Nobody on the men's basketball team has gone through a three-game losing streak during their time at IU. Junior guard Dane Fife wants to make sure the streak doesn't extend to four when the Hoosiers play host to Southern Illinois at 1 p.m. Saturday in Assembly Hall.\nWednesday night's loss at Indiana State, following losses to Temple and Texas in the National Invitation Tournament, makes this the first three-game losing streak for the Hoosiers since the 1997-98 season. Despite the losses, Fife is confident the Hoosiers (2-3) will end the streak soon.\n"We're a good team and we're going to win some ball games," Fife said. "Saturday, we're going to have to come out and play our tails off again."\nSouthern Illinois is led by sophomores Kent Williams, who averages nearly 20 points per game, and Jermaine Dearman, who scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Saluki's 90-83 victory over Ball State Nov. 25.\nThe game will end either IU's losing streak, or Southern Illinois' winning streak. The Salukis have started the season 3-0 with victories over Long Beach State and St. Louis University in addition to Ball State.
Practice doesn't make perfect\nThe Hoosiers spent their last practice before Wednesday night's Indiana State game concentrating on taking shots from the paint. It wasn't the Hoosiers who found success in the lane in a loss to ISU -- it was the Sycamores.\nThe main focus of that practice was getting the ball to freshman Jared Jeffries, who found no such opportunities in the game. Jeffries was fouled on two of three attempts inside and made his other attempt in the first half. He finished the game on five-of-nine from the floor and nine-of-12 from the free throw line.\nIU post players contributed 34 of IU's 58 points \n"Our postmen did a heck of a job," Fife said. "We got a lot of points inside, and they did a nice job of knocking the ball in. We did a great job." \n \nSolo act \nIt was an unusual position for the Hoosiers to be in. IU had been to the line an average of almost nine more times than their opponents in the past four games, but it was the Sycamores who found the free-throw line the most.\nJeffries was all alone on the line. He was the only Hoosier who attempted a free throw, until 7.1 seconds remained in the game.\nJeffries leads the team in free throw attempts (31), and has 15 more attempts than any other player on the team.\n"He stepped up, and made some big free throws for us," head coach Mike Davis said. "I\'m proud of him."
Old teammates, new rivalry\nJeffries faced off against ISU forward and former Bloomington North teammate Djibril Kante for the first time since high school. Before tip-off, the two met at half-court and shook hands.\n"He's just the same way he was in high school," Jeffries said. "He's stronger, his offensive game is coming around. He's really a great player."\nKante spent much of the game on the bench after getting into foul trouble early in both halves, while Jeffries was bringing his team back from an early deficit.\nAt the end of the game, Jeffries left the court with his head hanging, while Kante was in the middle of the crowd of students and teammates celebrating victory.\n"We talked on the court a little bit," Jeffries said. "It's cool, we're still best friends."\nEven though IU and ISU have met each of the last three years, it's unlikely that a rivalry will start. Wednesday's game was final game of a three-year contract. The only other time the teams could meet in the next few years would be during the NCAA tournament.\n \nRoberts' homecoming\nWednesday was the first time freshman forward Mike Roberts was back in front of a hometown crowd. Roberts spent his first 14 years in Terre Haute before moving to Oregon. But he spent the game doing what the crowd was doing -- watching.\nRoberts has yet to see action in a Hoosier game, and the most action the crowd saw from him was an occasional jump up from the bench.\n"It was frustrating," Roberts said. "But I only cared if we won, and we lost. That's disappointing"
