Hoosiers can't duplicate win

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- This time it wasn't a second-half collapse and foul trouble for the Hoosiers' best player that did IU in. And it wasn't even close enough for the Hoosiers to have a last-second shot to send the game into overtime. But IU had its chances.\nInstead the only constant the last two games for the Hoosiers is they have found another way to drop another game they desperately needed and could have won.\nThe Hoosiers had to spend most of the evening in rally mode and drew close a couple of times to Illinois in the second half. But with Jared Jeffries shut down and the Hoosiers wasting several possessions to get closer or even grab a lead, No. 15 Illinois got past No. 25 IU 70-62 in front of 16,500 fans on senior night at Assembly Hall.\nThe Hoosiers (18-10, 10-5 Big Ten) have now lost four of their last seven conference games and find themselves knotted in a four-way tie with the Illini (22-7, 10-5), No. 18 Ohio State and Wisconsin for first place in the Big Ten. Illinois has now won seven straight.\nThe four-team tie was caused by Michigan State, who knocked off the Buckeyes 81-76 in Columbus, Ohio, last night.\nIn his final game at Assembly Hall, Frank Williams had a game-high 24 points while Kyle Hornsby led the Hoosiers with 13. Jeffries played 29 minutes and just 11 in the second half. He finished with three points and six turnovers. Davis said after the game that Jeffries' sore right ankle hampered him.\nThe loss comes at a bad time and is the second close call for the Hoosiers as they try to win their first conference title since 1993. IU blew a 16-point first half lead Sunday and lost to the Spartans 57-54 in East Lansing with Jeffries saddled by foul trouble throughout. \nTuesday was another blown chance.\n"Maybe we lost that opportunity tonight," Davis said of winning the Big Ten.\nHornsby doesn't like the idea of sharing a title that the Hoosiers have now had more than one opportunity to keep to themselves.\n"That takes a little bit out of it," Hornsby said. "Sharing with three or four teams takes a little luster out of it. I'll take it right now, though."\nThe Hoosiers had to struggle for most of the game because point guard Tom Coverdale was in foul trouble early. Davis said the lack of another ball handler inhibited IU's offense as the Hoosiers scored just 24 first-half points, their fifth worst output in the first half all season. IU was down 36-24 at halftime.\nAt times Davis turned to Jeffries to run the point, but Brian Cook forced Jeffries into several turnovers and shut him down, something Davis said couldn't be done.\n"I heard (Davis), and it gave me a lot of motivation," Cook said. "It had me pumped up all week. I knew that if we took him out of it, (Illinois head coach Bill Self) said they're a pretty average team. I was just trying to make other people beat us."\nIU had a chance early in the second half to get close for the first time since being tied at 9-9 early on. The Hoosiers were down 36-31 two minutes into the half. Three turnovers and four missed field goals along with an intentional foul on Dane Fife led to a big Illinois run that put IU down 49-35 with just under 11 minutes left.\nDavis didn't help his team by picking up a technical foul with 10:51 left and the Hoosiers down 47-35. Williams hit the two free throws, and the Illini were up 14.\nBut IU would use a 9-2 run to get back in the game, and eventually the Hoosiers found themselves down 57-53 with the ball and 2:39 left after a goal tend by Jeff Newton.\nWilliams fouled Coverdale with 2:14 left, and as Coverdale was on his way to the free throw line for a one-and-one, IU assistant coach Ben McDonald was called for a technical foul for standing up on the bench. Davis was upset, pointing at several Illinois players who were also standing.\n"He stood up. Donnie Gray called it," Davis said. "You can't stand up in the Big Ten."\nCook hit both free throws, and Coverdale missed the his front end of the one-and-one. After Cook scored again, the Illini had a 61-53 lead with just 1:35 remaining.\n"Those were certainly beneficial to us," Self said of the technical fouls. "This is an emotional game. The stakes are so high."\nThe physical game was in sharp contrast to the Jan. 26 contest between the two teams when IU used a Big Ten-record 17 three pointers to whip the Illini 88-57 in Bloomington.\n"It was big, just to come out here and play Indiana," Williams said. "I don't think it was a revenge game. We just know those guys kicked us very hard. It was an intense game."\nAfterwards Davis said he was proud of his players for their grit and staying in the game. But Hornsby said the technical fouls were deflating and helped the Hoosiers blow another opportunity to keep a title they could have had to themselves.\n"It kind of takes the wind out of you," Hornsby said. "About midway through the (second) half I thought, 'We're going to pull this out. We're going to win.' We got it to within two, and it went downhill from there"