Hoosiers go down but rebound over break

The men's basketball team endured a sub-.500 stretch that evaporated any Top 25 ranking and served as a sideshow at times to the words of coach Mike Davis, who chastised officials and defended his stance in an ongoing lawsuit concerning the firing of former assistant coach Ron Felling. \nBut as quickly as things went sour, they turned around in the first two games of the Big Ten season. \nHere's a look each of IU's games during the break. \nNo. 21 Miami (Fla.) 58, IU 53\nIn the first-ever meeting between the two schools, both the Hurricanes and Hoosiers shot 33 percent from the field and combined to miss all but one of 25 three-point attempts in the Orange Bowl Classic Dec. 15. \nMiami (14-1) survived. IU did not.\n"That was the ugliest game I have ever seen in my life," Davis said.\nJames Jones led three Hurricanes in double figures with 13 points and 13 rebounds. \nGuard Tom Coverdale led IU with 16 points. George Leach recorded the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He also had seven blocked shots.\nNo. 6 Kentucky 66, IU 52\nCold shooting and quick UK guards spelled the end of IU Dec. 22 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, as the Wildcats (9-3) rolled to a 14-point lead in the first half and extended it to 17 late in the game.\nIU continued misfiring from three-point land, hitting only three of 17 shots from beyond the arc.\n"We were trying to work inside-out," Hoosier guard Dane Fife said. "We just couldn't hit outside shots, and it killed us."\nIU's starting five shot just nine of 38 from the field (23.7, percent) and committed 12 of the teams 16 turnovers. Jarrad Odle, who picked up a technical foul after kicking UK's Keith Bogans in the second half, came off the bench to lead IU with 12 points. Jared Jeffries was the only other Hoosier in double figures with 10 points and 11 rebounds.\nSenior Tayshaun Prince and sophomore Cliff Hawkins led UK with 17 points each. \nIU 87, Eastern Washington 60\nIU's shooting touch returned at the Hoosier Classic in Indianapolis, as the Hoosiers romped to a 27-point win over Eastern Washington at Conseco Fieldhouse Dec. 28.\nFife and Jeffries scored 23 points each to lead IU. Fife's career high featured five of six from three-point land. Coverdale tallied 11 assists, and A.J. Moye collected a career-high 10 rebounds.\nIU raced to an early 6-0 lead and closed the first half with a commanding 44-25 edge. The Hoosiers hit 10 of 16 three-pointers on the night and shot 57 percent from the floor.\nKyle Hornsby hit all three of his three-pointers to finish with 12 points, and nine different Hoosiers scored.\nNo. 20, Butler 66 IU 64\nButler's Joel Cornette slammed home a miss by Thomas Jackson with less than three seconds remaining in the title game of the Hoosier Classic Dec. 29 to give Butler the 66-64 win and end IU's 29-game unbeaten streak in the tournament.\nIU opened a nine-point lead with less than 12 minutes remaining but Butler (13-1) responded with a 10-0 run of its own to regain the lead and go toe-to-toe with the Hoosiers before finishing them off.\nJunior Jeff Newton's tip-in tied the game with 17 seconds left before Cornette's put-back gave Butler the edge. Coverdale drove the length of the floor before his pass went out of bounds as time expired.\nDavis was called for a technical foul in the final two minutes, giving the Bulldogs a free two points. After the game, Davis chastised the three-man officiating crew and was fined $10,000 last week and reprimanded by the Big Ten.\nButler used only seven players and played much of the second half without leading scorer Rylan Hainje. Jackson scored 14 points to lead Butler.\nJeffries led IU with 18 points. Coverdale, Hornsby and Fife each scored 12.\nIU 59, Northwestern 44\nIn the Big Ten opener, IU allowed Northwestern (8-4 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) to hang around until midway through the second half before going on a 7-0 run to push its lead to nine and put away the Wildcats Wednesday in Evanston, Ill.\nThe game began ominously when Leach sprained his ankle on the opening tip. But forward Jarrad Odle entered and scored a career-high 16 points and collected a career-best 15 rebounds.\n"It always seems like I step up in the Big Ten and tonight I did," Odle said. "I came out tonight and hit my first shot and got the ball rolling from there."\nOdle's inside play allowed for IU's final scoring spurt with about 10 minutes remaining. Hornsby, who missed all of his first-half three-pointers, hit back-to-back bombs before a Coverdale lay-up extinguished any hope of a Wildcat upset.\nJeffries finished with 17 points to lead the Hoosiers and Coverdale scored 13. Jitim Young led NU with 17.\nThe win marked the first time since the 1986-1987 national championship season that the Hoosiers have opened the Big Ten campaign with a road victory.