Team falls twice in N.Y.

NEW YORK -- As interim head coach Mike Davis walked off the court at Madison Square Garden at halftime with IU down 42-22 against Texas, he was looking at the floor and loosening his tie. He was clearly frustrated with a team playing one of its worst halves of basketball, making only six shots from the field.\nDuring the break, he told his players the same thing he's told them many times -- they have to play with toughness. The Hoosiers responded by cutting the lead to 10 points, but eventually lost 70-58.\nDavis said the only tough thing about the Hoosiers are the times they're going through.\n"It's tough times right now," said Davis, who stared straight ahead at a table in front of him during the post-game press conference. "We are not giving the effort it takes to win against a really good team. We struggled against Pepperdine, and we struggled against South Alabama, which are average teams."\nAnd they're losing to teams such as Temple and Texas. During IU's final two games of the National Invitation Tournament, the Hoosiers never led, averaged only 59.5 points and shot only 35 percent from the field, while giving up 69 points to Temple and 70 to Texas.\n"I think (our team has) learned something from this trip: you win because you dig in and give it effort on every possession," Davis said. "What they didn't know is that you don't show up and win basketball games."\nIn both games, IU started slowly and was down by 10 points before 10 minutes expired from the clock. Temple took eight minutes to build a 10-point lead and Texas took less than five.\n"Our guys have been coming out and feeling their way along," Davis said. "We don't understand that it's a 40-minute game. With the young team, we don't know a lot of the things it takes to be successful at this level."\nSeveral players struggled in New York, including freshman forward Jared Jeffries, who did not score against Temple. He bounced back to score 13 against Texas, but committed seven turnovers.\nDespite his lack of production, Jeffries is keeping his chin up.\n"I think a lot of people are really down," Jeffries said. "Myself, I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude. We do a lot of good things; then we fall off. It's like we do three good things, then five bad things. We have to maintain the good."\nDavis said Jeffries is putting too much pressure on himself.\n"Jared is not playing the way we need him for him to play right now," Davis said. "He's young and he's got the world on his shoulders and he feels like we depend on his every move. It's my job as his coach to tell him just to play basketball."\nJunior center Kirk Haston scored six points against Temple, but rebounded to score 22 against Texas. He said the Hoosiers' trip to New York should be looked at as a learning experience and reminded everyone that a season is longer than two games. He was able to put the tough times in perspective for his teammates.\n"You look at things that happened last year, like North Carolina," Haston said. "They started off tough and everybody wrote them off, but by the end of the year they're one of the top teams in the country.\n"It's a long season with a long way to go."\nDavis said he was impressed with how the Hoosiers have improved their rebounding. He's looking forward to playing Indiana State Wednesday, IU's next chance to get back on track.\n"If our guys are made of anything, we'll come back to put some wins together," Davis said.