11/15/2008 10:31 pm // Ryan Corazza
The Good:
We won. By all accounts, we’re not going to be able to soak in victory a lot this season, so enjoy this one. And heck, I’d venture as far to say we looked pretty good in that second half. It was but Northwestern State, but a win is a win is a win.
Daniel Moore, though undersized, handled the ball with poise, made good decisions and played with great confidence. It’s yet to be told whether he’ll play as well against better talent, but he’s a solid option when Verdell Jones is on the bench or playing one of the off-guard positions on the floor.
Early on here, it’s apparent Devan Dumes is going to be our scorer. He chipped in 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting and hit 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
IU’s defense played well, forcing 30 turnovers on the night.
The Bad:
IU’s free throw shooting was a poor 28-of-41. For a team that isn’t going to be able to coast past teams on their talent alone, the Hoosiers absolutely need to improve in this area if they want to have a fighting chance once Big Ten season rolls around.
The Ugly:
It got sloppy at points. This is to be expected with a young team that is not used to playing together. But 23 turnovers for the game isn’t going to cut it night in and night out.
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11/15/2008 10:27 pm // Alex Bozich
Kyrie Irving, the No. 27 player in the 2010 class according to Rivals.com, was in Bloomington for an unofficial visit on Saturday and watched IU’s 83-65 win over Northwestern State.
Irving, a 6-2 guard from St. Patrick’s in New Jersey, holds offers from the Hoosiers, Kansas, Kansas State, Memphis, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Texas A & M and Villanova.
Irving played his first two years of high school at Montclair Kimberley Academy where he averaged 26.5 points and led his team to a New Jersey Prep “B” State title as a sophomore. Irving is described as an explosive scorer and the numbers back it up — he had games of 48 and 47 points last season.
2009 signees Derek Elston and Bobby Capobianco were also in attendance.
11/15/2008 10:25 pm // Alex Bozich
It wasn’t pretty, but Indiana opened the Tom Crean era with an 83-65 win over Northwestern State Saturday night in Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers (1-0) missed 13 free throws, were out-rebounded 52-41, committed 23 turnovers and shot 31 percent from behind the three-point arc and still managed to win comfortably.
Devan Dumes led three players in double figures with 21 points. Verdell Jones added 18 points, five assists, three steals and three blocks.
IU led 38-29 at halftime, but pulled away in the second half and led by as many as 26. The Hoosiers held Northwestern State to 31 percent shooting and forced 30 turnovers.
Two other bright spots for Indiana: Tom Pritchard opened his career with a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds) and Daniel Moore provided a spark off the bench with six points and three assists before fouling out.
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11/15/2008 11:03 am // Alex Bozich
Opponent: Northwestern State
Date: Saturday, November 15 | 7 p.m. EST
Arena: Assembly Hall (17, 357) – Bloomington, Indiana
Line: No Line
All-time series: First Meeting
TV: Big Ten Network (Craig Shemon and John Laskowski)
Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)
Probable Starters:
- Northwestern State (0-0): Michael McConathy, Damon Jones, Keith Hancock, William Mosley, Kalem Porterie
- Indiana (0-0): Verdell Jones, Devan Dumes, Nick Williams, Kyle Taber, Tom Pritchard
Game notes (Adobe Acrobat required to view):
Gameday reading:
You know the drill. Predictions, thoughts and analysis are welcome in the comments. Go Hoosiers.
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11/14/2008 9:14 am // Alex Bozich
The Tom Crean era begins Saturday night with a visit in Assembly Hall from the Northwestern State Demons.
Coach Mike McConathy returns five of his top eight scorers from a team that went 15-18 a season ago and reached the championship game of their conference tournament for the fourth straight season.
The outlook this year is much brighter for Northwestern State — they were picked to finish second in the East division of the Southland Conference behind Stephen L. Austin.
Keith Hancock, a 5-10 senior guard, is the leading returning scorer (8.7 ppg). Another guy to keep an eye on is 6-4 junior guard Damon Jones (6.4 ppg).
“We feel very good about our team,” McConathy told reporters at SLC Media Day. “Even though the numbers may not indicate it, we do have a strong core of experienced players back and we will be blending in some new faces. We have guys who all have played in crunch time.”
Make no mistake about it, the Hoosiers will have their hands full in this match up. As will be the case almost universally, Northwestern State is a more experienced club and they’ll be looking to play spoiler while making a statement for their program come Saturday night.
To learn more about Northwestern State, click here.
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11/13/2008 9:28 pm // Alex Bozich
IU Media Relations sent along the following release earlier this evening after the school received a National Letter of Intent from Bawa Muniru:
CREAN ON THE RECRUITING CLASS
“Our coaching staff of Tim Buckley and Bennie Seltzer and the recent addition of Roshown McLeod, along with the rest of our staff, show what can happen when you believe in something and are not afraid to work hard to make it better even when you are hamstrung with restrictions. Our coaches worked extremely hard to build on relationships that we already had and to build new ones and continue to show people why Indiana was a perennial power year-in and year-out. The tradition of Indiana and the opportunity to play right away, the Big Ten conference, the national television schedule we have is only replaced by the fact that young students can come in here and get a world-class education. Our coaches did a tremendous job of showing that and we wouldn’t be anywhere near having this kind of class without the hard work of these gentlemen that represent Indiana.”
CREAN ON BOBBY CAPOBIANCO
“Bobby is someone that we’ve know for some time. We saw him in the Indiana Elite program and then saw him at Loveland (Ohio) High School and it became clear to us, even back at Marquette that we wanted to offer him a scholarship. He personifies toughness. He can rebound the basketball and score inside. I love the fact that he has developed into a guy that is a reliable jump shooter from the perimeter and loves to play. One of the things that really stands out about Bobby is how much he loves Indiana and we are excited to have him.”
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11/13/2008 6:50 pm // Alex Bozich
IU opens the season Saturday and Coach Crean, Brett Finkelmeier, Kyle Taber and new walk-on Kipp Schutz addressed the media earlier this afternoon. Here’s the audio, courtesy of CBS Sports All-Access (Microsoft Silverlight required):
