ANN ARBOR, Mich -- The people in Michigan still haven't forgotten when Dane Fife left Clarkston and, as the state's reigning Mr. Basketball of the 1998 season, chose to play for the Hoosiers. For the past three years, the Crisler Arena fans gave him a hard time, and the fourth time around was no different.\nBut Fife and IU are in a different spot than in the past. In his senior season, Fife is showing the scoring ability that helped him average nearly 26 points per game as a senior at Clarkston High School in Michigan.\nSunday, Fife was 3 of 5 from the field, including 2 of 4 from three-point range. He finished with his highest offensive output at Crisler Arena: eight points.\n"Eight points. Boy, I really lit 'em up," Fife joked after the game. \nFife dealt with a rowdy group of Michigan fans near the court who let him know that they appreciated the efforts of Fife's older brother, Dugan, when the elder was a guard for the Wolverines from 1992-1996.\nBut for Fife, it was wasn't about the eight points or the chants. He is enjoying averaging almost 10 points per game this season, and he is even more pleased with the Hoosiers' conference position this late in the season.\n"We're fighting for a Big Ten championship," Fife said. "That's something we haven't been able to say generally coming into Ann Arbor. This is a very special season for us. That's why we came in and played so hard and played so well."\nFife had been 1-2 at Michigan in his career at IU. The Hoosiers lost in Ann Arbor last year and in three out of their previous four tries. But Sunday IU had more on the line than in the past.\n"It feels good to have to come in here and put up with the junk the students throw out at me," Fife said. "I take it in stride, and we basically came in and got what we wanted out of this."\nFife only had to take five shots partly because Kyle Hornsby and the rest of the Hoosiers were shooting so well. With Hornsby on the outside and Jeff Newton and Jarrad Odle dominating on the inside, the Wolverines were unable to slow IU.\n"I thought Horny did an excellent job of knocking them down," Fife said. "Our whole team did a good job of finding Horny to get him the shots. We were without JJ's offensive game, but our big guys stepped up."\nThe Ankle\nJared Jeffries did not show many signs of limping Sunday in his 18 minutes of action. Besides taking his shoe off on the bench during the game, he did not seem too bothered by the ankle. \nMore than anything, Jeffries was just looking for a chance to play some basketball Sunday, something he hadn't done since he sustained his ankle injury against Louisville Feb. 9 while playing on a bad right thigh.\n"It's sore right now, but I was glad to get a chance to get out there and play a little bit," Jeffries said. "I hadn't played since the Louisville game."\nThe injury couldn't come at a worse time for the Hoosiers, as they are in the middle of their first serious surge at a league crown since 1993. Jeffries thinks he won't miss too much of the final push.\n"Hopefully I can kind of get through it here and there. I may be healed up completely in about two and a half weeks," Jeffries said. "It's been a week now, so probably another week, week and a half and I'll be all right."
A loss, then a win\nSunday was a rarity for the Hoosiers. IU had lost the last three times they had to go on the road after losing a game at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers had not won in such a situation since the 1998-1999 season. That year IU followed an overtime loss at Assembly Hall with an overtime win at Northwestern four days later.\nIU coach Mike Davis said the key to the victory Sunday was controlling the game early -- something IU didn't do against Wisconsin. The Badgers shot well early and never relented.\n"Today was good because we wanted to control the tempo of the game. We had problems at Minnesota taking quick shots," Davis said. "What I wanted to do today was come in here and make it tough on them defensively and offensively just control the tempo."
Random numbers\nMichigan's LaVell Blanchard was held to eight points Sunday, just the second time this season he has been held under 10 points…Sunday was the fifth game for the Wolverines in 10 days. They finished the stretch 1-4 and have now lost nine of their last 13 games…A.J. Moye was held scoreless for just the second time this season and the first time since Jan. 13. He did add seven rebounds in 21 minutes of action Sunday…Freshman walk-on Ryan Tapak finished the scoring Sunday by burying a three-pointer with 18 seconds left, much to the pleasure of the IU bench. Tapak now has nine points on the season.
