Indiana University Athletics
IU Runs Away With Win At Michigan
2/3/2016 2:16:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By: Tori Ziege, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It's the kind of thing they don't keep records of.
But what Indiana managed on Tuesday had to be, at the very least, a statistical anomaly.
Twenty-eight unanswered points. Not 28 unanswered against just anyone — but, in Michigan, a top-tier Big Ten team. Not 28 unanswered in Assembly Hall, where IU is 13-0 — but in the Crisler Center, where the Wolverines were, until Tuesday, 11-1.
That, the statement from the Hoosiers, as they began the second half of Big Ten play with an 80-67 win in Ann Arbor, and their best win, based on RPI, this season.
"Especially since we're on the road, this is a good win for us to kind of get things going," fifth-year senior Max Bielfeldt said. "The great thing is, we've gotten better. With the games we've got coming up against teams at the top of the conference now, this is a great game to get our confidence up."
At No. 22 in the rankings, Indiana has plenty of talking points on its résumé.
The Hoosiers sit atop the Big Ten conference at 9-1. They're undefeated at home, and their 12-0 stretch from Dec. 5 to Jan. 26 amounts to one of the longest win streaks in college basketball this season.
But holding the Hoosiers back, in the eyes of many pundits, has been their strength of schedule.
Indiana (19-4, 9-1), of course, doesn't control who it plays. What the Hoosiers do control — and what head coach Tom Crean has emphasized — is how they play. Against the Wolverines (17-6, 7-3), their first challenge in a back-loaded conference schedule, they were dominant.
Crean didn't realize just how dominant until the end of the first period.
"I had no idea until halftime that we had the run that we had," Crean said. "I just knew that we were getting stops and the ball was really moving for us offensively."
Indiana made its statement in a united effort, going on a 41-9 run during which all first-half players scored. The Hoosiers held the Wolverines scoreless for 10:29 and limited them to just one offensive rebound in that span.
On the road with his team down 11, Crean said he never panicked. He was confident in his players' desire to win.
"They take every day for what it is, which the most important day," Crean said. "And to get young people to do that — it's hard, but they do it. So it's really quite easy because they are the ones that are locked in to getting better."
Crean's belief in his team has never wavered. But after the feat the likes of which IU achieved in Ann Arbor, the college basketball powers that be might not have any choice but to take notice.
Michigan Coach John Beilein certainly had to Tuesday.
"It's hard to stay in front of them," he said. "They're averaging 80 damn points a game. Few people have… Sometimes, the other team is just damn better than you on that night."
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It's the kind of thing they don't keep records of.
But what Indiana managed on Tuesday had to be, at the very least, a statistical anomaly.
Twenty-eight unanswered points. Not 28 unanswered against just anyone — but, in Michigan, a top-tier Big Ten team. Not 28 unanswered in Assembly Hall, where IU is 13-0 — but in the Crisler Center, where the Wolverines were, until Tuesday, 11-1.
That, the statement from the Hoosiers, as they began the second half of Big Ten play with an 80-67 win in Ann Arbor, and their best win, based on RPI, this season.
"Especially since we're on the road, this is a good win for us to kind of get things going," fifth-year senior Max Bielfeldt said. "The great thing is, we've gotten better. With the games we've got coming up against teams at the top of the conference now, this is a great game to get our confidence up."
At No. 22 in the rankings, Indiana has plenty of talking points on its résumé.
The Hoosiers sit atop the Big Ten conference at 9-1. They're undefeated at home, and their 12-0 stretch from Dec. 5 to Jan. 26 amounts to one of the longest win streaks in college basketball this season.
But holding the Hoosiers back, in the eyes of many pundits, has been their strength of schedule.
Indiana (19-4, 9-1), of course, doesn't control who it plays. What the Hoosiers do control — and what head coach Tom Crean has emphasized — is how they play. Against the Wolverines (17-6, 7-3), their first challenge in a back-loaded conference schedule, they were dominant.
Crean didn't realize just how dominant until the end of the first period.
"I had no idea until halftime that we had the run that we had," Crean said. "I just knew that we were getting stops and the ball was really moving for us offensively."
Indiana made its statement in a united effort, going on a 41-9 run during which all first-half players scored. The Hoosiers held the Wolverines scoreless for 10:29 and limited them to just one offensive rebound in that span.
On the road with his team down 11, Crean said he never panicked. He was confident in his players' desire to win.
"They take every day for what it is, which the most important day," Crean said. "And to get young people to do that — it's hard, but they do it. So it's really quite easy because they are the ones that are locked in to getting better."
Crean's belief in his team has never wavered. But after the feat the likes of which IU achieved in Ann Arbor, the college basketball powers that be might not have any choice but to take notice.
Michigan Coach John Beilein certainly had to Tuesday.
"It's hard to stay in front of them," he said. "They're averaging 80 damn points a game. Few people have… Sometimes, the other team is just damn better than you on that night."
Players Mentioned
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