Indiana 71 Mississippi Valley State 54

This was a nice win for the Hoosiers.  Once again, a terribly slow start and IU found themselves down 7-0.  The Hoosiers quickly answered with an 8-0 run of their own but found themselves in a dogfight the rest of the first half.

I have to admit, I thought this game was going to be a dogfight until the end.  MVSU came out strong, hit several 3's, and looked pretty athletic.  Also, knowing that they had a 6-point lead with less than 4 minutes to go before eventually losing to Georgia by 2, had me concerned that this team might be able to give IU game.

IU was still down by 1 with less than a minute to go in the first half, but then the tide finally turned.  IU closed the half on a 5-0 run that was capped by an impressive 3 by Hulls with a few seconds left.  It was a thing of beauty -- Hulls took a pass just inside half court, took one dribble while driving hard and then pulled up for a 23-footer that was nothing but net.  IU was up 4 points at the half, which was their largest lead of the game at that time.

The Hoosiers came out in the second half and dominated by outscoring MVSU 22-3 in the first 10 minutes of the half, making the total scoring run 27-3.  Also, it was a 49-19 run since MVSU took that 7-0 lead to start the game.

With a comfortable 23 point lead, it looked like IU would cruise to victory.  And they pretty much still did, but they did give up a 17-5 run at this stage with some extremely sloppy play.  This allowed MVSU to cut the lead back to just 11 points with just under 7 minutes to play. 

Hulls then went to the line and I was relieved because I was sure he would hit them both to stop the run, but he actually missed them both!  So, MVSU had a possession and a shot in the air to get the lead under 10.  Fortunately, they missed, Watford was eventually fouled and he hit both (another impressive 8-8 FTs for him) to right the ship again. 

IU then turned that into a 6-0 run to push the lead back to 17 and they were able to put this one away.

I don't want to make too much out of a win against Mississippi Valley State....wait, yes I do.  I love winning.  I don't care who it's against.  Anyway, here are some additional notes:

* IU is 3-0.

* IU is 3-0 without a healthy Maurice Creek and without Guy-Marc Michel (I'm in such a good mood tonight that I'll skip my rant against the NCAA.)

* IU won tonight with Verdell Jones III having an absolutely horrible game.  On Sunday, Verdell was terrific and it kind of left you with the feeling of "as Verdell goes, so goes the Hoosiers".  However, VJIII was way off his game tonight with only 5 points on 2-10 shooting and 7 turnovers.  With Verdell's 18 turnovers already combined with Hulls' outstanding play at the point tonight, it makes for an interesting argument over who should be the primary ball-handler on this team.  My take right now is that I like how Crean is playing it right now with multiple ball handlers.  This allows both guys to create and play off the ball at various times.  I just hope Verdell gets the turnovers under control.  But my original point was that IU was able to overcome the struggles of their leader and still win going away.

* Taking this beyond just Verdell, the starters were only 12-40 from the field tonight.  In addition, Jones, Creek, and Watford were just 1-10 from the arc.  Again, the good news here is that there was some sub-par shooting from the key players on this team which means others must have stepped up.  Read on. 

* IU got 32 points off the bench tonight on 11-20 FG shooting.  The biggest contributions were from the two freshmen.  Oladipo and Sheehey scored 9 points a piece and both provided big energy and some big moments in the game. 

* In the first half, Oladipo made a nice spin move in the lane and dished to Watford for a dunk.  Then, in the second half, Oladipo was involved in the play of the game.  Hulls had dribbled to the elbow, picked up his dribble, and was being tightly guarded while trying to find an open man.  Oladipo then cut diagonally from the opposite elbow down to the block.  Hulls beautifully bounced him a behind-the-back pass that Oladipo layed in with a foul.  The bench and crowd went crazy.  Vic missed the free throw, though.  You can't do that on a highlight play like that.  Another positive note was Victor's jumper.  That was the knock on him as a recruit, but he has worked hard on it and it looks pretty good.  He drained his only 3-pointer and hit another 17-footer shortly thereafter.  Crean is very big on the plus-minus number (as am I) and he said that Victor was +30 in only 15 minutes of play.  That is outstanding.

* Sheehey jumped into the passing lane on 2 occassions and took the steal to the rack and scored on both.  On the first one, he had a defender with him and he made a nice up-and-under move to score.  On the second steal, he got out in front of the defense for a 2-handed dunk.  In total, Sheehey had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist in just 11 minutes of play.  Very athletic white boy.

* Jordan Hulls was outstanding tonight.  The 3 before half and the behind-the-back pass were clearly the highlights, but I thought his ball-handling and passing were terrific tonight.  Well played, Jordy.  Well played.

* Watford was solid again with 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists.  His 3-point attempts looked good, but did not fall.  If he starts knocking those down, look out!

* Creek was just 1-5 from the arc.  I thought he looked gimpier tonight than he did on Sunday.  Perhaps the 3 games in 5 days has been a lot for his leg to handle.

* More of the same from Pritchard.

* Capobianco had his best game of the year with 6 points and 3 rebounds off the bench.

* Rivers continues to play his role well.  6 rebounds and a couple more brilliant interior passes. 

* Only 8 minutes for Elston.  He left the game with a knee injury and did not return.  It did not appear to be serious.  By the way, Matt Roth continues to sit out with a knee injury that was not deemed serious, but Crean has said "will keep him out for a while".  Whatever the hell that means.  Doesn't anybody want to inform us about anything?!?  Uh-oh, I'm slipping into my NCAA rant.  Nope, not gonna do it.  Onward and upward.

* Daniel Moore's jump shot has improved each year and he showed it off tonight with a 24-footer to beat the shot-clock buzzer.

* Mrs. jdhoosier says Tom Crean looks too tan for mid-November.  I agree.

Next up: Evansville makes the short trip to Bloomington on Sunday at 1pm ET/Noon CT.  $50 for anyone who can make my kids disappear for 3 hours.  IU Hoops AND the Packers putting Favre and the Vikings out of their misery....are you kidding me?!?