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Hoosiers get chance to rebound after loss at Iowa

by in Media | February 22nd, 2012

Indiana seemed to be out of sorts Sunday in Iowa City.

The Hoosiers wasted possessions with careless turnovers, missed free throws in bunches, and scored only 66 points against the same team they put 103 on just three weeks earlier.

But even through their struggles, Indiana coach Tom Crean believed his team would come back. He said the loss to the Hawkeyes had nothing to do with his players letting off the gas after getting to the 20-win plateau against Northwestern.

“We never saw any of that in practice, we never saw any of that in preparation,” Crean said Tuesday. “We got off to a decent start to the game. We just turned the ball over, and then we were back on our heels.

“Even when the game got cut to 10, I still felt like we were going to win. But we made some mistakes. We made a couple mistakes on [Matt] Gatens. We were supposed to switch, we have our hands down, we misplay the screens — that’s nine points right there. You can’t do that when momentum is up for grabs.”

Gatens scored a career-high 30 points against the Hoosiers, and hit four consecutive 3-pointers during one stretch in the second half to put the game away. Most of Gatens 3s were uncontested looks when Indiana players got caught behind screens. It simply didn’t look like the same defense the Hoosiers have played at times this season.

Which prompted the question: Are the players fatigued?

Crean’s answer: Not a chance.

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HD Video: Crean, Elston, Oladipo preview NC Central

by in Video | February 21st, 2012

Coach Tom Crean, junior forward Derek Elston and sophomore guard Victor Oladipo met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to preview Wednesday’s game at Assembly Hall with North Carolina Central. Watch both press conferences in the embedded media players below:

Quotes after the jump.

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This is what Indiana-Purdue is all about

by in Commentary | February 4th, 2012

This is what Indiana-Purdue is supposed to be: Two teams right in the thick of the Big Ten race, both desperately needing a win to put themselves in the best position for the postseason.

It’s been awhile since we’ve had this. Sure, there have been competitive games in football and basketball over the last few years, but Indiana has rarely had more than pride on the line. The Hoosiers competed, stayed in the game, and then lost.

It was hardly even still a rivalry.

But the Hoosiers are back, and Purdue still has plenty left to play for. The Boilermakers are the only Big Ten team without a win over a ranked opponent.

For Indiana, Saturday night’s game at Mackey Arena could be viewed as a “must-win.” With the Hoosiers’ struggles on the road in the Big Ten, a fifth consecutive loss away from Assembly Hall would all but kill this team’s confidence the rest of the way. They’ve still got winnable road games against Iowa and Minnesota left, but lose this one, and those two look a whole lot tougher.

Indiana’s incredibly slow start at Michigan on Wednesday gave it little chance to come back. The Hoosiers had a similarly slow start at Ohio State before playing a better second half.

If they want to beat Purdue and alter their recent fortunes away from Assembly Hall, they can’t afford to fall behind by double-digits before they find their rhythm.

“I feel like we just got rushed in the beginning,” junior Derek Elston said Friday. “A lot of the guys weren’t playing their game. We let the defense kind of dictate what was going on. After a TV timeout, coach just kept harping that we have to keep playing our game no matter what, don’t let them speed us up, keep playing IU basketball.

“I think in the beginning we were trying to make that home run play when we just needed to make the single.”

So what’s the key to starting faster?

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QuickVideo

Video: Elston, Hulls and Zeller preview Purdue

Via IUAthletics on YouTube:

Confidence keys production for Elston, Pritchard

by in Media | February 1st, 2012

Derek Elston’s impact was felt almost immediately.

He entered the game Sunday night against Iowa and promptly knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner. The next time down the floor, he hit another jumper from the right side. Then after blocking a shot, Elston raced down the court and nailed a transition 3 from the left wing.

Eight points and a block in 68 seconds, and the Hoosiers were well on their way to a 103-89 win.

“Once I saw that first one kind of go down, that’s how it kind of goes for me shooting-wise,” Elston said. “If I make my first couple ones, I have the potential to have a good game.”

Elston, like Tom Pritchard, had a big game off the bench for Indiana. But Elston and Pritchard aren’t always such key contributors. Their success is usually determined by their confidence on a given day, and they seem to play with more confidence in the comforts of Assembly Hall.

In the No. 20 Hoosiers’ five Big Ten road games, Elston and Pritchard have combined for only 16 points and 16 rebounds. That’s an average of less than two points and two rebounds per contest for each player.

In Indiana’s five conference home games, however, the bench duo has combined for 34 points and 24 rebounds.

The difference? It seems simple enough.

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The Hoosiers needed this one

by in Commentary | January 30th, 2012

Indiana’s wins against Kentucky and Ohio State remain the two best victories in the country this season.

But the Hoosiers didn’t need either of those wins in the way they needed their 103-89 victory against Iowa on Sunday.

The No. 16 Hoosiers had to prove they could step on an opponent’s throat as an overwhelming favorite. They had to prove they could break out of the funk they’ve been in. They had to prove that, to put it frankly, this isn’t the team that has missed the tournament in each of Tom Crean’s first three years in Bloomington.

They had to prove all of that to the selection committee and to the fans. But most importantly, they had to prove it to themselves.

This is a team full of guys who have been through the whole losing thing before. Lose to Iowa at home, and maybe those ugly nightmares start to come back. With road games against Michigan and Purdue coming next, this thing could have gotten away from Crean and Co. in a hurry.

But this isn’t the same old Indiana team. With their backs very much against the wall, the Hoosiers dominated an Iowa club that has owned them in recent history.

They scored 58 points in the paint, outrebounded the Hawkeyes 37-22, and scored 100 points in a Big Ten contest for the first time since 1995. Indiana built a big lead and then never let Iowa back in, something the Hoosiers have struggled to do at times this season.

The Kentucky and Ohio State wins put the Hoosiers back on the map. This one showed they aren’t ready to fall back off of it.

“Again, 17 wins, 17 different ways to win,” Crean said. “And I thought our team responded to the last couple of days. They were excited to play. They had tremendous energy and I think the energy of the crowd helped fuel them even more.”

Even more impressive than the win was the way in which the Hoosiers won it.

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