But in what will be looked at down the road as a valuable learning experience for this rebuilding Indiana program, the Hoosiers went to Penn State Thursday night and left with a 67-61 victory. Even more impressive was this: Indiana never trailed en route to victory.

“They’re gaining conference,” Indiana coach Tom Crean told Don Fischer on the postgame radio show. “If you don’t have a win like Minnesota, the way that we won it, maybe they don’t feel like they can win this one. We held on. We got big stops. We attacked in press offense.”

The Hoosiers (9-9, 3-3 Big Ten) hit 9-of-20 from behind the 3-point arc, 10-of-14 free throws and committed just 12 turnovers to 15 assists. Devan Dumes, IU’s leading scorer last season, had a season-high 15 points.

“He really, really stepped up,” Crean said of Dumes. “I’m really proud of the way that he played. He made some big plays in 26 minutes of basketball. He answered the challenge of Talor Battle when Jeremiah (Rivers) had some foul trouble.”

After Indiana led 35-28 at halftime, Penn State (8-10, 0-6) opened the second half with a 12-5 run to tie the game at 40 with 13:44 remaining.

But unlike previous road games at Ohio State and Michigan where the Hoosiers had lengthy scoring droughts, Thursday was different: Indiana immediately answered with six straight points.

Penn State, which shot just 37 percent and got little offense besides 22 points from Battle, never got closer than three the rest of the way.

“Again tonight just like Minnesota, we went and earned the game,” Crean said. “We never lost the lead and that’s the key. We never had to play comeback on it. They bought into the fact that it’s not about running good offense, it’s about executing good offense.”

Verdell Jones had another game in double figures with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists and Christian Watford added 11 points and nine rebounds.

+ Box score

So where did he go?

Last season’s leading scorer, it made sense when Dumes’ numbers came down in 2009 with the influx of fresh talent. And an injury to begin the season kept him from fighting for a starting place and visibly hindered his ability to get into an offensive rhythm once he was healthy.

But Dumes, who averaged 12.7 points per game last season, has seen that average fall by more than half, and his minutes-per-game average has been reduced almost as much. Worse, Dumes has lost nearly nine points off his overall field-goal percentage from last season to this one, and his 3-point shooting is down from 38.1 percent to 32.6 percent through 14 games.

Of course, none of this looked like more than an unexplained anomaly until Maurice Creek was lost for the season, cutting more than 16 points and the Hoosiers’ best offensive option out of the gameplan. And yet, in the two games since Creek’s injury, that open starting spot has gone to Jordan Hulls, not Dumes.

He’s had his moments, including a first-half performance against Michigan that included three 3-pointers and a pair of assists. And in fairness, while his points and minutes are down, Dumes’ rebounding and assist numbers have only decreased marginally, and he’s cut his turnover numbers — astronomically high at 3.1 per game a year ago — nearly in half.

But where he’s most valuable, Dumes just hasn’t been able to find the range on his 3-point shot, (which, you might remember, is actually rather deep) and some of his decisions around the basket have looked forced. Put more simply: Dumes just doesn’t look comfortable or in rhythm offensively.

The injury, which affected his minutes early in the season, probably kept him from carving out a place for himself in this offense before the mold hardened. And it’s understandable to think that going from starter to first or second bench option is going throw a wrench into things, too.

But Wednesday night, when the Buckeyes were scoring and Indiana wasn’t, the Hoosiers needed someone to stop the bleeding, someone to hit a couple big shots and open the game back up.

Dumes could have been that player — he was at times last season. And I promise you, Wednesday’s script will repeat itself more than once before this season ends.

It’s undoubtedly been a twisted road from Decatur Central High School to Ypsilanti, Mich., to Vincennes University to Bloomington, but this is Dumes’ last chance to find the magic.

It doesn’t matter how he does it, but he’d better do it soon.

Jordan Hulls:

Christian Watford:

Devan Dumes:

Oh baby, what a win. With Mo Creek out for the season, and Indiana fans a bit down, a bit defeated, IU proved this afternoon inside Assembly Hall that your leading scorer does not an entire team make. Sure, Michigan isn’t that great a squad right now, and some dumb fouling kept Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims off the court for some time, but when Harris was in the game, Jeremiah Rivers did a good job keeping him in check.

Devan Dumes filled in great for Creek in the first half, hitting 3-of-5 threes for nine points, and flashing some defense as well. He was a big reason IU lead at half. Jay Bilas had the line of the afternoon when giving Dumes props for his first-half performance: “Sometimes a kid just needs to be needed.” Incredibly fitting for a player like Dumes.

And then there was everyone else filling in their roles as well: Verdell Jones continues to be a rock, and hit some big shots in both halves when IU needed them. He finished the game with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. He played with purpose. He wanted this game. Bad. And Watford was right there with him, as he went 7-for-12 for 19 points this afternoon. If those two, along with Dumes can continue to lead the way on offense with guys like Jordan Hulls, Derek Elston and Rivers picking their spots and contributing as well, IU might be OK.

And how about Hulls? Kid wanted to be on the line at the end of the game when it counted. He’s been there before. He’s a winner. IU had an advantage because they went into the bonus with around 15 minutes to go, but after Rivers missed two straight free throws with just over two minutes to go and a chance to extend the lead to five — and Hulls fouling Zach Novak on a three and him making all three free throws (why is IU always doing this?) to tie the game — the Hoosiers turned their hopes over to Hulls on the line in the final minutes of the game, and he hit all four of the crucial ones. Those other two he hit at the end were just an added bonus with the game all but decided. I don’t want to pick on Rivers too bad, because he was otherwise great, with no play more important than when he saw an opening in the middle of the lane, slashed through, hit the athletic layup, was fouled and made the free throw — finally! — to put IU up three with 1:12 to go. That should not go unnoticed; it was huge play at a crucial time in the game.

Even more crucial was the way these Hoosiers took care of the ball this afternoon. In the second half, they only had one — one! — turnover, and it was from Tom Pritchard. No ballhandler turned the ball over. They only had nine for the game. Impressive stuff.

Simply put: the Hoosiers executed at the right times late in the game. They showed poise. It just looked like they wanted it more. And with the home crowd behind them, they pulled through for the win. This was the first game I found myself really feeling like the outcome was life or death; I hung on every play. That’s what Big Ten season will do to you. It seemed like the crowd raised their intensity level up a bit today, too.

Great day to be a fan of the Hoosiers, eh?

THE BAD AND UGLY: EMPTY.

It’s New Year’s Eve, the Hoosiers just picked up a nice win, and I’m feeling lazy. No bad or ugly today inside Assembly Hall, just a feel good win all around. Happy New Year’s everyone.

This is what this Hoosiers team can be. Running the break efficiently, not letting teams get set up on D, pushing the pace, getting controlled buckets in transition with Jeremiah Rivers and Verdell Jones leading the charge. It actually looked slow to me at points, because IU wasn’t trying to do too much — just simply taking what they were offered.

Rivers had a nice play during this stretch, as he grabbed an air ball and went coast to coast. But then Ole Miss turned up the pressure, started dominating inside, starting hitting shots, blocking IU’s shots, and IU began turning the ball over at an alarming rate. What was once a 20-11 lead quickly became a double-digit deficit.

Ole Miss just had too much to throw at the Hoosiers. They blocked a ridiculous 12 shots on both lines (starters DeAundre Cranston and Eniel Polynice had two each; Terrico White had one, while the bench picked up the remaining seven), and scored at will in stretches. They overpowered IU. The Hoosiers were able to make mini-runs here and there — something last year’s team would not have done — and had it to 69-61 with a bit over 5:00 to go. But after yet another turnover on a fast break (an errant Devan Dumes pass), that was basically it for their chances at a comeback.

THE BAD: TURNOVERS AND FREE THROWS.

So far this season, what killed IU last year is killing them this year. Sure, there’s more talent at pretty much every position. And a turnover from Rivers this early evening might not look as bad as a Daniel Moore one from last year. But the fact remains: this team is having an awful time taking care of the ball. They had 14 turnovers at half, and 21 for the game. Rivers led the way with six (though some of his drives to the rim were pretty, no?), while Maurice Creek had five. And free-throw shooting was bad again as well: the Hoosiers only hit 12 of their 27 attempts for 44 percent.

It’s tough to win a game, no matter how well you play otherwise, when you’re shooting under 50 percent from the free-throw line and turning the ball over more than 20 times in a contest.

I have faith the Hoosiers can correct the sloppiness as they begin to adjust to Crean’s up-tempo style. But sometimes with free-throw shooting you either have it or you don’t.

THE UGLY:

Tom Pritchard’s air-balled free throw. Back-to-back-to-back missed threes from nearly the same spot late in the second half: the first two from Dumes, the last one from Maurice Creek. The near empty gym:

Watford continues to impress. He’s been billed as a guy that can do it all, and this game really highlighted that: he got boards, hit shots, created in the lane, got some steals, a block, and he even brought the ball up the court on one occasion. For the night he had 17 points, 10 boards, two steals and one block. He’s not a dominant player yet, but he has the tools to develop into one.

Elston was a lot of fun to watch tonight. He showed off his range with a 3-ball, and on another one that he missed in the second half, he did a good job of following his shot, which led to a board and a bucket for him. (This is something I don’t remember Matt Roth doing once last season.) Elston also had a nice tip-in follow on a miss from Verdell Jones. He’s got a nice nose for the ball, works hard and is a polished player for a freshman. I’m really liking his game thus far.

THE BAD: THE FIRST HALF, TURNOVERS AND FREE THROWS.

This game had shades of last season, as the Hoosiers racked up 18 turnovers, and only went 16-of-30 from the line. The beginning of the game was particularly rough; the Hoosiers never built any momentum or rhythm and let the Spartans hang around. It was a very sloppy affair. It’s clear Jeremiah Rivers is a terrific passer, but he was a little off this evening as he had four turnovers. It was almost as if he was trying to do too much. IU isn’t going to turn the ball over like this all season, but heading into their first real test of the year against Mississippi on Thursday, it’s a little worrisome.

THE UGLY: DEVAN DUMES.

I feel bad for Dumes. Last year, outside of Tom Pritchard, he was expected to be the man on offense. But this year, with an influx of talent around him, Dumes has to swallow his pride and assume a new role, and it’s not something I’m sure he’s going to handle particularly well, at least to start. With more size on this team, he looks smaller out on the court now, too. He’s still going to pop when he has the chance, but tonight was a particularly rough one for him: in 20 minutes, he had four turnovers — a few that were real ugly — and shot 1-of-6 from the field, 0-of-3 for behind the arc and 0-of-1 from the line. He did have five boards, however.

This is but one game, so it’s a small sample size. Dumes has plenty of time to find his mark.

BONUS: GUS JOHNSON’S SPECS.

Hoosier Hysteria is on the horizon and it’s time for Inside the Hall’s player-by-player breakdown of the 2009-2010 Indiana Hoosiers. We wrap up the player profiles today with Devan Dumes

Devan Dumes led Indiana in several statistical categories a season ago: total points (344), points per game (12.7), 3-pointers made (59) and indefinite suspensions (1). Here’s a brief synopsis of his 2008-2009 season: he was Tom Crean’s most reliable option on offense and for a period in February, he was Crean’s biggest headache following an ejection for throwing elbows against Michigan State.

Dumes was at his best offensively in late January and early February when he averaged 19.6 points during a five-game stretch that included IU’s one conference win over Iowa. Unfortunately, his season-high 27 points against Iowa was preceded by an elbow to Goran Suton’s groin and an indefinite suspension that lasted two games. He apologized shortly after the incident, but struggled mightily in three of the final four Big Ten games, suffered a knee injury in the regular season finale and had surgery on his finger over the summer.

His role in 2009-2010 will be far different than a year ago: available shots and minutes won’t be as plentiful. He could find himself as a reserve because of Indiana’s added backcourt depth. Coming off the bench could actually be a positive for Dumes and for IU because his ability to provide instant offense and energy may be better utilized as a sub.

Bottom Line: The lone senior expected to contribute on the court (sorry Tijan!), Dumes has an opportunity to step up and seize a leadership role. In his press conference a week ago, Tom Crean commented that “nobody that just grabs the team and says this is what we’re doing everyday.” Dumes should benefit from IU’s improved personnel on offense, specifically Jeremiah Rivers and Jordan Hulls, who both make it a point to find open shooters.

Quotable: “Devan (Dumes) missed some valuable time this summer because of his injury, because of his surgery, and that has probably put a few things back. He is shooting the ball extremely well, but he has still got a ways to go in developing that driving game again and that ball handling.” – Crean on Dumes.

Dumes leads Hoosiers over Hawkeyes:

What you haven’t read is the following report from Inside the Hall reader Bryan, who told us via tips@insidethehall.com about his encounter with Bawa and also details the physical transformation of Tom Pritchard, Devan Dumes and Verdell Jones.

I know there was a story run in the IDS about Bawa being at the HPER playing with all of the guys. Just to add to that story, I saw him today and offered him a ride. He was incredibly nice, smiled, and politely shook his head. I then told him to get used to ridiculous things like people stopping in traffic on the bypass. Yeah, that’s another thing, he was walking on the bypass. At the Dunn intersection. Weird. His face even has defined muscles, it’s quite ridiculous.

I thought it might be a good idea to run a small piece on the progress of players over the course of the summer. I’ve seen a lot of players everyday over the course of the summer and some of them have undergone incredible body transformations. Tom Pritchard is a big-fat-for-instance. At the beginning of June I saw him and he looked like a wad of cookie dough. I saw him today and he looks like he’s lost at least 20 pounds. He looked really lean. Devan Dumes looks bulked up, and the stories about VJ3 hitting the weight room hard have to be true because seeing him last year and then this year yields a glaring difference. I’m a monstrous 6′2, 165lbs and I used to look about the same frame-wise as he did, but now he has some muscle to go with those 7ft. arms.

So there you have it. Bawa’s face has ridiculous muscles and Pritchard, Dumes and Verdell are making strides in the weight room. We’re a Maurice Creek sighting away from a full roster in Bloomington. And that should happen next week. Only 63 more days until Hoosier Hysteria.

Final statistics: 12.7 ppg; 2.9 rpg; 72 percent FT’s; 41 percent FG’s; 23 steals

Until the late season emergence of Verdell Jones, Dumes was the most consistent Hoosier offensively for a majority of the season. Under normal circumstances, Dumes would be the 8th or 9th man on a middle of the pack Big Ten team. But as we all know, the circumstances in Bloomington this season were far from normal and Dumes was forced into a more prominent role. His most memorable performance was a 27-point effort in IU’s lone Big Ten win over Iowa.

But the storyline that garnered the most chatter on Dumes in 2008-2009 was a two-game suspension following a series of elbows thrown and ejection in the Michigan State game. After that game, Dumes, joined by Tom Crean, apologized for his actions in a press conference and missed games against Minnesota and Illinois. If Dumes is to return and become the leader of next season’s team, he’ll need to become more disciplined with his emotions and not let tough defense get under his skin.

Quotable: “It’s been difficult, I’m really not sure there are words that can express it because it’s a very tough thing to go through. But we never gave up, we always fought people and we got through it. There have been a lot of stepping stones, and we’ve just got to get better.” – Devan Dumes after IU’s loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament.

(Photo Credit: Joshua Levering/WFIU)