Salukis fans help take down Hoosiers

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- It was over before it started. \nThat's what Mike Davis said after the Hoosiers were trampled by Southern Illinois, 72-60, in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 at a frenzied and chaotic SIU Arena.\nThe win against IU (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today poll) was the first against a ranked team for the Salukis in more than 13 years. \nDavis said he knew it was coming.\n"I know my team. Just the look in their eyes," Davis said. "Even though we were up 4-0, you could just tell the momentum was (Salukis') way from the introductions."\nThe crowd was noisy throughout, rattling the Hoosiers (4-2) and taking them out of their offense. The game was a pattern of runs by each team, only the Salukis had more. \nTo its credit, IU managed to stay in the game and, after trailing 26-20 at the half, later tied the contest. But Davis said his team stopped executing its offense after the game was tied, and the Hoosiers' inability to get the ball inside led to their demise.\n"We played so fast and so ahead that we never executed the offense," Davis said. "Then, once we tied the game, we came down and took a foolish shot."\nThat shot was a three-pointer by senior guard Dane Fife that followed Newton's play. From there, SIU held the Hoosiers scoreless for more than three minutes and built a 43-34 lead when Brad Korn hit a three-pointer as he fell down with 12:12 left in the game.\nIU did not intimidate the Salukis (6-1).\n"We didn't get tight," Southern Illinois junior forward Jermaine Dearman said. "We just wanted to keep pushing and keep fighting."\nSIU coach Bruce Weber said his team was trying to get too fancy at the start of the second half. After they calmed down, though, the Salukis began to put the Hoosiers away.\n"We didn't need a pretty game, and I think that is what happened in the start of the second half, we got soft again," Weber said. "I called a time out and said, 'you aren't going to win pretty.' We needed an ugly, hard-nosed game. We were much more physical after that."\nSIU would get the lead up to 12 at 54-42 with just over eight minutes left. IU would get the deficit down to 54-49 with six minutes left on a 15-footer by Newton, but the Hoosiers would get no closer. The Salukis responded with an 8-0 run to get the lead to 13 at 62-49.\nJunior guard Kent Williams hit six free throws in the last two minutes to put the game out of reach.\nThe Salukis were more physical than IU on the boards, outrebounding the Hoosiers 45-38. Junior center Rolan Roberts, 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, dominated the lane with 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots to go with his 12 points. \n"Not all five guys were going to the glass. We gave up 17 offensive rebounds," junior guard Tom Coverdale said.\nWilliams had a game-high 22 points, 17 of which came in the second half when the Hoosiers collapsed on Roberts. Williams had only six points in the Salukis' 85-63 loss at Assembly Hall last season. \nNot only was his offense big, Williams said the defense was the key.\n"We're a totally different team this year. We play defense," Williams said. "We put pressure on the ball the whole time. They just pushed us around (last year). Today I didn't think they pushed us around."\nRoberts and the Salukis held the Hoosiers to 33 percent shooting from the floor. IU hit just four of 18 three-pointers after hitting 15 three-pointers in last season's win against SIU. \n"They recovered well, last year they didn't," Davis said. "They forced us into taking one or two dribbles. We're not good off the dribble. Not one guy on our team can penetrate or do anything with the basketball."\nSophomore guard A.J. Moye lead the Hoosiers with 17 points. Sophomore forward Jared Jeffries had 13 points and seven rebounds.\nDavis drew comparisons between this loss and the Nov. 23 loss to Marquette, 50-49.\n"Anytime we have success we walk around like we're big dogs. I was very disappointed in the effort that we gave defensively," he said. "We've been beaten by two mid-major teams because of effort. This game is no different than the Marquette game. \n"It was foolish."\nThe Hoosiers jumped out to a 4-0 lead despite the raucous crowd. Davis said at that point IU had done what they had intended offensively. But the Salukis would respond with a 13-2 run over the next six minutes.\n"The first two series we moved the basketball, and we made them play defense for 25 seconds," Davis said. "We got easy shots.\n"We got rattled tonight."\nAfter Moye hit a three-pointer to bring the Hoosiers within three at 21-18, IU would not score for more than four minutes. \nMoye gave credit to the Salukis for their defense, but said the Hoosiers were continuously hurting themselves.\n"Basketball is more mental, and we weren't really focused like we should be," he said. "We tied the game a couple of times, then we didn't execute. They came out with a lot of intensity and they fought, but we really beat ourselves"