Jeffries' foul trouble hurts Hoosiers

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For the past few weeks, it had been a sprained right ankle that held Jared Jeffries out of the Wisconsin game and a considerable portion of the victory at Michigan eight days ago.\nBut Sunday, Jeffries was held to just 25 minutes of action because of foul trouble that had him playing the last 12:03 of the game with four fouls. It was the sixth time this season Jeffries has finished a game with at least four fouls. In a Dec. 1 loss at Southern Illinois, Jeffries fouled out.\nEven though he never received his fifth foul, Jeffries' absence was felt Sunday when he was on the bench. Jeffries picked up his third foul at the 8:20 mark of the first half on a charge drawn by MSU's Jason Andreas. Jeffries remained on the bench for the rest of the half, and the Hoosiers were outscored 13-7 during that stretch.\n"(Jeffries) got in foul trouble, and that really hurt us," junior guard Tom Coverdale said.\nIt was obvious Saturday that IU runs its offense through Jeffries. The first time he touched the ball, the Spartans didn't double team him and Jeffries quickly hit an eight-footer to score the first points of the game. The first time Michigan State did bring an extra defender at him, Jeffries found Coverdale on a cross-court pass for a three pointer.\nJunior guard Kyle Hornsby scored IU's next basket, a three pointer created by a double team on Jeffries. That presence was taken away by Jeffries' foul trouble, and the Hoosiers struggled to end the first half.\nJeffries said it was a physical game and he wanted to match the intensity of Michigan State.\n"We have to be aggressive," he said. "They were aggressive in certain instances against us, especially with bumping screens and knocking us off the ball. We tried to do the same things."\nFouls or no fouls, IU coach Mike Davis said it was hard to keep Jeffries on the bench after he picked up his fourth with 15:11 left in the game while reaching in on Andreas.\nA little more than three minutes later, Jeffries was back on the floor and would score seven of his 11 points the rest of the way, never drawing a fifth foul.\n"I wanted to be out there and play, no matter how many fouls I have," he said. "I'd rather lose trying than not be out there."\nFree throws\nThis season the Hoosiers have been shooting free throws much better than a year ago. Last season IU shot just 63 percent from the charity stripe. This year the Hoosiers have that number better than 71 percent.\nSunday, though, IU hit just four of its eight free throws in a close game. Jeffries missed the Hoosiers' only free throw attempt of the first half trying to complete a three-point play.\nWith 6.8 seconds left, Coverdale hit the first of two to bring the Hoosiers within one at 55-54, but his second hit the back of the rim. The Spartans got the rebound and got fouled, and IU didn't score again. Michigan State hit 10 of 16 from the line.\nBig Ten update\nOver the past two weeks, the revivals of Michigan State, Wisconsin and No. 16 Illinois have thrown the Big Ten into chaos. The Spartans are playing some of their best basketball of the season and have knocked off both No. 19 Ohio State (19-6, 10-4 Big Ten) and IU in the past two weeks.\nThe Illini (19-7, 9-5) are starting to look like the team that was expected to be on top of the league all season. Suddenly it's a real possibility that the Big Ten regular season could end with four teams tied for the conference lead with 11-5 records. Those teams would be IU, Ohio State, Illinois and Wisconsin (17-11, 10-5).\nThe Spartans get another crack at the Buckeyes Tuesday night in Columbus while the Hoosiers will be at Illinois. Both IU and Ohio State can keep this a two-team race if they win out.\n"It's still on our shoulders just like it was before this game," Jarrad Odle said Sunday. "Four losses is what it's going to have to be, and right now we're at that. We have no room for error now"