After leading by just six at halftime, Indiana used a strong second half to win its exhibition debut 96-73 over NAIA opponent Grace College Wednesday night at Assembly Hall.

Six Indiana players scored in double figures, led by 19 points from Christian Watford and 14 from Jordan Hulls.

A couple of thoughts from Indiana’s exhibition opener:

All in all, about what most of us expected from an exhibition debut with six new faces, right? Tom Crean probably won’t be thrilled with several easy baskets the Hoosiers allowed down low and in transition, but that’s what the pre-season is for. Indiana will return to action on Monday against St. Joseph’s at Assembly Hall. That game will also be broadcast on BigTenNetwork.com.

Pick to Click winner: Christian Watford (Phillip, StuHoo, favreDollarfootlong, ariufan, hoosier07, JerryCT, hoosierwhodey, CrimsonLaw1L, NMHoosier, Martin34, Kelin Blab)

+ Box score

+ Tom Crean postgame audio (The Hoosier Scoop)

Predictably, there will be no March Madness for Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers.

Indiana (6-25) concluded the 2008-2009 campaign with a 66-51 loss to Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The loss was the 10th straight for Indiana.

The result was never really in doubt as the Nittany Lions (22-10) opened the game with a 26-8 run and IU was never able to draw closer than nine the rest of the way.

“They’re a good team, ” Crean said. “Very well coached, as is the rest of this league. And I hope they get in the NCAA.”

Verdell Jones continued his late season breakout and was the only IU player in double figures with 23 points. Jones shot 7 of 11 from the field and hit 5 of 5 free throws.

“This season is definitely a learning experience,” Jones said. “But I think the most we got out of this season is if you work hard and listen to what the coaches say you can improve by leaps and bounds.”

Kyle Taber, Nick Williams and Daniel Moore added five points each. Taber, a former walk-on who played for four coaches at IU, reflected on his career after the loss.

“I’m sad to see it end, ” Taber said. “I mean, it was so much fun playing here at Indiana, and I was just glad to be a part of it for five years.”

Penn State advances to a quarterfinal game on Friday night at 9PM ET against Purdue. Jamelle Cornley led three Nittany Lion players in double figures with 22 points. Stanley Pringle added 16 points and David Jackson had 10.

Talor Battle, the Big Ten’s leading scorer with 17.3 points per game, was held to three points on just three shot attempts, but dished out six assists and had four steals.

Big Ten Tournament not so kind to Hoosiers: The loss against Penn State drops IU to 8-12 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament. IU is now 13-6 in games played at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Dumes misses finale: Junior guard Devan Dumes did not dress and missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. Dumes finished the season as IU’s leading scorer at 12.7 ppg.

• Box score

FINAL SCORE: Wisconsin 85, Indiana 61

There’s not a lot to write about this game that hasn’t been written already this season. The regular season is over. IU finishes up the Big Ten season with a 1-17 record.

The Hoosiers shot relatively well from the field in Madison (54 percent), but committed 16 turnovers, missed nine free throws and were out-rebounded 28-19. That’s not exactly a recipe for winning basketball games.

The Badgers, on the other hand, hit 52 percent from the field, hit 7 of 14 from 3-point range and knocked down 26 of 32 free throws.

Verdell Jones set a career high with 23 points as did Nick Williams with 19 points.

With that, we’ll leave it in your hands. Thoughts about this game, the regular season as a whole and your predictions heading into a 5PM ET matchup on Thursday with Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament are welcome in the comments.

The script was set perfectly for Kyle Taber’s final game in Assembly Hall.

Family and friends ascended upon Bloomington to say farewell to the senior captain. Chants of ‘Ky-le Ta-ber’ were heard throughout Assembly Hall. And in a game in which IU was a heavy underdog, the Hoosiers had a chance to knock off a legitimate top ten opponent.

But alas, as has been the case throughout most of this season of transition for Indiana basketball, the Hoosiers couldn’t come up with a big play down the stretch. The final result: A hard fought 64-59 loss to Michigan State.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t come out right,” Taber said. “We battled and it was a great game. It was fun to be apart of something like that.”

Despite going 8:43 without a field goal in the second half, the Spartans (24-5, 14-3 Big Ten) clinched the Big Ten title outright for the first time since 1999.

Kalin Lucas scored 15 points to lead Michigan State and Raymar Morgan added 14 points, including a thunderous put back dunk with 27 seconds remaining to give MSU a four-point cushion.

The Hoosiers (6-23, 1-16) cut the lead to two on a pair of Nick Williams free throws with just under 16 seconds remaining, but Lucas answered with a pair of free throws to wrap up the victory.

“It was a great game. Our guys were in it the entire way, to the very end,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said.

Indiana missed eight free throws and several opportunities to tie the game after cutting Michigan State’s lead to two with 3:31 remaining.

Verdell Jones led four Hoosier scorers in double figures with 15 points. Malik Story and Williams added 11 each and Matt Roth had 10.

Taber finished with three points, five rebounds and two assists in his final home game.

“We went down with a fight,” IU’s lone senior added. “I’m proud of what my teammates were able to do for me.”

Up next: Indiana concludes the regular season with a 7PM ET matchup on Sunday at Wisconsin. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Bawa sighting: 7-0 signee Bawa Muniru was in attendance and Jared Poertner of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop talked to the big man.

• Box score
• Postgame Quotes
• Tom Crean Audio
• Malik Story Audio
• Kyle Taber Audio
• Verdell Jones Audio

Take the Inside the Hall reader survey.

Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers (most of them, anyway) got their first taste of the IU-Purdue rivalry Saturday afternoon in Mackey Arena.

And despite a spirit and toughness Crean felt his team exhibited throughout the contest, the Hoosiers dropped their fifth straight game in a 81-67 loss to Purdue.

“We came to play,” Crean said. “They’ve got a lot of pride and I’m glad they came out here and showed it that way today.”

Indiana trailed by nine at halftime, but cut the Boilermaker lead to six at 41-35 on a Devan Dumes 3-pointer with 17:59 remaining. Purdue responded with four straight points and the Hoosiers never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

E’twaun Moore scored 26 points to lead the Boilermakers (21-6, 10-4) on 10-of-14 shooting. The sophomore from East Chicago scored nine points in the opening seven minutes as Purdue built an early eight-point lead.

(more…)

After trailing by just one at halftime, Indiana scored just four points in the first 9:01 of the second half and fell 68-51 to Wisconsin on Thursday night at Assembly Hall.

By the time the Hoosiers (6-19, 1-12 Big Ten) scored their fifth and sixth points after halftime, Wisconsin had built a 15-point lead. The Badgers didn’t let the lead fall below 11 the rest of the way.

The loss was the fourth straight for IU and the 17th in their last 19 games.

“I don’t think we competed or played well in the second half. Our defense really let us down,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “And there is really nothing in the second half that we can hang our hat on. We were much different than the first half and they exposed that. They did an excellent job taking advantage of that.”

Trevon Hughes scored 21 points on 7 of 14 shooting to lead Wisconsin and Joe Krabbenhoft added 18. The Badgers (17-9, 8-6) shot 49 percent, hit 11 of 15 free throws and committed just seven turnovers.

Verdell Jones paced the Hoosiers with 16 points and Devan Dumes added 12 in his first game back following a two-game suspension. IU hit 15 of 19 free throws, but hit just 2 of 11 shots from beyond the 3-point line.

Up next: The Hoosiers travel to West Lafayette on Saturday afternoon for a 2PM ET meeting with Purdue. That game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. “I think we’re thirsty to redeem ourselves,” Verdell Jones said. “Purdue is an in-state rival and we definitely want to go up there and give them our all. We’ll prepare tomorrow for them and just come out and give it our best.”

• Box score

To call free throw shooting a problem for the 2008-2009 version of the Indiana Hoosiers would be an understatement. The foul line has been more of a major catastrophe.

Indiana (6-18, 1-11 Big Ten) hit just 11 of 24 free throws and fell 65-52 to Illinois on Sunday afternoon in front of the first sellout crowd this season at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers are shooting just 65 percent from the foul line this season, including 66 percent in Big Ten play.

After trailing 36-15 late in the first half, Indiana closed to within six at 54-48 with 6:27 remaining on a coast to coast layup by Malik Story. But the Illini (21-5, 9-4) immediately answered with a 3-pointer by Chester Frazier and Indiana never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

“We gave ourselves some chances at the end, but really, the way we played in the first half didn’t give us enough,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “Give them credit. They made enough plays and they went up to the free throw line and made the free throws.”

The loss set a school record for losses in a season (18) and tied a school record for Big Ten losses (11), a mark IU will almost certainly eclipse with six conference games remaining.

(more…)