Ready for redemption

Last season ended with a thud for the men's basketball team. Former coach Bob Knight was accused of choking Neil Reed, just in time for the first-round NCAA tournament game against Pepperdine in Buffalo, N.Y. Junior Kirk Haston was forced to watch his team lose 77-57 from the bench because he tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee during a collision early in the game. \nThe Hoosiers haven't forgotten Pepperdine ended their last season, and they are looking for redemption at 7 p.m. in Assembly Hall in the first round of the preseason National Invitation Tournament. The winner will advance to a second-round game Friday against the Marquette-South Alabama victor at a site to be determined. Semifinal round games will be played Nov. 23 in New York.\nThe game will be the first true test of how well the team has learned interim head coach Mike Davis' new offense and how well the defense can hold up against a strong zone. But junior guard Dane Fife said the team is prepared and better than last year.\n"It was horrible. It was a nightmare for us," Fife said. "That was probably as low as I'd ever felt in my college basketball career. We expected to go far in the tournament; we had a great regular season. We owe Pepperdine one."\nDespite losing three senior starters -- Tezale Archie, Tommie Prince and Nick Sheppard -- The Green Wave is an experienced team. Pepperdine returns six letterwinners, including two starters from last season's 25-9 team, in junior guard Brandon Armstrong and junior forward Kelvin Gibbs. Both earned All-West Coast Conference honors last season. \nArmstrong is the team's leading returning scorer with 14.4 points per game. Gibbs is second on the team with nine points and seven rebounds per game.\nLike the Hoosiers, Pepperdine began with two exhibition wins. Armstrong led Pepperdine to a 101-85 win against the California All-Stars with 21 points. Senior forward David Lalazarian scored 23 points in the Green Wave's 90-70 win against the L.A. Stars.\nIU had two practices since its 79-75 win against Marathon Oil Friday and Davis said they were both spent working on a zone attack. The majority of practices have been focused on man-to-man offense, but the Hoosiers struggled against Marathon's soft zone defense. Davis said he remembers Pepperdine as being a tough, physical team. \n"It wasn't about Xs and Os, it was about coming out and playing physical," Davis said. "If you let a team have its way against you, if you let them have an offensive rebound, they want another one. You give them a steal, they want another one. We have to come out and stay focused and not let them intimidate us."\nHaston, who scored a game-high 30 points and a game-high 14 rebounds Friday against Marathon Oil, has recovered since the injury that occurred in the first two minutes of the game last year. He said watching his team lose was frustrating and he's eager to be a part of the rematch.\n"You're used to being in a game all year and all of a sudden in the biggest spotlight of college basketball, you can't do anything," Haston said. "It was very disheartening to sit on the bench, and I'm looking forward to getting a chance to play Pepperdine again"