Zeisloft, Ferrell Lead Indiana Past Minnesota

Saturday, January 16

Minneapolis, MN

12:30 PM

Indiana University

15-3, 5-0

Minnesota

6-12, 0-6

Indiana

Minnesota

1/16/2016 2:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -It's safe to say Nick Zeisloft found his shooting stroke.

The senior guard made five consecutive 3-pointers, including four in a row over 134 seconds in the opening half of Indiana's 70-63 win against Minnesota Saturday afternoon. It was a sudden return to form for Zeisloft, who had started Big Ten play connecting on just 4-of-27 attempts from long range.

Zeisloft's surge, combined with a 20-point night from senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell, combined to lead Indiana to its 10^th consecutive win and first road win in Minnesota since the 2012-13 season.

"We're really, really proud of this win because we had to earn it," head coach Tom Crean said.

Zeisloft heated up right after Minnesota (6-12, 0-6) pulled away to a nine-point lead midway through the first half and pulled Indiana (15-3, 5-0) within one point by the end of his personal 12-4 run against the Gophers.

He hit from long range again in the second half to give Indiana a 46-44 lead with 13:35 left, an advantage Ferrell made sure the Hoosiers would hold onto the remainder of the game.

"The jump shot felt good today," Zeisloft said. "But it was more my teammates. They were getting me open. They make my job easier."

Ferrell finished with 20 points, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and only one turnovers in 37 minutes. He didn't shoot particularly well—just 6-of-17—but made two critical shots in the final four minutes, including a layup with 32 seconds left to put the Hoosiers up six points and all but seal the win.

Ferrell's seven assists moved him past Quinn Buckner into second place on Indiana's all-time assists list with 544. He's now only one dish behind Michael Lewis for the all-time lead.

"It's a great honor," Ferrell said. "But with that, I've played with a lot of great teammates all four years at Indiana. Guys like Nick, Rob (Johnson) and James (Blackmon) basically get my assists for me."

The Golden Gophers had the better of the Hoosiers early on in what was the Indiana's third consecutive grind-it-out Big Ten win.

Neither team was particularly strong early on in what was a slow start for both sides. Crean said his players were settling for jump shots too early on in the shot clock instead of working the ball through the paint and looking for open shooters when defensive help collapsed.

Minnesota built its lead to nine points before Zeisloft caught fire from beyond the arc to help the Hoosiers level the score at halftime. The second half didn't start out nearly as slow as the first half did for the Hoosiers, who pulled ahead and held on against a young Gophers team that's lost 10-of-11 games.

"We came out a little slow then Nick gets us going," senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. "He was like our defibrillator. We had a little irregular heartbeat and he hit those big ones and got us going."

Crean called Indiana's win—its 10^th in a row—a "grow-up game" because of the way his players handled the momentum swings of the game. He added that it was another situation where his team was forced to adapt within the game without making poor decisions.

"We've just got to keep finding ways (to win)," Crean said. "That's what this team is doing in the Big Ten."