Guard grows as player, leader

Mike Davis called sophomore guard Tom Coverdale on the day he was named interim head coach, and it was a call Coverdale will never forget.\nDavis told Coverdale that if he practiced hard and proved he could play, he would earn playing time and possibly a spot in the starting lineup. Apparently, Coverdale was listening.\nHe has developed from a player who saw only 41 minutes of action last season into the Hoosiers' starting point guard. \n"We never had a lot of conversation," Davis said. "He wasn't playing and sometimes when guys aren't playing, sometimes they slip on out. But I told him, 'If you work hard, I'll give you an opportunity. If you can make a commitment to being a good basketball player, you have a chance to play.'"\nIn IU's 85-63 win over Southern Illinois, Coverdale proved how far he's come by scoring 13 points, dishing out 10 assists and grabbing nine rebounds, one rebound away from becoming the first IU player to record a triple-double in Assembly Hall.\n"Tom Coverdale is amazing," Davis said. "He's playing his butt off for us. I thought (Southern Illinois) would give Tom some problems, but he handled the ball like a champ. He played great. If he can continue to do that and grow as a player and stay committed, I think we'll be OK.\n"I challenged him at the beginning of the game. I said, 'I want you to have eight rebounds.' He had seven at the half."\nWith the Hoosiers up by 20 in the second half, Coverdale drove to the basket, made a layup and was fouled in the process, igniting the Assembly Hall crowd. He converted the free throw, and on IU's next possession, helped bring many of the 12,486 in attendance to their feet. \nJunior guard Dane Fife grabbed a rebound and passed to Coverdale, who raced down the court and lofted a pass to freshman forward Jared Jeffries who converted a one-handed alley-oop. Coverdale pumped his fist in the air and flashed a big smile as he ran back to play defense.\n"I took what Coach Davis said seriously," Coverdale said. "I just tried to play as hard as I could and work every day to become a good point guard -- that's going to be my job all year.\n "(Assistant) coach (John) Treloar has been me on all week to become the leader of this team, and that's what my focus is on. Being a point guard, you have to be a leader and get the team into its offense. On defense, my job is to keep the point guard in front of me and disrupt the offense as much as possible."\nSouthern Illinois offense was more than disrupted. It was nearly shut down. The Salukis entered the game averaging 92 points per game, but the Hoosiers held them to a season-low 63 points and 39.1 percent shooting from the floor.\n"We simply played like we are capable of playing," junior forward Jarrad Odle said. "We had a couple of lapses down the stretch, but if we can play like that every time out, we will beat a lot of good teams"