“(I do) whatever needs to be done,” he said. “Pass the ball, score the ball, whatever needs to be done.”While the whole season is a learning experience, perhaps no Hoosier has had to learn as much or adjust to as many different roles as Story. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound freshman came to Bloomington as a guard. He quickly learned he would need to fill the position of power forward, due to the lack of size on the squad.After initially struggling against bigger athletes, Story said he has adapted.“I’m starting to feel very comfortable,” Story said about playing power forward. “I’m starting to use my size and my quickness against the bigger man and use that for an edge in the box out.”Just when Story was beginning to get comfortable, Crean threw a curveball at him. With freshman Verdell Jones injured, the Hoosiers were suddenly very thin – and short – at point guard.Crean said out of necessity he needed Story, his newfound forward, to also play at point guard.“He’s pretty good with the ball,” Crean said. “He’s strong. We’re going to play against so many strong guards.”Crean has also used Story in the two and three guard positions, depending on the opponent and how the rest of the Hoosiers are playing.Helping Story adapt has been junior transfer, guard Jeremiah Rivers. Unable to play this year, Rivers has dedicated himself to helping the guys on the court.After every timeout against Gonzaga, Story would look to his mentor for advice.“I’m going to try to help them out as much as I can,” Rivers said.In addition to playing four different positions, Story has also gone back and forth between starting and coming off the bench as the sixth man. Story’s last start came Dec. 3 against Wake Forest, when Crean quickly pulled him out of the game for what Story described as not being defensively minded enough.Story was back to being the sixth man against Gonzaga, but Crean again punished him for taking poor shots. For all the subbing and role-switching, Crean takes time to point out to Story why he makes substitutions and what he expects from him.After pulling Story in the Gonzaga game, Crean yelled, “I need you to be great!”In his coach’s constant search for greatness from his versatile rookie, Story has started to get the hang of the many roles he plays.“Now it’s just like I feel like I belong in the game, and everything’s slowed down,” Story said. “Things come a little easier.”
(12/11/08 5:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Maybe it was freshman Malik Story’s buzzer-beating 3 to end the first half. Maybe it was learning from their last two games against highly ranked opponents. Whatever the reason, the Hoosiers uncharacteristically came out in the second half on fire, turning a four-point halftime lead into a second half laughter against TCU. “The first four minutes of the second half were really crucial in burying a team,” said freshman forward Tom Pritchard. “That’s what we had to do, and we did it.” In their four losses this season, the Hoosiers have been the ones buried and playing flat in the second half – they were outscored 167-109 in those games. But Wednesday night was a different story. IU scored 12 more points in the second half than they did in the first frame, which allowed them to hold on to the lead after a late flurry by TCU. The Hoosiers, who led by 23 points with 2:30 remaining, beat the Horned Frogs 66-56.The quick improvements coming out of the gate at halftime were a 180-degree turn to what happened the last time IU took the court. Against Gonzaga the, Hoosiers committed four turnovers and were outscored 6-0 in the first two minutes of the second half, changing the game from a closely contested four-point battle into a double-digit deficit. But on Wednesday, the Hoosiers were the team applying the pressure – forcing the Horned Frogs to commit 13 of their 21 turnovers in the second half, which lead to several easy baskets for IU. TCU coach Jim Christian said his team simply lost its control of the game in the second half. “In the second half I thought we lost our composure, which we can’t do,” Christian said. IU coach Tom Crean admitted that coming out strong in the second half had been a point of emphasis for the team. Crean said he thought the team needed to have the best start to a second half they had all season – something he felt the team accomplished. Crean gave partial credit to the strong start and how the end of the first half played out. Up just one with 10 seconds left, the Hoosiers forced a turnover, which led to the long, high arching 3 from Story. Did the momentum of that shot carry over? “Absolutely,” Crean said. “They were buzzing when they got to the locker room because it’s momentum. I’ve been on the other side of that shot, and that was a real jolt for our guys.” Of course, it was far from a perfect half. The Hoosiers still committed 11 second half turnovers, as well as allowing the Horned Frogs to go on a 12-0 run in the final 68 seconds to make a would-be 23 point thumping into a mere 10 point shellacking.Crean chose to look at the glass half full. “We’re going to focus on the 38-and-a-half minutes that we played so well,” Crean said.
(12/10/08 5:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fresh off games against two nationally ranked opponents and on the cusp of a nationally televised game against rival Kentucky, the Hoosiers’ seemingly easier contest tonight against TCU could be considered a dangerous game for the typical IU basketball team. But as IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has reiterated throughout the season, this year’s team is anything but typical.IU (4-4) will look to stay perfect at Assembly Hall while trying to stop TCU’s (7-3) six-game winning streak. The Horned Frogs will come to Bloomington led by first-year coach Jim Christian, who arrived at TCU after six seasons as coach at Kent State. Crean and Christian worked together at Western Kentucky, and Christian was a member of Crean’s wedding party. But that friendship can be expected to take a backseat, as Christian’s Horned Frogs will look to expose the younger Hoosiers, who so far have had trouble adjusting to the speed of the college game.“The speed of the game is still the No. 1 Achilles’ heel we have right now,” Crean said. “Because it’s just a process of going through it and understanding the intensity and the mindset that teams have that have been together for a while.”Despite dropping both games last week, Crean said he saw improvement from his team against then-No. 5 Gonzaga. Communication on the court, something Crean has consistently preached, appeared to increase against Gonzaga, and Crean said he hopes the team is able to continue to improve on that area of its game. “They played to win,” Crean said. “They played with a very strong mindset. Our communication got better on the court, and now we have to build on it.”But while the communication has improved, there are still a number of areas the team must address. Along with being prone to turnovers, the Hoosiers struggled at times to stop more talented opposing teams from going on extended scoring runs. Freshman guard Matt Roth said offensive streaks are a natural part of the game, but the Hoosiers need to get better at recovering when the opposition goes on a tear.“We just got to keep working on bouncing back from those,” Roth said. “Everybody makes runs. It’s a game of runs; we’ve just got to keep working on that.”Another challenge facing the Hoosiers is a lack at depth of point guard. With freshman Verdell Jones’ status still up in the air, walk-on Daniel Moore will likely continue to see an increase in minutes. Against Wake Forest and Gonzaga, Moore logged the most minutes on the team, only getting three minutes of rest Saturday against the Zags. Crean has sung the praises of his freshman walk-on, only wishing that he be more assertive during the team’s practices.“He’s a ballplayer; he really is,” Crean said of Moore. “You can put him in a lot of different positions. We just need him to be a little more talkative in practice so it carries over in games.”
(12/08/08 3:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS – After being trounced by No. 17 Wake Forest on Wednesday, IU faced another nationally ranked foe Saturday – Gonzaga. The Hoosiers kept the game close throughout, but eventually succumbed to the Bulldogs, losing 70-54. The game marked the first-ever basketball game played at Lucas Oil Stadium. And like his football-coaching brothers-in-law, IU coach Tom Crean paced the sidelines with vigor, urging players, fans and at one point, even the cheerleaders to get into the game. “Everybody’s alive!” Crean told his players before tip off. “Everybody’s into the game!”Initiating a barrage of 3-pointers and playing pesky defense, IU (4-4) kept the game within striking distance throughout before Gonzaga eventually pulled away at the end of the second half. Leading the Hoosiers was freshman Malik Story, who had a career-high 14 points off the bench, as well as Devan Dumes, who led all Hoosiers with 15 points.“We know that we can compete,” Story said. “And we can probably win games like this.”The effort IU exhibited resulted in sloppy play early from Gonzaga (6-0). The Bulldogs shot less than 20 percent from behind the arc and scored a season-low 70 points. Straightening things out in the second half, Gonzaga came out on fire to build a 13-point lead, but IU fought back to make the game close throughout the remainder of the half. Keeping the Hoosiers alive was effective 3-point shooting – IU hit 50 percent of its threes in the second half and actually finished with a higher 3-point shooting percentage than total field goal percentage. IU freshman Matt Roth said IU’s ability to hit jumpers was related to the type of defense Gonzaga played against them. “I think we just took what they were giving us,” Roth said. “They played real well defensively and we just had to take what was open, and that happened to be jump shots.”But seemingly every time the Hoosiers produced a big play, Gonzaga came right back with an answer. Gonzaga senior Jeremy Pargo essentially slammed the door shut with an emphatic windmill dunk in the game’s waning minutes.Leading the Zags was center Josh Heytvelt, who scored 17 points and added six rebounds, two steals and a block. “We needed to experience and learn how to kind of win an ugly grinder game and we did that,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “And I thought we came in wanting to match Indiana’s intensity and desire and how hard they were playing.”Although the location of the game was considered a neutral site, the crowd was anything but. The majority of fans donned cream and crimson clothing, which the team said gave the feel of a home game, but in a much larger venue. “Lucas Oil is obviously a lot bigger. The noise doesn’t quite all go down on the court like Assembly. which makes Assembly a special place,” Roth said. “But it was still a great environment here.”Although IU took two losses in the week, Roth said the overall experience of having to play two nationally-ranked teams in four days will be beneficial for the team’s future. “I think it was a good experience for us,” Roth said. “In a year where we’re learning so much about ourselves, to go on the road and see what that’s like and to have this experience in a week, it’s been great.”
(12/06/08 10:31pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS – After being trounced by No. 15 Wake Forest on Wednesday, IU faced another nationally ranked foe Saturday – No. 5 Gonzaga. The Hoosiers kept the game close throughout, but eventually succumbed to the Bulldogs, losing 70-54. The game marked the first ever basketball game at Lucas Oil Field. And like his football coaching brother-in-laws – John and Jim Harbaugh – IU coach Tom Crean paced the sidelines with vigor; urging players, fans and, at one point, the cheerleaders to get into the game. “Everybody’s alive!” Crean told his players before tip off. “Everybody’s into the game!” Shooting a barrage of 3-pointers and playing pesky defense, IU (4-4) kept the game within striking distance throughout, but Gonzaga eventually pulled away at the end of the second half. Leading the Hoosiers was freshman Malik Story, who had a career high 14 points coming off the bench. “We know that we can compete,” Story said. “And we can probably win games like this.” The effort IU exhibited resulted in sloppy play early from Gonzaga (6-0). The Bulldogs shot less than 20 percent from beyond the arc and scored a season low 70 points. Straightening things out in the second half, Gonzaga came out on fire to build a 13 point lead, but IU fought back to make the game close throughout the remainder of the half. Keeping the Hoosiers alive was effective 3-point shooting. IU hit 50 percent of their threes in the second half and actually finished with a higher 3-point shooting percentage than total field goal percentage. IU freshman Matt Roth said their ability to hit jumpers was related to the type of defense Gonzaga played against them. “I think we just took what they were giving us,” Roth said. “They played real well defensively and we just had to take what was open and that happened to be jump shots.” But seemingly every time the Hoosiers came up with a big play Gonzaga came right back with an answer. Gonzaga senior Jeremy Pargo essentially slammed the door shut with an emphatic windmill dunk late in the second half. Leading the Zags was center Josh Heytvelt, who won the Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase MVP in the game with a complete effort – 17 points, six rebounds, two steals and a block. “We needed to experience and learn how to kind of win an ugly grinder game and we did that,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “And I thought we came in wanting to match Indiana’s intensity and desire and how hard they were playing.” Although the game was considered to be played on a neutral site, the crowd was anything but. The majority of the crowd donned cream and crimson clothing, which the team said gave the feel of a home game only in a much larger venue. “Lucas Oil is obviously a lot bigger, the noise doesn’t quite all go down on the court like Assembly which makes Assembly a special place,” Roth said. “But it was still a great environment here.” Although IU took two losses in the week, Roth said the overall experience of having to play two nationally ranked teams in four days will be beneficial for the teams future. “I think it was a good experience for us,” Roth said. “In a year where we’re learning so much about ourselves, to go on the road and see what that’s like and to have this experience in a week, it’s been great.”
(12/05/08 4:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>During seven games, IU’s offense has gone through freshman forward Tom Pritchard.As a result, Pritchard is leading Big Ten freshmen in scoring and rebounding – averaging 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. His success has not gone unnoticed.Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who will get to see Pritchard firsthand Saturday, said the opportunity for him to play right away at Indiana will only continue to make him better down the road. “We like him a lot. We really like him,” Few said via teleconference. “I like how skilled he is. I like his hands. He’s a smart inside player, which is what we’ve always had in the past.“He seems like he’s going to be a handful for us on Saturday because of all those aforementioned qualities, and the fact he’s young, I think he’s going to get better and better and better,” Few said.But with early success has come struggles. Teams adjusted and started to focus their defensive attention on Pritchard to try and neutralize him. “He’s starting to get the star treatment,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “We saw it out in Maui, and I think we’ll see it from other people.”This extra attention toward Pritchard was most evident against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons double teamed Pritchard early and often, resulting in him tallying just four points on 1-for-7 shooting from the field. Wake Forest threw its plethora of big men at Pritchard. And facing a similarly big, deep Gonzaga team Saturday, Pritchard will need to be a passer first – something he said is one of his strengths.“I’ve always been a great passer,” Pritchard said after an exhibition game in November. “My high school coach always said I’ve had a great mind for the game; I’m just trying to take it out there and create offense for my teammates.”But when Pritchard is forced to pass the ball, it means someone else on IU needs to be a consistent scorer. Thus far, the Hoosiers haven’t been able to find one. Against Wake Forest, IU shot just 6-for-19 from behind the arc, and other than freshman Matt Roth, the team hit only 2-of-14 from three.Crean said when teams double Pritchard and the 3-point shot isn’t falling, there are still other ways for his team to find the basket. “We’ve got to cut better,” Crean said. “And that’s one thing we didn’t do a good job of (at Wake Forest).”Crean added the best way to cut to the basket after Pritchard is double teamed is by continuing to swing the ball around to exploit the defense.“We’ve got to make the next pass,” Crean said. “Out of the trap, it’s usually the second pass that gives you a chance to exploit the defense. If (Pritchard) continues to get double teamed, we’re going to get better at that I believe.”The Hoosiers take on Gonzaga at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
(12/04/08 5:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Even with all the warnings and premonitions of a stressful season, IU coach Tom Crean and the team’s exuberance at the start the season was contagious. But after their 83-58 thrashing at the hands of No. 15 Wake Forest, that exuberance turned to frustration. When asked how he felt his team handled playing in their first true road game, Crean responded, “I think 26 turnovers tell the story.” The 26 turnovers, along with the Demon Deacons’ 20 fast-break points compared to IU’s four, could be a result of the team’s lack of communication, Crean said.“Before we can learn to compete, we’ve got to learn to talk more to one another,” the coach added. “We’ve got to learn to listen better.” Even with all the telltale signs of a potentially long season, losing does not come naturally to Crean or the team. Last season, Crean guided Marquette to the NCAA Tournament while the majority of his current roster was enjoying successful high school careers.In their losses to St. Joseph’s and now to Wake Forest, the Hoosiers hung tough for part or most of the first half before eventually fading in the second half. Freshman guard/forward Malik Story, who made his first start on Wednesday and notched 10 points, said part of the reason for the team not being able to maintain their starts is a lack of communication. “We’re not coming together as a team, we’re not talking on the court, we’re not doing a lot of different things to have each other’s back,” Story said. “We need to work on that.” Crean wouldn’t go into what he told the team after the game, saying only there’s improvement to be made. “I’m not going to talk about that,” Crean said. “You want to ask me questions about the game that’s fine. But I’m not going to give you some dissertation on what we did defensively or what we did after the game. We’ve got to get better, just leave it at that.” A bright spot for the Hoosiers on Wednesday was the shooting of freshman guard Matt Roth, who tallied 12 points on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc. Roth admitted the blowout losses are hard on him but said he and the rest of his teammates are used to winning and are struggling through it together. “It’s hard, at the same time everybody on this team has come from a winning background, and that’s something we all have in common,” Roth said. “It’s not like we’re all out there on our own.” IU has a quick turnaround before it must face an even higher ranked opponent Saturday in No. 5 Gonzaga in Indianapolis. Along with taking care of the ball and communication, Crean said the team also needs to constantly stick to the game plan laid out for them. “We’re not a team that can deviate from what the plan is,” Crean said. “Whether it’s offensively or defensively.”
(12/03/08 4:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., Wednesday for the first road test of the season, taking on No. 15 Wake Forest in the annual Big Ten-ACC Challenge.The Hoosiers (4-2) will be facing a red-hot Demon Deacon squad coming into tonight’s contest at a perfect 6-0 and fresh off being crowned champions of the 76 Classic Tournament in California.Among the many challenges facing the Hoosiers tonight will be trying to contain Wake Forest’s sophomore guard and Indianapolis native Jeff Teague. In its last game, IU struggled to stop Cornell’s Ryan Wittman, who notched a career-high 28 points. Teague enters tonight averaging 21 points, five assists and four rebounds per game.IU coach Tom Crean said he has been impressed with Teague, saying Wake Forest as a team has started to play with a “Teague Toughness.”“He’s playing as well as any guard in the country right now,” Crean said. Complementing Teague’s backcourt play is a plethora of athletic big men for the Demon Deacons. Led by 6-foot-9 freshman Al-Farouq Aminu and 6-foot-9 sophomore James Johnson, the smaller Hoosiers will have their hands full against perhaps the deepest front line they will see this season. “This will probably not only be one of the taller teams we see,” Crean said, “but one of the longer teams that we will play this season.”Throughout the season IU has improved rebounding. Against Cornell, the Hoosiers had a plus-13 rebounding edge. But given the size and athleticism Wake Forest will have on the court, Crean said his team will need to greatly improve its ability to box out if it is to hold its own on the glass tonight. “If we stand and wait for the contact to come to us, we might not even feel the contact,” Crean said. “They’ll go up over the top of us.”Although IU is giving up size and perhaps athleticism to Wake Forest, Crean said the team isn’t going to play more zone defense. Rather, he said the most important thing his team can do is hustle back after its offensive possessions and force Wake Forest to score on all five defenders.Crean said IU will be in trouble if Teague and the Demon Deacons turn the contest into a track meet of sorts. “It’s going to be a very tough game,” freshman Nick Williams said. “We know that. We just got to come in, try to execute this week.”An additional challenge outside of the physical opposition of Wake Forest will be that this game marks the first time the young Hoosiers will be playing in a true road game. As opposed to Maui, where a strong contingent of IU faithful were there to support IU, tonight will be a hostile environment full of Wake Forest diehards. Freshman Tom Pritchard, who leads IU in points and rebounds, said Sunday the coaching staff hadn’t yet hinted to the team what to expect on the road. “Coach, I’m sure, has things that he knows and some advice for us,” Pritchard said. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge going in there.” One thing Hoosier fans can expect regardless of the outcome is a team effort, Crean said. “We have no Eric Gordon or D.J. White that’s going to be able to go in and carry the load,” Crean said. “As well as some of our guys are playing, there’s nobody that’s going to go in and dominate a road game for us.”
(12/01/08 5:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After spending their Thanksgiving week competing in Maui, the Hoosiers returned home Sunday to defeat reigning Ivy League champion Cornell 72-57. IU (4-2) stayed undefeated at home, never trailing against Cornell.Although IU never trailed, the majority of the two teams exchanged a series of runs. IU would open sizeable leads only to see Cornell come back to bring within one possession.Keeping Cornell in the game was its defensive pressure. Cornell scored 20 points off IU’s 20 turnovers. BLOG: Basketblog“We got to get better with the turnovers,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “I harp on them. We show them the stats, we show them the numbers.”Also keeping Cornell in the game was the play of Ryan Wittman, the son of former IU star Randy Wittman. Wittman scored 28 of Cornell’s 57 total points on 8-of-22 shooting. The 28 points are a career high for Wittman. Freshman Nick Williams, who spent the majority of the time on Wittman, credited the Cornell guard for hitting tough shots. “We knew he was a great player coming into this game,” Williams said. “I played the best defense I could on him, and he still hit some big shots.”But eventually freshman Malik Story buried Cornell, hitting a 3-pointer with under four minutes left to put IU up by 12, and the team stayed ahead by double digits for the remainder of the game. The Hoosiers were led by the freshman duo of Williams and Tom Pritchard. Pritchard was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor en route to 23 points. Williams put in 14 of his 18 points in the first half to jumpstart IU.“They made the tourney last year, so we know they were coming in to play tough,” Williams said. “We watched a lot of film this week and we just came out and executed and we knew what we had to do to win this game.”Crean was elated after the game to defeat a team he predicted will go back to the NCAA Tournament. “For us to hold an excellent shooting team like this down into the low 30s was really strong,” Crean said. “To out-rebound them was a great thing for us.”Not sharing Crean’s enthusiasm about Cornell basketball after the game was Cornell coach Steve Donahue. “We did not play very well today,” Donahue said. “Offensively, defensively, in all aspects of the game. Not one of our better efforts for sure.” While Crean once again gave credit for the non-sellout Assembly Hall crowd for the loud environment they created, with just more than six minutes left in the first half the crowd was silent. The reason being freshman Verdell Jones laid unconscious at center court after being blind sided by a pick from seven footer Jeff Foote. Jones was taken off in a stretcher and taken to Bloomington Hospital from precautionary measures. The entire IU team stood and watched in silence as Jones was carted off the court. Pritchard said Junior Devan Dumes brought the team together to keep them focused. “Everybody was worried about Verdell,” Pritchard said. “And Devan brought us in as a group and said we’ve got to look past it.”TESTS ON JONES COME BACK NEGATIVEIU freshman Verdell Jones was taken off Branch McCracken court in a stretcher Sunday after being blindsided by a pick during IU’s 72-57 victory against Cornell. After the game IU coach Tom Crean said Jones was taken to the hospital for precautionary purposes but every test came back negative. “It was a scary moment,” Crean said. “Scary for our team, I felt awful for him because he could move his body but he was so scared. So scared.”Cornell center Jeff Foote, who set the pick, was boo’d loudly for the remainder of the game every time he touched the ball. But Crean insisted the play was clean.“It was a very good basketball play,” Crean said. “And we just didn’t see it coming.”
(11/24/08 5:08pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fans know well the low expectations for the IU men’s basketball team in the Big Ten; most experts predict them to finish toward or at the bottom of the conference.But before their first conference game Jan. 3, the Hoosiers first face a grueling non-conference schedule, with several tough games away from Assembly Hall. After two season-opening games at home, IU travels to the annual Maui Invitational in Hawaii during Thanksgiving Break. Joining the Hoosiers in the bracket, among others, is consensus national champion-favorite North Carolina. IU would only play the Tar Heels in the championship game, an unlikely destination for the Hoosiers. Up first for IU is Notre Dame, which also is ranked in the top 10. Although no one on IU’s active roster has competed against the Fighting Irish, junior transfer Jeremiah Rivers played against them twice last season while at Georgetown and hopes to pass wisdom to his teammates.“I know them from top to bottom,” Rivers said. “We’ll be ready for (Luke) Harangody and (Kyle) McAlarney and (Troy) Jackson. We’ll be ready for them. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”After Notre Dame comes either Texas or St. Joseph’s. From there, the final game will be determined by other winners and losers.For a team as young as the Hoosiers, having to travel so far and face such stiff competition early could be overwhelming. But IU coach Tom Crean said the opportunity to play in Hawaii is one opportunity that simply could not be passed up. “You can never say no to Maui,” Crean said. “It could be the only time some of these guys ever get there in their life.“We’re spoiled, my family and our coaching staff, because we were there last year for this. But it’s fantastic competition, it really is. There’s a huge downside to it, but we’re not going to look at it that way.”After Maui and another home game, the Hoosiers must travel to nationally ranked Wake Forest in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Demon Deacons boast one of the most highly regarded freshman classes, and since the ACC/Big Ten Challenge’s inception, Wake Forest has gone 7-1 in the competition.Ten days after taking on Wake Forest, IU will make the short trip south to rival Kentucky. The Wildcats are one of just two teams that can claim more national championships – seven – than IU’s five. So while the grind of the Big Ten waits, the Hoosiers will have had plenty of gut-checks away from Assembly Hall. But IU isn’t looking past Maui. Crean took Marquette there last season and knows firsthand the quality of teams that are in the tournament. “We’re going to look at it that it’s a chance to go in there and play a top-five-to-10 team right off the bat,” Crean said. “No matter how you view it, there’s going to be great basketball teams in that thing every day, and let’s see what we take from it.”Crean offered no predictions about how IU will fare in Maui, other than to say his young team will leave Hawaii having learned a thing or two. “I don’t now how it’s going to turn out,” Crean said. “There will be a lot of learning from it. Let’s compete and see where we go.”
(11/19/08 5:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Each game and scrimmage for the young IU men’s basketball team brings new lessons.Against Anderson, IU learned what it was like to play in Assembly Hall against an actual opponent. Against Bemidji State, the team learned how to play in what IU coach Tom Crean called a “grinder” game. When the Hoosiers took on Northwestern State on Saturday they finally saw first hand the talent of a Division I team.On Tuesday night, after squeaking out a 60-57 victory against IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, Crean and IU now have learned what it’s like to play in a down-to-the-wire affair. BLOG: BasketblogAfter a 16-0 run in the first half helped put IU up 11 at halftime, the Jaguars roared back in the second half, shooting 60 percent from the field and making about twice the amount of field goals they tallied in the first half. When IUPUI surged, the Hoosiers struggled. Through the first four minutes of the second half, the Jaguars hit five of their first six shots, while IU only made two of six during the same time. IUPUI sophomore John Ashworth drove in for a layup to cut IU’s lead to just one with 2:51 remaining, setting the stage for tense final moments for both teams – and the fans. After 2:50 worth of missed shots and turnovers, IU freshman Daniel Moore came down with a rebound and was fouled with one second left. Moore hit both free throws, IUPUI sophomore Leroy Nobles missed a final 3-pointer, and IU came away with another lesson learned. “I think that we gained a lot,” freshman Tom Pritchard said. “We know that we keep our composure late in games. We didn’t break down, we stayed strong with our defense and got the rebound when we needed to.”While the game was back and forth for the majority of the second half, only during the waning minutes of the game did both teams’ inexperience come out. Both squads shot 50 percent or better from the field during the second frame, but neither was able to hit a field goal in the final 2:51. Moore’s two free throws were the only points scored.Crean said the reason each game is so valuable to his team is because few players had been in similar situations at the collegiate level. “I don’t think you could describe what winning this way does,” Crean said. “We have to learn from all of our experiences because we don’t have experience to fall back on.”IUPUI coach Ron Hunter, whose Jaguars are not much older than the Hoosiers, added the game was unique in that both squads were figuring out how to play in such a tight game.“You saw two young teams really trying to find themselves,” Hunter said. “And both teams tried to find themselves at the end.”Crean said one of the big advantages IU had was the home court advantage. When the clock read zeros, Crean and the entire team went to the center of the court to celebrate with the crowd.Crean also grabbed a microphone to personally thank those in attendance, saying “This is the togetherness we have to have to bring this program back to where it belongs – one of the best in the country.”
(11/18/08 4:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Even though the schools are only about 50 miles apart, IU-Purdue University Indianapolis will make its first visit to Assembly Hall tonight to take on the Hoosiers.It’s a game of seconds – the second time in history IU will face IUPUI and the second game of the season for IU coach Tom Crean and his inexperienced team. IU (1-0) is hoping to build off of its opening night, 18-point victory against Northwestern State. It’s IUPUI’s (1-1) third game of the season. The Jaguars notched their first victory a week ago against Michigan Tech, but lost the day before to Northeastern. Proximity isn’t the only similarity the two schools have.Like IU, the Jaguars’ roster is overall vertically challenged. There isn’t one player on IUPUI’s projected starting lineup taller than 6-foot-8. And through the first two games of the season, two of the eight players on the team who’ve recorded playing time are less than 6-foot.The matchup figures to be one of the last of the season IU will have the luxury of being the taller team, but as was the case against Northwestern State on Saturday, the Hoosiers might struggle crashing the boards. The Hoosiers were out-rebounded 52-41 against the Demons. In IUPUI’s last contest, they out-rebounded Michigan Tech 47-25. IU made up for its difficulty rebounding by playing tough defense, limiting Northwestern State to just 31.9 percent shooting from the floor, but Crean noted how important it is that his team improves in rebounding. “We defended at a pretty good level, but obviously we’ve got to get better in the rebounding department and taking care of the basketball,” Crean said.Only discussing height would come short of the similarities between the two teams. Although it would be nearly impossible to find a team more inexperienced than IU, the Jaguars come close. IUPUI starts two sophomores and a freshman, and through the first three games, the lone senior on the team hasn’t seen the floor. The Jaguars so far have been led by freshman Alex Young, who is averaging 16 points. Young also averages five rebounds. After the Jaguars, the Hoosiers will take on another in-state foe in Notre Dame. But unlike tonight, the game will not be played in Bloomington against a mid-major conference team. It will be played in Maui, Hawaii, against the No. 9-ranked team in the country. “I don’t think we have anytime to grow up,” freshman forward Tom Pritchard said. “Coach Crean, the things that he’s doing with us in practice, he’s helping us to grow up right there.” Crean said the team can ill-afford to look past any team this season, and every school IU faces this season will fully believe they’ll emerge victorious. “What our guys have got to understand is that we’re going to get everybody’s best shot no matter what,” Crean said, “because it’s payback for some, it’s a chance to capture some glory for others.” While Crean refuses to look past any opponent, the task may be more difficult for the players. The prospect of leaving for Maui to play against some of the highest-regarded teams in the nation this year might result in the Hoosiers looking past Tuesday night’s game. But junior Devan Dumes doesn’t expect the effort to drop off at all from their first game of the season to tonight. “I’m expecting us to play hard every night,” Dumes said.
(11/17/08 4:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After winning his first two exhibition games as coach at IU, Tom Crean took his Hoosiers to a victory in their regular-season debut against Northwestern State 83-65 on Saturday. In a spirited but sloppy game, the Hoosiers broke Northwestern State’s press often, leading to several free throws and open looks at the basket. While the end result is exactly what IU wanted, the game was anything but flawless. Despite forcing 30 turnovers, the Hoosiers turned the ball over 23 times themselves. Seventeen of IU’s 25 made field goals came off assists, but the Hoosiers were out-rebounded by 11, allowing the Demons to grab 27 offensive rebounds.Crean acknowledged his undersized team needs to work on its rebounding, and that it needs to become one of the best box-out teams in the country, especially once IU plays teams with more size. “We’ve got to understand that we have to get into bodies,” Crean said. “We have to be aggressive with it.”Members of the team credited the less-than-capacity crowd for its energy. Fans in particular took exception to Northwestern State point guards Michael and Logan McConathy – sons of coach Mike McConathy. Sophomore Logan McConathy got into a spat with IU junior center Tijan Jobe. When Logan McConathy went to the bench, he got into an exchange with some of the students in the south bleachers. From that point on, he was booed loudly every time he touched the ball. The crowd spent most of its time cheering for the Hoosiers, taking note of every good pass and hustle play with delight. IU freshman guard Verdell Jones, who filled the stat sheet with 18 points, five assists, four rebounds, three blocks and three steals, approved of the fans’ overall support.“I thought it was great,” Jones said. “I thought they gave us a lot of energy when they came out.”Other strong performances for the Hoosiers came from IU junior guard Devan Dumes and IU freshman forward Tom Pritchard. Dumes scored 21 points, and Pritchard added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.“It was a good momentum booster for the whole team and the whole fan base,” Dumes said. “We’re happy we got the first one under our belt.”Pritchard’s double-double came in just 24 minutes of action, partially due to early foul trouble. The freshman picked up two fouls early in the first half, but Crean had him play with them later in the half, mostly out of the necessity. “I tried to stop my guy from catching the ball,” Pritchard said. “I had to stay up straight, something that coach calls ‘verticality.’”The effort exhibited by the Hoosiers impressed Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy. A regular opponent against some of the bigger-name programs, McConathy said the effort shown by IU is not often matched by other top-tier opponents.“A lot of times, you don’t see the big-time programs play as hard as they played tonight,” McConathy said. “Even though they may put it on you pretty good, they competed every play, and I think that’s a credit to the staff that Coach Crean assembled here.”
(11/15/08 11:02pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers emerged victorious in Tom Crean's regular season coaching debut, defeating Northwestern State 83-65 Saturday night.While the end result is exactly what IU wanted, the game was anything but flawless. Despite forcing 30 turnovers, the Hoosiers turned the ball over 23 times. 17 of IU's 25 made field goals came with assists, but the Hoosiers were out rebounded by 11; allowing the Demons to grab 27 offensive rebounds.The Hoosiers were led by Devan Dumes, Verdell Jones and Tom Pritchard. Dumes scored 21 points; Pritchard added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.Jones filled the stat sheet, accumulating 18 points, five assists, four rebounds, three blocks and three steals. IU's victory made Crean the eighth straight men's basketball coach at IU to win his debut. The Hoosiers (1-0) will next play Tuesday at home against IUPUI.
(11/14/08 5:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After two exhibition games, IU coach Tom Crean said the No. 1 thing he learned about his players is that they need to play with heartfelt passion all the time. Crean said if they don’t, the Hoosiers won’t be able to stay in many games this season.With the vast inexperience on the team, that passion and energy might not come from the same people every night. The amount of energy coming from various players has been exemplified in their exhibition games. In the victory against Anderson, it appeared that IU’s starting backcourt of freshman Verdell Jones and junior Devan Dumes could be stars for the Hoosiers throughout the season.Jones notched 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Dumes led all scorers with 22 points. Despite their strong performances in the first game, neither starting guard reached double-digit points totals against Bemidji State, and both played sparingly in the second half after the Beavers started the half on a 10-0 run. After the Beavers’ run, Crean began subbing players often, hoping to create a spark. “It’s hard for me to look at it and say, ‘Ah let’s just play through this,’” Crean said. “We don’t have any demonstrated ability that we know how to play through it.”With Dumes and Jones on the bench, freshmen do-it-all Malik Story and guard Daniel Moore sparked the Hoosiers. Story scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half, while Moore pestered the Bemidji State guards on defense, generating turnovers and quick buckets for IU. The young Hoosiers expect to have different players step up periodically throughout the season. In fact, Crean said he will continue to shuffle the lineup throughout each game to find the group that is most energetic.“There can never be a time where we back off,” Crean said. “We’re not built like that. We don’t have the experience. We don’t have the size.”Crean added that the key for everyone is consistency. But with a team so young, inconsistency might be common, meaning players on the bench like Story and Moore need to be ready to play often. “Tonight, it felt like my job was to bring energy off the bench and defend my man very well and hustle on offense and defense,” Story said after Tuesday’s exhibition win. One way Crean hopes to create consistent energy is by constantly making the team compete in practice. For example, Crean said adding guard Kipp Schutz to the team helped inspire Moore’s spirited play.One player who hopes to be consistent in his play is the lone senior of the team, Kyle Taber. In only 15 minutes of play against Bemidji State, he pulled down nine rebounds. Being one of the few big men on the team and the only one with significant regular-season playing time, Taber will need to be consistent. Whether it’s the starters or the bench, the scholarship players or the walk-ons, Crean said whoever takes the floor during the games needs to make the team better that day. Otherwise, he won’t play for long. “We put you out there, we’ve got to expect that you’re going to make us better,” Crean said.
(11/12/08 5:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After IU’s 72-54 victory against Bemidji State, IU coach Tom Crean talked about the importance of his team playing with energy – something the Hoosiers will prepare for before their regular season opener.Conversely, Bemidji State coach Matt Bowen talked about preparing for the 16-hour bus ride home awaiting his team tomorrow.Bowen, a 1995 graduate of IU and former student manager under Bob Knight, said long bus rides are a regular occurrence in the less-than-glamorous world of Division II basketball.“Life in D-II is just different,” Bowen said. “Kids are playing for the love of the game. There’s not as many amenities.” One of those privileges the Beavers lack is a plane to take them to faraway venues. Instead of a chartered flight, Bowen and his team rode two buses to get to Bloomington. And the first one broke down. Bowen shrugged off the travel complications, saying it was just another day for him and his team.“This is Division II,” Bowen said. “We are a cheeseburgers-and-bus league.”Bowen’s self-described cheeseburger and bus league gave the Hoosiers fits for most of the evening. Trailing by 11 at halftime, the Beavers went on a quick 10-0 run to start the second half.It was as close as the Beavers would come to retaking the lead, but it was enough to make the crowd uneasy and force Crean to go to his bench for a spark. After pulling away to an 18-point victory, Crean said he appreciated the lessons his team learned from the game. Most notably, teams like Bemidji State have talent and cannot be taken lightly. “The competition level goes up. It doesn’t go down,” he said. “We’re playing against very talented teams, very talented players.”Crean added that once the first TV time-out was called, he knew the game would be a grind-it-out battle. It’s the type of play Bowen said he wants his team to play with and a style he learned from watching Knight and IU while in college. “I came to learn here from Coach Knight,” Bowen said. “I take what I kind of learned from him, and hopefully we represented that pretty well.”Bowen said he was pleased with his team, and the Hoosiers simply wore them down toward the end of the game. Despite losing, he said the mere fact his team played at Assembly Hall is an asset to him in trying to land recruits. “When we had our first team meeting in the fall I put a picture of this place up, and it was full, and I said ‘This is where we’re going to play,’” Bowen said. “And I’m not sure they heard another word I said the rest of the meeting.”Even though Bowen’s trying to lead a different team to prominence, he still closely follows his alma mater and believes Crean will turn the program around eventually.“Coach Crean is going to grind it. He’s going to find a way to put them in the best position they can,” Bowen said. “He’s going to find a way.”
(11/11/08 5:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s basketball team will play one last exhibition game tonight before its first regular-season game Saturday.The Hoosiers play host to Division II Bemidji State at 7 p.m. and hope to improve in all areas from their first exhibition victory on Friday against Anderson.Bemidji State, led by coach and IU alumnus Matt Bowen, struggled last season, finishing 6-21 and just 1-11 on the road. The last time the Beavers competed against a Big Ten opponent was in 2006, when they were drubbed by Minnesota 88-32 in an exhibition game. Despite the 103-71 blowout win against Anderson, IU coach Tom Crean insists his team can, and needs to, progress in many aspects before the regular season. One area Crean is looking for improvement in is the young team’s communication on both ends of the floor. “We’ve still got to learn that talking – the communication on both ends – is absolutely paramount on both ends,” Crean said. Crean used 12 different players Friday, shuffling different lineups throughout the game. More of the same can be expected tonight as IU looks to get better at moving the ball offensively.“There’s not one or two guys that can carry this club – that’s not how we’re built,” Crean said. “So we’ve got to continue to move the basketball, we’ve got to continue to free up the driving lane.”IU also wants to be sharper defensively, especially in the second half. Junior guard Devan Dumes said allowing 71 points is a “no-no” for the team.Freshman forward Tom Pritchard said the Hoosiers need to maintain the same energy in both halves. During the second half of Friday’s game, they gave up 42 of Anderson’s 71 points. “I think (in) the second half, guys started to get a little worn down,” Pritchard said. “Guys had their hands down ... and we just really need to focus on that and pick that up in the second half.”Tonight might also mark the season debut of senior forward Kyle Taber, who has been unable to play in any of the scrimmages or the first exhibition game because of a knee injury. Crean said he hopes to see his lone senior on the floor against Bemidji State.“We’ve done some things after practice or before practice with him, but nothing in the form of real basketball contact with him,” Crean said Friday. “But there’s a chance we’ll get going with that a little bit this weekend. I think we’re still trying to target Tuesday night with him.”Taber might not be the only one making his season debut tonight. IU baseball player Kipp Schutz, who dressed but did not play Friday, has been in a tryout period with the Hoosiers. If Crean adds the 6-foot-4 Schutz to the team, he could see playing time to prepare for the regular season.Freshman guard Verdell Jones said with the numerous ongoing walk-on tryouts, the current roster is focusing on players already on the team. But Jones added any new players would be welcomed with open arms.“We really just focus on the main team right now,” Jones said. “We know that we need more bodies. We know Jeremiah (Rivers) can’t play this year. But I think most of the time we just worry about ourselves.“But if new guys come along, we’ll just embrace them and let them join our team and try to carry them on, too.”
(11/10/08 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s basketball team went on an 11-0 run to start the game and never looked back, easily defeating Division III Anderson 103-71 in Tom Crean’s coaching debut. Pacing the Hoosiers were junior guard Devan Dumes and freshman forward Tom Pritchard. Dumes scored 22 points, while Pritchard added a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.“It’s good to have a game that they played against somebody else,” Crean said. “And now they really feel like the season’s here.”The exhibition game marked not only Crean’s coaching debut, but also the first time the new-look Hoosiers competed against another team. IU overwhelmed the Ravens, scoring 35 points off turnovers while committing just 10 turnovers themselves. For what is likely to be one of the few times this season, IU had a size advantage over Anderson, which resulted in the Hoosiers taking just 11 3-point attempts and outscoring the Ravens 50-28 in the paint. Freshman guard Verdell Jones said part of IU’s game plan was to to exploit Anderson’s lack of size down low.“They were sort of an undersized team compared to us,” Jones said. “I think Tom (Pritchard) and Tijan (Jobe) and Nick (Williams) and those guys did a great job of getting the ball down low and making plays. That was pretty much our game plan.”As for the Hoosiers, who feature four-guard lineups often, the few 3-point shots might have come as a surprise. But Dumes said he doesn’t expect the amount of treys IU takes to skyrocket as the season goes on.“One hundred points without threes, that’s a huge statement,” Dumes said. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll shot a lot more. I don’t think that’ll happen.”Defensively, Crean said the biggest concern for the Hoosiers was Anderson’s ability to score in transition. But IU got back on defense throughout the game, throwing off the Ravens’ offense. “I think that was one of the most important things that we had to do,” Pritchard said. “Their transition really set up their offense, and they kind of got all whacked out in their offense, and they really didn’t know what to do when we were beating them down the floor, so it was really good for us.”Anderson shot just 36.8 percent from the field and only made seven of 32 3-point attempts. Although Assembly Hall wasn’t sold out, both Dumes and Crean said they were happy with the crowd that showed up. Both before and after the game, Crean went over to the south bleachers to talk with and try to pump up students. Toward the end of the game, with the victory in hand, the crowd chanted Crean’s name, something the new coach said he will always appreciate. “Our students and our band and our fans are never going to have to wonder how much I appreciate them or how much we appreciate them,” Crean said. Up next for IU is Bemidji State on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall. Dumes said the Hoosiers have little time to celebrate the team’s victory.“It doesn’t stop,” Dumes said. “There are no off days around here.”