The Indiana Hoosiers have not been an easy team to root for this season. In their 11-game losing streak and Big Ten winlessness, they’ve struggled to inspire much of anything in the way of interest, or intrigue, or emotion, really. (With the exception of the Michigan game, that is. That sucked.)

By far the most satisfying part of the season has been watching Tom Crean, watching him both on and off the court. Watching him handle his business, watch him coach every game like IU has a Final Four shot, watch him prod players along without showing even the slightest hint of frustration, watch him work a Chicago crowd into a veritable frenzy. All the while, his former team, Marquette, has been running roughshod over the best conference in college basketball; they might get a No. 1 NCAA Tourney seed. Until last night, it was a question as to whether or not IU would win a single game the rest of the season.

Ah, but win they did. Ryan predicted it (he downplays his predictive abilities, but the man has a gift), as did Devan Dumes and Tijan Jobe (whose new nickname should be “prophet.”) It felt like it was time, didn’t it? An awful Iowa team playing Indiana at home. Indiana seeming to, in its last few games, pull things together a bit more. Last night was the night.

It’s not about us, really, but I’m curious: After the game, how did you feel? Excited? Relieved? Anything? I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t overjoyed or thrilled or cathartically relieved like I assumed. I thought I would be jumping up and down, or something. Instead, I was just kind of pleased — glad to know the Hoosiers won’t go the entire season without a Big Ten win, that Crean’s and his players’ hard work was rewarded, at least for one night. Not overjoyed. Just happy. That’s good enough.

Of course, though the result was the same, there was plenty about the game that had 2008-09 Hoosiers written all over it. Let’s take a look:

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The 11-game losing streak is over.

In a game that looked eerily similar to earlier contests the Hoosiers haven’t been able to close out down the stretch, Tom Crean’s club reversed the trend and fended off Iowa 68-60 in front of 14,247 fans in Assembly Hall. The win was the first since December 10 for the Hoosiers.

“It was a great win for us,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “As I said to the players late in the game and I said in the locker room, this will be the toughest win that they ever get. And it wasn’t just because it was game night, it was because we haven’t won in a while and I’m really proud of them.”

Indiana (6-15, 1-8 Big Ten) led by 13 at halftime and enjoyed a 20-point lead with 11:58 remaining. The Hoosiers, however, saw the gap close to 63-60 with 44 seconds remaining on a Jeff Peterson layup.

Crean then called for a timeout and Iowa fouled Verdell Jones, who hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 64-60. IU forced turnovers on Iowa’s final two possessions on steals by Devan Dumes and Nick Williams. A layup by Malik Story and a pair of free throws by Dumes sealed the victory.

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Ah, the Hoosiers. Just when I thought I was out … they pull me back in.

It’s not as though I had given up on the season in any sort of meaningful way. Actually, I’d given up on the season, in the way most people use the phrase (i.e. forgetting about any sort of end-term success prematurely) well before the season started. Whatever illusions I had about surprising a few people are long gone. Whatever hopes I had for a mid-Big Ten finish vanished somewhere in the Lipscomb box score.

Still …

Saturday’s game showed something. It showed that despite all of IU’s truly serious flaws, despite their disadvantages in talent, and despite their inexperience and sometimes strange behavior … they can compete. They can be competitive. Even if it’s against Iowa — a team that might feed on the bottom of the Big Ten this year too — it shows that if IU defends well, rebounds, and does all the very fundamental things that coaches try to instill before anything else, they can put in a respectable performance.

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THE GOOD

Tom Crean. After Indiana’s abysmal last couple games, starting out on the road in the Big Ten — no matter what the team — and having the Hoosiers in it at the end impressed me. Credit the coach for having his guys ready.

The defense. In the first half, Indiana’s press coupled with some good defense in the half court kept them close. They trailed by only six at half. Iowa shot better in the second half, but they never got a lead so big a mini-run by IU couldn’t bring them right back into the game.

Rebounds. Despite Cyrus Tate’s monster game inside (22 points, 11 rebounds) IU out-rebounded the Hawkeyes 30-27.

Free throws. There were some frustrating front-end one-and-one misses for the Hoosiers in the first half, but they shot a respectable 17-of-22 for the game.

Turnovers. IU only turned the ball over 11 times against the Hawkeyes.

THE BAD AND UGLY

Fouls. IU had a bazillion of them. Both Kyle Taber — who was having a pretty solid game — and Devan Dumes fouled out, and Tom Pritchard had four for a good section of the second half. In the final moments of the game, having a guy like Dumes — no matter how erratic he sometimes is — would have been the best option for IU to get a quick bucket. Without him, IU was limited in their already limited offense.

The offense. We know the talent isn’t quite there, and this team is young and inexperienced. (In the waning moments of the game, we had five freshman on the court.) Those are hindrances that are hard to overcome. But there were many times this afternoon when the shot clock would wind down, and this team looked more like a squad at the HPER. Threes from way behind the line were jacked. Dribbling with no purpose ran rampant.

And for as much as IU showed some resolve and almost came back to steal a win at Iowa, it was hard to have much confidence in them when they absolutely needed to score, because they haven’t proven an offensive juggernaught at all this year.

But all and all, I think this is what we call a “moral victory.” It was a solid first Big Ten showing for this team. There’s no denying that.

Postgame links:

+ Boxscore

+ Postgame quotes

+ Game Recap

If there was a knock on Indiana in their past 12 games, it was a lack of consistency on defense.

Sure, there were some flashes of defensive brilliance, but all in all, the Hoosiers had yet to put it all together for 40 minutes.

Fast forward to Wednesday night.

Indiana (17-1, 6-0 Big Ten) held Iowa to 34 percent shooting, forced 20 turnovers and cruised to a 65-43 victory in front of a sellout crowd at Assembly Hall. The win was the 29th consecutive for IU on Branch McCracken Court.

“Our kids are getting better. Our defense was better tonight,” Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. “If you keep working at things and have good kids, you usually improve.”

D.J. White led Indiana with 19 points and Eric Gordon added 17 points, four steals and three blocked shots. Jamarcus Ellis turned in another solid all-around effort with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.

Unlike the first meeting between the two teams on January 2, the outcome was never in doubt. Indiana led 36-27 at halftime and led 46-35 with 13:29 remaining before reeling off nine straight points to put the game away.

Tony Freeman paced Iowa (9-11, 2-4) with 14 points and Justin Johnson, who scored 29 points in the first meeting between the two teams, scored just six points on 1 of 6 shooting.

The 43 points for the Hawkeyes tied a season-low. The other occurrence, however, was a 43-36 upset of then No. 6 Michigan State at Carver Hawkeye Arena.

Indiana will return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. in a non-conference battle with Connecticut. That game will be televised on CBS.

Related:

• Box score
• AP Recap

Opponent: Iowa

Date: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | 9:06 p.m. EST

Arena: Assembly Hall (17,357) – Bloomington, Indiana

Line: Indiana by 16

All-time series: Indiana leads 92-68

Previous meeting: Indiana won 79-76 on January 2

TV: Big Ten Network (Wayne Larrivee and Shon Morris)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Iowa (9-10, 2-4 Big Ten): Jake Kelly, Tony Freeman, Justin Johnson, Seth Gorney, Cyrus Tate
• Indiana (16-1, 5-0 Big Ten): Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Mike White, D.J. White

Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):

• Iowa
• Indiana

Gameday reading:

• Johnson slumping, but others heating up (Iowa City Press-Citizen)
• Ellis ready to try new tactic on Iowa’s Johnson (Indianapolis Star)
• No. 7 Hoosiers to host Hawkeyes (Indiana Daily Student)
• Hoosiers face Alford-less Hawkeyes (Indiana Daily Student)

As always, your predictions, analysis and comments are welcome in the game thread.