Crowd cheers IU in victory

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- IU's trip to the Elite Eight almost never got off the ground. \nThrough the first 20 minutes against Duke in the South Regional semi-final Thursday, IU committed 16 turnovers -- more miscues than IU totaled in 24 different games this season. \nJunior Jeff Newton had four. Sophomore Jared Jeffries had three. Four different Hoosiers had two, and junior Tom Coverdale chipped in with one. \nIU looked flustered and intimidated, and Duke looked like its usual self, hitting five of 10 three-pointers and building a 13-point IU lead, the biggest Hoosier deficit at the half all season. \n"The first half, we struggled," Coverdale said. "But we kept fighting."\nFighting didn't pan out in the first half. Near the 15-minute mark, IU had five turnovers and five attempted field goals. It took the Hoosiers until early in the second half to amass more made shots than turnovers. During two different time spans, IU committed four consecutive turnovers. \nThrough the first 10 minutes, IU had 10 turnovers and 12 points. \nWhen IU did get a shot off, it hit 52 percent of them and stayed within striking distance of Duke. Dribble penetration and the return of an offensive rhythm fixed the problem in the second half, during which IU turned the ball over seven times. The 23 total turnovers were more than IU committed in 24 games this season. \n"Their pressure on the perimeter was pretty tough," junior guard Kyle Hornsby said. "But after the first 10 minutes, it wasn't nearly as bad."\nBIG RED BACKING\nAbout 80 percent of the 22,348 fans in Rupp Arena were pulling for an IU upset and each time the Hoosiers closed the Duke lead to 10 or less in the second half, a standing ovation erupted. \nFans of Kent State and Pittsburgh, which played in the second game, were cheering for the Hoosiers most of the night. \nSince the South Regional is being hosted by the University of Kentucky -- a bitter rival of both Duke and IU -- IU coach Mike Davis spent some time Wednesday jokingly begging UK fans to root for the Hoosiers. \nThe plea seemed to have worked.\n"I appreciate our fans," Davis said. "Our fans are great. And again, I do love Kentucky."\nDavis said before IU and UK met in December that he "hated" Kentucky. \nREBOUNDING EDGE\nDuke doesn't have many weaknesses, but IU figured it could exploit the Blue Devils' lack of interior size. \nThe Hoosiers did just that, by collecting 19 offensive rebounds -- 13 in the second half. The Hoosiers scored 21 second-chance points and out-rebounded Duke 47-32 for the night. \nJeffries finished with a game-high 15 rebounds (nine offensive) and Newton had 10 (six offensive). Five other Hoosiers grabbed at least three rebounds. \nRECORD SETTERS\nWith three blocks Thursday, IU set a new school record for blocks in a season, breaking the one set just last year. IU now has 180 blocks, two better than last season's 178. \nSenior Dane Fife snatched two steals Thursday, moving into a tie with former All-American Steve Alford for the top spot on IU's all-time steals list. Both Alford and Fife have 178. Fife has nine steals in the post-season. \nSEED TALK\nIU is now 5-1 against top-seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament, with the only loss coming to Duke in the Final Four in 1992. IU is also 4-0 against teams from the state of North Carolina this season, beating Duke, UNC-Wilmington, North Carolina and Charlotte. \nSORE LOSER? \nMinutes after Carlos Boozer's potential game-winning shot rolled off the rim, game officials revealed that Duke senior Matt Christensen shoved official Bruce Benedict, a Big 12 referee.\nChristensen wanted a foul whistled on IU during the play. \n"We're aware that something happened at the end of the game," Big 12 committee member Kevin Weiberg said in a press release. "Our procedure is to gather as much information as we can."\nNo other details were available at press time.