In recent seasons, the Indiana University basketball team learned how difficult it is to win in the Big Ten. On Thursday, the Hoosiers were reminded how easy it is to lose.
Ranked No. 7 in the nation and previously unbeaten at Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers started slow and couldn't finish fast enough in a 77-74 loss to Minnesota, which walked into the building without a win in conference play.
It wasn't exactly the way IU wanted to start a week that includes Sunday's trip to Ohio State, where the talented Buckeyes no doubt will be in a foul mood with the memory not only of their 74-70 loss in Bloomington on Dec. 31 but also a 79-74 defeat at Illinois on Tuesday, when Brandon Paul burned them for 43 points.
"We just didn't have our edge tonight," IU junior Jordan Hulls told reporters after the loss to Minnesota dropped the Hoosiers to 15-2 overall, 3-2 in the Big Ten. "We didn't get stops when we needed to and we gave up too many good looks.
"And you've got to come up with the big rebounds at the end of the game and we just didn't do that."
Simply put, the Hoosiers played more like the team that struggled in coach Tom Crean's first three seasons than the one that has surprised the nation this time around.
Indiana had 16 turnovers and only six assists. It came in leading the nation in 3-point shooting at 47.6 percent, it hit only 4 of 18 (22.2 percent). It gave up extra possessions on Minnesota's 16 offensive rebounds. And when the Gophers weren't driving directly to the basket, they were breaking open for six first-half 3-pointers to take the lead for keeps.
Individually, Cody Zeller had 23 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals, and Will Sheehey was surprisingly effective after sitting for five games due to a foot injury with 12 points (on 5 of 7 shooting) and six rebounds in 15 minutes.
But starters Verdell Jones and Christian Watford were 1 of 13 with seven turnovers combined.
"Did our players have the same edge that Minnesota players had?" Crean asked and then answered: "No, they didn't. The last seven minutes they did, but up to that point, they didn't. We paid a price for it."
IU trailed by as many as nine points in the first half and 11 in the second, before clawing its way back within one behind two 3-pointers by Matt Roth and three-point plays by Victor Oladipo and Zeller in the final 58 seconds. But the Hoosiers never got a shot to tie or lead.
"We have to bring it every night," Hulls said. "It's the Big Ten. Every team is good in this league."
Going forward, IU now is faced with the game at Ohio State followed by a trip to Nebraska, before returning home to face Penn State before hitting the road again for Wisconsin.
By the end of that stretch, it will be easier to see if IU will truly be a contender in a conference race that has only Michigan State (15-2, 4-0) unblemished.
"As I said to them in the locker room, 'I'm not going to overreact, but I'm not going to under-react,'" Crean said. "When you start to win, as things change around you, your mind-set can't change. They've got to learn, they've got to grow through that.
"We are going to move forward in a quick way. It is very clear that we've got to get that edge back. I'm very confident we will."
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