No. 2 Hoosiers go cold in second half

Discussion

January 16, 2013

No. 2 Hoosiers go cold in second half

Michael Marot Associated Press Wed Jan 16, 2013, 02:00 AM EST

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana's Victor Oladipo was unusually quiet Tuesday night.

His coach, Tom Crean, was brief, too.

There just wasn't much to say after Ryan Evans scored 13 points and Traevon Jackson added 11, leading unranked Wisconsin to a 64-59 upset of No. 2 Indiana.

"We just didn't hit shots and they hit a lot of crazy shots and we didn't defend well," Oladipo said.

The loss ended Indiana's six-game winning streak, an 18-game winning streak on its home court and prevented the Hoosiers from taking sole possession of the Big Ten lead.

Instead the surprising Badgers (13-4, 4-0) are the last unbeaten team in conference play.

And nobody was more surprised by Tuesday's performance than the Hoosiers. The nation's highest-scoring team scored fewer than 60 points for the first time all season and shot a season-low 37 percent. Cody Zeller finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds but followed a near perfect first half, going 8 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 3 from the free-throw line, by going 1 of 7 from the field in the second half.

Christian Watford had 11 points and Oladipo added 10.

What happened?

"Tonight when we weren't making shots, especially the ones that were open, we also didn't come down and stay as disciplined as we needed to be defensively," coach Tom Crean said. "They beat us off the dribble a little bit and the first half our problem was that we were holding our rotations too long and overhelping on defense, which is something you don't need to do against Wisconsin."

And, as usual, the Badgers looked right at home inside Assembly Hall.

Wisconsin has won 11 consecutive games in this series, matching the second-longest streak of any school Indiana has played. The Badgers also won 11 straight over Indiana from 1912-19 and Purdue won 12 straight from 1908-14.

That's not all.

The Badgers (13-2, 4-0) are the first team since 1923 to win a fifth consecutive game in Bloomington, matching a record achieved only three other times, most recently by Purdue, and they still have not lost to Crean since he arrived in Bloomington in 2008.

Wisconsin has now won seven straight, beaten two Top 15 teams in four days and ended Indiana's home-court winning streak and all with coach Bo Ryan feeling less than 100 percent.

"I really liked how hard our guys played, the adjustments our guys made on the court. I thought our assistant coaches did a great job in practice, getting us ready for this game because the head coach is a little under the weather," Ryan said. "It' like whoa! I feel like someone just took me in the corner and worked me over."

The Badgers won this one the way always seem to - by slowing the pace, taking advantage of opportunities and limiting the turnovers. That's Badgers basketball.

In fact, the Badgers followed the script perfectly.

They committed just eight turnovers and took advantage of seemingly every opportunity they had, especially in the second half as Hoosiers fans moaned and groaned about everything from missed shots to errant passes.

"It's huge you know," Jackson said. "We'll celebrate for 24 hours and then we got to get ready for Iowa. Just got to get ready for another one."

Indiana opened the second half with a three-point play to extend its halftime lead to 35-31, but managed only six points over the next 6:34.

The drought opened the door for Wisconsin, which rallied with a 7-0 run to take a 38-37 lead. A few minutes later, the Badgers were off on a 9-0 spurt that ended when Mike Bruesewitz's 3 beat the shot-clock buzzer to give Wisconsin a 47-39 lead.

"They bait you with their drives and kicks," Crean said. "In the second half, they made shots and some of them reminded me of the Michael Jordan-Larry Bird McDonald's commercial."

Wisconsin led by as much as 51-41 before the Hoosiers finally cranked up the pressure.

Indiana scored four straight and after Evans made 1 of 2 free throws, the Hoosiers scored six straight to pull to 52-51 on Yogi Ferrell's 3 with 4:40 to go.

But that was as close as Indiana got.

Ben Brust made a 17-foot jumper and the Badgers closed it out with a game-ending 12-8 run.

"It's just what we normally do," Ryan said. "We try to take away giving up easy baskets. I think everybody in the country says that, and then you've got to do it. Our guys have bought into that, especially tonight because Indiana is that good."

Text Only

The "Z" Watch

Wolves work out ex-Indiana center Cody Zeller
The Minnesota Timberwolves are evaluating former Indiana center Cody Zeller, among their prospects for the NBA draft.
Zeller worked out for Wolves officials Wednesday, one of several big men who showed their skills on the team's practice court.

June 13, 2013
Tyler Zeller among 27 invited to USA Basketball summer minicamp
San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard, enjoying a strong NBA Finals, and Washington's Tyler Zeller are two of 27 young players scheduled to attend USA Basketball's minicamp in July.

June 12, 2013 1 Photo
IU still working towards sixth banner
Monday night in Atlanta, Louisville won the school’s first National Championship since the year I was born - 1986. This accomplishment is significant to Indiana basketball fans, because the last two times the Cardinals cut down the nets (1980, 1986), the Hoosiers did it the following year. The stat, of course means nothing, other than both schools had strong programs in the 1980s.

April 11, 2013
Zeller declares for NBA
Indiana’s Cody Zeller turned down one chance to play in the NBA. He couldn’t say no twice.
The 7-foot sophomore center who returned to school last fall for one more shot at a national championship announced Wednesday he is leaving college early to enter the NBA draft. The reason was simple.

April 11, 2013
Washington shows support for Zeller
Washington residents don’t get to see Tyler Zeller much these days, but for one night, he was back in Indiana.
Zeller, along with his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates played the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, much to the enjoyment of more than a hundred Washington residents that made the two-hour trip to Indianapolis.

April 10, 2013 1 Photo
Zeller scores 18, but Pacers beat Cavs 99-94
For the first 43 minutes Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, it looked like a great homecoming for former Washington Hatchet - now Cleveland Cavalier - Tyler Zeller. The final five belonged to the Indiana Pacers.

April 10, 2013 1 Photo
Oladipo, Zeller named All-Americans
Statistics through March 17
First Team
Trey Burke, Michigan, 6-0, 190, sophomore, Columbus, Ohio, 19.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 6.7 apg, 40.1 3-pt fg pct, 1.6 steals, 35.2 minutes (62 first-team votes, 319 total points)
Otto Porter Jr., Georgetown, 6-8, 205, sophomore, Morley, Mo., 16.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 42.7 3 pt-fg pct, 1.9 steals, 35.3 minutes (62, 319)
Victor Oladipo, Indiana, 6-5, 214, junior, Upper Marlboro, Md., 13.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 59.9 fg pct, 44.3 3-pt fg pct, 2.2 steals (58, 306)
Doug McDermott, Creighton, 6-8, 225, junior, Ames, Iowa, 23.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 56.1 fg pct, 49.7 3-pt fg pct, 86.0 ft pct (44, 279)
Kelly Olynyk, Gonzaga, 7-0, 238, junior, Kamloops, British Columbia, 17.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 65.2 fg pct (47, 278)

April 1, 2013
Hoosiers look ahead after disappointing finish
Indiana left Washington in a dour mood.
Tom Crean knows his team can't afford to let it linger if it intends to continue chasing another national championship banner.

March 30, 2013
Turnovers spell disaster for No. 1 Indiana
Nineteen turnovers. Sixteen baskets. A season-low 50 points.
Top-seed Indiana had no answer for the 2-3 zone of Syracuse, and now the Hoosiers are heading home after a 61-50 loss Thursday night bounced them from the NCAA tournament.

March 29, 2013
Indiana can't solve Syracuse zone in Sweet 16
It took winning a national title for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to get over a late-shot loss to Indiana the last time the schools faced off in the NCAA tournament.

March 29, 2013
More The "Z" Watch Headlines

The "Z" Watch

Search Results

Discussion

No. 2 Hoosiers go cold in second half

Site Map

Contact Us