IU Sucks, Ohio State Doesn't

I am so sick and tired of being embarrassed.  I didn't have any delusions of going into Ohio State and winning, but I sure was hoping we could compete for a while and make the Buckeyes earn it.  We just gave this one to them.  Matta certainly could have rested Evan Turner and he probably could have gotten away with resting Lighty, Buford, Diebler, and Lauderdale if he wanted to.

This game was 31-8 after 15 1/2 minutes of play.  That's right, we had 8 points with less than 5 minutes to go in the first half.  Absolutely horrible.

In those first 15 minutes, the whole team was obviously horrible, but Christain Watford was standing out (in a bad way) amongst the horribleness.

But then, after the team had managed just 8 points in 15 1/2 minutes, Watford scored 8 points in 1 1/2 minutes with back-to-back 3s and a pair of free throws.

Unfortunately, after that impressive stretch, Watford went right back to looking completely out of sorts and had back-to-back turnovers. 

Speaking of turnovers, IU had 14 of them in the first half.  They were struggling just to get shots in the air.  And on the rare occassion where they got a good look -- Verdell was missing mid-range shots that he normally makes, Hulls couldn't buy a 3-pointer, and when you hoped maybe Dumes could provide a spark, he threw up an airball.

Does anybody miss Mo Creek yet?

Does anybody wonder if the glory of old IU will ever return?

I couldn't wait for this game to be over.  It seemed to last forever.  I hate this feeling.

In my mind, the true mark of being truly pathetic on offense is scoring less than 20 points in a half.  The Hoosiers looked to have that locked up.  After Watford's 8-point spurt got IU to a whopping 16 points with 4 minutes to go.  Then, with less than 10 seconds to go, the Hoosiers were still stuck on 16.  But Verdell went to the line with 5.6 seconds, hit both, stole the inbounds, and layed it in to get IU to 20 points at the half.  Hooray.

Not that it really mattered because we were still down 38-20 at the half.

14 turnovers and 30% FGs at halftime.  The Hoosiers really handled their first road game well.

At halftime, Tom Crean told Charissa Thompson that "we played like we were in quicksand".  Well, Tom, you are spot-on with that observation, but now go fix it!  You are getting paid millions of dollars!

It must have been one hell of a halftime speech because OSU came out and scored 17 points in the first 5 minutes of the second half.  At that point, this game became an even bigger laugher at 55-26.

Diebler kept hitting 3 after 3 after 3 over Jordan Hulls.  Hulls couldn't guard anyone and he couldn't throw it in the ocean on the offensive end.

It pains me to watch Jeremiah Rivers shoot a jump shot.  He probably shot 5 jumpers in this game and none of them had a chance, I mean not even a prayer, to go in.  What the hell, Doc?  You make a very nice living in the game of basketball, but you can't teach your son the basic concept of shooting the basketball.

Verdell picked it up with some nice offensive plays in the second half.  At that point, it was kind of padding the stats, but he finished with 22 points.  That gives him 20-plus in his last 4 Big Ten games.

Can anyone tell me what's going on with Tom Pritchard?  I know he's always in foul trouble, but it seems to me that Crean isn't calling his number and even giving him a chance to get some offense going.  Pritchard had some decent post moves last year, but we don't ever feed him in the post this year.  I don't know, but somehow we need to get more out of Pritch.

If looking for a positive, we did have 3 dunks.  Jeremiah Rivers opened the game with a nice drive and dunk on IU's first possession.  Actually, that may have been the worst thing to happen for IU.  Thad Matta called a timeout after OSU's pathetic defense on that possession and then they were in lock-down mode the rest of the half.  Pritchard also had a nice two-handed dunk, but the best dunk came from Derek Elston where he took a feed, took one dribble, went up off one-leg, threw it down with two hands, and swung on the rim a little.  It was good to see, especially since Elston had just missed a point-blank layup.

I want more Bawa!  In the garbage minutes, Bawa had a nice jump-hook and a blocked shot.  But then Crean took him out with a minute to go.  What's with that? 

Just got my first peak at a box score and here are some interesting (or troubling) stats:

• IU 4-18 from the arc.  I miss Mo!  Hell, I miss Matt Roth's 9 treys he hit against OSU last year.
• Jordan Hulls 0-5 from the arc.  Jon Diebler (guarded mostly by Hulls) was 5-8.
• Rivers (6), Watford (6), Jones (4), and Hulls (4) combined for 20 turnovers.
• Tom Pritchard was 1-1 from the field.  His only FGA was that dunk.  I want to stick with this one for a moment.  Tom Pritchard is shooting 64% from the field on the year.  Look it up, it's true, he is shooting 64% from the field.  Doesn't that tell you that we need to get him more opportunities?  Yes, he is shooting 64% because most of his shots have been dunks or put-backs, but I still argue he needs more opportunities.  Whether it's feeding him in the post or finding more ways to drive and dish to him for dunks, it needs to happen.  Especially in a game like this where you have only scored 8 points in the first 15 minutes of the game.  Just a thought, but I'm not getting paid millions to coach this team.  Tom Crean in on my nerves right now.  We better have a good showing at home again versus Illinois on Saturday night.

I'm depressed.  I don't even have the energy to blame Kelvin Sampson, so I guess that's it for tonight.