Thoughts on a 69-58 win over the Fighting Irish:

This was not Indiana’s finest performance.

After all the Kentucky game’s emotion and what followed during the off week — the endless stream of celebration videos, the national media interviews, the first entry into the country’s Top 25 in the Tom Crean era — some expected this. Feared it.

And there it was, happening on a dead late afternoon inside Conseco Fieldhouse: The Hoosiers found themselves down nine in the first half to an average Notre Dame team — its largest deficit of the season. This one was ugly and foul-heavy and it dragged on and on. It was generally just one to forget.

The Fighting Irish didn’t hit a shot for the final 14:33 of the first half. And yet, the Hoosiers were only able to muster a modest six-point lead (26-20) at the break because they had offensive problems of their own (just a 34.4 eFG% in the first half). Indiana didn’t hit its first 3-pointer until Jordan Hulls splashed one through at 13:56 in the second half. And even though the Hoosiers built a comfortable lead in the final twenty minutes — leading by low double-digits for a long stretch — Notre Dame was really only a mini-run away from making a game of it despite only hitting 38.7 percent from the field.

Continue reading this post »