Davis wins first game as head coach

IU's 80-68 victory was a historic game for IU basketball for two reasons: The Hoosiers advance to the second round of the National Invitational Tournament in their first win since coach Bob Knight was fired, and Mike Davis won his first game as IU's head coach.\nFor the first time in 30 years, the Assembly Hall crowd did not have the opportunity to cheer for Knight. Instead, a sea of red and white rose to its feet and applauded Davis as he walked out of the locker room onto the floor.\nHe walked toward his seat, the third from the scorer's table, taking a moment to shake hands with a fan who was wearing an IU jacket. Then he sat down.\nOnce the game started he was able to relax and do his job. Davis earned the victory -- and his spot in the history books -- by preparing his team before the game, and getting them to relax during the game, a player said.\n"We were too pumped up," freshman guard Andre Owens said. "Sometimes we have to just settle down."\nPepperdine bounced IU out of last year's NCAA tournament by trapping the Hoosiers, forcing turnovers and not allowing IU to run its offense. The early stages of Tuesday's game looked like a repeat of IU's 77-57 loss in March.\nIU turned the ball over on four of its first five possessions and struggled to find an open shot. Freshman Jared Jeffries' first shot didn't hit the rim. The Hoosiers' first points came when Pepperdine was called for goaltending nearly three minutes into the game.\nThe crowd was also nervous, and quiet early, not sure what to make of their first impression of Davis. Then it woke up after junior guard Tom Coverdale stole the ball, passed ahead to Owens, who flipped to freshman forward Jared Jeffries, who slammed it home with two hands.\nThe dunk was a sign that IU was starting to figure out how to play against Pepperdine's press. Shortly before the dunk, Davis told Jeffries to go up the middle,and said that if Jeffries did that, IU would have a three-on-two advantage.\n"Anytime you have three-on-two, you have to attack the basket," Davis said.\nIU led at halftime 40-36, and used an 11-0 run to expand its lead to 16 with seven minutes remaining. Davis said he and the team were just waiting for the clock to tick down to zero. It finally reached zero, and when it did, junior forward Jarrad Odle patted him on the belly.\n"We got him his first win, and this is a good start for us," Odle said. "I had some jitters because I wanted to prove to our fans that we're still going to be a good team. Without Coach Knight out there, it's a different era. It's going to take some getting used to, but the more games we win, the less people are going to think about it."\nSophomore guard Kyle Hornsby said he thought of the game as the first round of the NIT and he simply wanted to win. The Hoosiers will be hosts to South Alabama Friday in the second round.\n"We wanted to win the game for a lot of reasons, and Coach Davis is one of them," Hornsby said. "We want to show everyone what a good coach he is and what a good job he's done"