Coverdale leads Hoosiers to first round win

SACRAMENTO - Junior Tom Coverdale remembers San Diego. He remembers what happened to him there. He remembers Kent State. And he remembers the final score and what happened to his team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year.\nSporting their highest seed in eight years, the fourth-seeded Hoosiers lost to Kent State, 77-73, after holding an eight-point lead at halftime. Coverdale suffered a hip pointer at the end of the first half and was limited to 8 points, four assists and three turnovers in 29 minutes.\nThis time around, Coverdale and IU jumped out a nice lead in the first half once again, this time a 42-27 lead on Utah. And Coverdale again went into the break with another injury, this time his left ankle. Naturally, IU coach Mike Davis was concerned.\n\"This time we\'re up 15 at the half and he twists his ankle. It\'s pretty bad, so I\'m thinking about last year,\" Davis said. \"I\'m thinking we\'re in trouble again. I thought it was going to be a repeat of last year.\"\nBut the always gritty Coverdale dealt with the pain and came back to play 15 minutes in the second half and 33 in the game as the Hoosiers glided to a 75-56 win against the Utes at in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.\nCoverdale finished with a team-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds, four assists and a steal. He also finished the game on the court- that is until freshman Donald Perry replaced him with just 1:42 left and the Hoosiers leading by 20.\nFor Coverdale, there was no choice about whether or not he would play the second half Thursday night.\n\"I know I got hurt in the NCAA Tournament last year and it wasn\'t a good feeling to lose, so I wanted to stay on the floor as much as possible,\" Coverdale said. \"Coach Davis has pretty much told me that I have to be on the floor as much as possible.\"\nCoverdale, the team\'s best ballhandler, said he hurt the ankle when he jumped to make a pass near the end of the first half. Davis said that his presence alone makes things work better for IU.\n\"Coverdale was unbelievable in this game, playing on a hurt ankle,\" Davis said. \"Our guys came out and played hard, got a couple of steals and pushed the lead up to 20 points.\"\nSophomore Jared Jeffries said the Hoosiers haven\'t forgotten what happened last year. And with IU holding a 15-point halftime lead this year, the Hoosiers remained focus at halftime.\n\"Our team vocabulary major, A.J. Moye, he made sure we knew about last year\'s game, he gave us the play-by-play,\" Jeffries joked. \"So we knew about it. Coach didn\'t have to say anything.\"\nIn the first half, Coverdale helped the Hoosiers get things rolling, hitting a three-pointer to open the game and finishing a four-point play to start an 8-0 run that would give IU a double-digit lead it would never relinquish. \nCoverdale said he felt the need to get more involved with Jeffries being held in check and picking up two fouls before halftime. \"With (Jeffries) being hurt, I think a lot of guys have taken it upon themselves knowing that we have to step up,\" Coverdale said. \"It\'s nothing we haven\'t been used to down the stretch. We just ran our offense and I think everybody did a good job of just taking what they gave us.\"\nWith ice wrapped around his ankle after the game, Coverdale talked about getting the chance to play closer to home. If the Hoosiers win Saturday against UNC-Wilmington, they play in the Sweet Sixteen in Lexington, Ky. next weekend. \nTry keeping Coverdale on the bench Saturday.\n\"It\'s not like any other ankle injury because it\'s not like it hurts on the side. It just hurts on the front,\" Coverdale said. \"If I can play through it (Thursday), I can play on it (Saturday). \"There\'s no possible way I would be out of this next game. If they have to cut it off I\'ll still play. I\'ll be ready to go.\"\nMAJERUS IMPRESSED\nRick Majerus isn\'t used to losing early in the NCAA Tournament. Before Thursday night he was 9-0 all-time in the first round of the Tournament, including 8-0 as head coach at Utah. But after the Hoosiers blew out his Utes, an obviously exasperated Majerus said IU simply outplayed Utah.\n\"They just stuck it to us,\" Majerus said. \"We had the ball in our hands and they would just strip it. They\'re tough guys, Coverdale and (Dane) Fife and (Jarrad) Odle. I like their team.\"\nWhat\'s been unusual for Majerus and the Utes this year has been losing by a big margin, or just losing period. After starting the season 3-3, Utah won 13 straight. But the Utes ran into a brick wall to end their season.\n\"Every game since Arizona State on Dec. 7th, I think we were right there to win and we didn\'t get beat, we beat ourselves. (Thursday IU) beat us.\"\nLESSONS LEARNED\nObviously the Hoosiers learned from last year\'s first round loss. Now IU is in new territory- the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Before the Hoosiers look past another low seed, they will review their recent past.\n\"We came out in the tournament thinking about last year\'s loss to Kent State. We weren\'t going to let that happen again so we came out and played hard,\" junior Jeff Newton said. \"We just want to take it one game at a time and keep playing our game. Hopefully we\'ll be (in the Sweet Sixteen).\"\nFor Davis it continues to be a year of learning. Thursday night he appreciated the chance to go against another good coach, something he has been doing all season. One thing the good coaches Davis speaks of does is they get their players to play hard defensively. The Hoosiers\nare doing that right now.\n\"I\'ve learned so much this year, especially playing against Rick Pitino at Louisville, (Tom) Izzo at Michigan State, Coach Majerus at Utah,\" Davis said. \"It\'s really helped me as a coach. Right now, I don\'t think there\'s a team out there that\'s playing the way we\'re playing defensively. \n\"They may have better athletes or they may be quicker, but we\'re giving great effort on the defensive end. Everybody that\'s playing is playing well because they are playing with a lot of energy and a lot of heart."