Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Butler
No. 18/17 Indiana Downs Butler at Conseco, 73-55
12/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2005
Box Score
Coach Davis Quotes
Indiana Player Quotes
INDIANAPOLIS - In front of a pro-Hoosier crowd of 13,152 fans at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., the No. 18/17 Indiana men's basketball team improved to 7-2 on the season with a 73-55 triumph over Butler on Dec. 23. With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 6-5.
As a team, Indiana outrebounded Butler, 35-17. Furthermore, the Hoosiers' stifling defense held the Bulldogs to 37-percent shooting. On the other side of the equation, IU connected on 56.8-percent of its shots. The Hoosiers also hit 18-of-20 free throws.
Senior forward Marco Killingsworth paced the Hoosiers with 27 points, while sophomore guard Robert Vaden connected for a career-high-tying 22 points along with a 4-of-4 effort from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Vaden led Indiana with seven rebounds and three assists. Additionally, senior guard Lewis Monroe tied for a team-high three helpers.
Indiana put the clamps on Butler in the early going, as the Bulldogs failed to score until nearly three minutes into the contest. Vaden came out on fire with five of IU's initial eight points going into the first media timeout. Playing in front of a home crowd in the Circle City, Vaden made it 5-0 when he popped a trey from the corner before knocking down a 15-footer to build a 7-3 advantage.
With Indiana up 10-5 on a Killingsworth layup, BU responded with a 7-0 run to take a 12-10 lead with just under 14 minutes left in the stanza. Over the next three minutes, the Hoosiers battled back to take a 17-16 advantage with four points in the paint from sophomore forward D.J. White and another connection from behind the arc by Vaden.
Both teams then fell into a mid-half lull as neither squad connected for more than two minutes until Killingsworth rolled in a layup with 7:58 remaining to take a 19-16 advantage. The Bulldogs then withstood another stagnant three minutes of play to take a 20-19 lead with 4:49 left in the half.
With 1:28 left in the first frame, Butler owned a 24-23 advantage over the Hoosiers. IU, however, began to ride on the back of Killingsworth, as the Montgomery, Ala., product recorded six straight points for IU during the stretch.
Vaden brought the Conseco Fieldhouse crowd to its feet with his third three of the contest to lead IU to a 26-24 lead over the Bulldogs.
Heading into halftime, Killingsworth and Vaden led the Hoosiers with 11 points each, while junior forward Brandon Crone paced the Bulldogs with nine points. In the first half, the Hoosiers owned the rebounding battle with a 16-8 advantage.
After the initial five minutes of the second stanza, the Hoosiers held a 38-32 lead. Once again, Killingsworth and Vaden paced Indiana, as Killingsworth recorded five consecutive points. Vaden tallied four points in the stretch with a 15-footer from the baseline and a put-back following a Killingsworth miss.
Even though the Hoosiers pushed their lead to 42-35 on a thunderous dunk from White, the pesky Bulldogs would not go away quietly. Butler battled back to cut the gap to 42-39. However, junior guard Earl Calloway helped the Hoosiers to a 44-39 advantage with a lay-up right before an official timeout at 11:18.
With 6:41 left to play in the ballgame, the Hoosiers maintained a 51-46 lead. During the stretch, the two squads traded shots, including a trey from the right wing by Vaden, which tied his career high for three-pointers in a game at four. Previously, the Indianapolis native recorded four trifectas in a game on two other occasions, with the most recent against Charlotte on Dec. 19.
Over the next two-and-a-half minutes of play, the Hoosiers extended their lead to 55-46. Vaden drained another 15-footer before Killingsworth powered up a shot in the paint while being fouled. The two-time Big Ten Player of the Week then extended IU's lead to 10 points at 56-46 by connecting on a conventional three-point play.
In the final four minutes of play, the Hoosiers salted away the victory by tallying 13 points at the charity stripe. During the Hoosier march to the free-throw line, Vaden tied a career high with 22 points.
After a quick Christmas break, the Hoosiers will be back in action on New Year's Eve in Muncie, Ind., as they tangle with Ball State at 6 p.m. The contest will be televised on ESPN-Plus. Additionally, all of Indiana's games can be heard live on the IU Radio Network. WHCC (105.1 FM in Bloomington) is the flagship station for the network that has more than 50 stations broadcasting Hoosier basketball.
