Hoosiers come home for Classic

After back-to-back wins against Southern Illinois and No. 10 Notre Dame, the Hoosiers play host to the Ameritech/Indiana Classic with a 4-3 record and an abundance of confidence. \nIU will face Western Michigan at 6 p.m. today in the first round, and Texas Tech will play Ball State at 8 p.m. Saturday in the second round. Western Michigan will play at 4:30 p.m. and IU will play at 7 p.m. \n The Hoosiers are 3-0 against Western Michigan, and have earned a 51-1 overall record in the Classic. IU has won the tournament 25 times in the last 26 years; its only loss came last year to Indiana State, which defeated IU again Dec. 29. \nSteve Reynolds leads the Broncos with an average of 16 points per game. Interim head coach Mike Davis said he told his team Western Michigan will be the best 0-5 team it has ever played. \n"I say that because I don't want our guys to come out overconfident," Davis said. "You play two really good games and people are starting to say this could be a good team. If you come out and slop around and just kind of go through the motions, it's ugly, and we don't need that right now." \nAfter Thursday's practice, Davis said junior forward Kirk Haston will probably start today, but that he likes the idea of Haston coming in off the bench. Haston did not start in Tuesday's 86-78 win against Notre Dame but finished with 19 points. \n"If Kirk can be really patient with us, he's going to score 20 points a game, and having 20 points off your bench is pretty good," Davis said. "When he comes in the game, he's looking to score and we'll get the ball to him. Bringing him off the bench is really great for us." \nOne player who will start for IU today is sophomore guard Tom Coverdale, who scored a career-high 30 points against Notre Dame. Davis has found success using three guards and said the win against the Irish was because of Coverdale. \n"I think he feels guys are coming after him, really challenging him, there's like a disrespect," Davis said. "I just think he wants other teams to respect him." \nCoverdale, who leads the team with 10 three-pointers, has been a major contributor to the Hoosiers' success behind the arc. IU has been making 63 percent of its three-pointers (22-of-35). \nBut despite the 180-degree turnaround by Coverdale since last season, Davis said the team can't win if it's not focused. \n"We won two games because we felt like we were going against the world," Davis said. "They were focused and had the right attitude. If we could keep the concentration that we have now, that would give us the chance to win some games"