Hoosiers rout Team Nike

Before Mike Davis begins a post-game press conference, he always speaks a trademark phrase into the microphone.\n"I thank God for this opportunity," is what he usually says.\nBut Saturday night, after IU beat Team Nike 74-49 in their last exhibition game, Davis stepped to the podium in Assembly Hall and began the press conference a bit differently.\n"Well I thank God that game is over," he said. "What can I say? (It was an) exhibition game."\nDespite the 25-point rout, Davis said the Hoosiers looked sluggish on offense and gave up too many rebounds (18) on defense. \nIU got off to a good start, however, holding Team Nike to single-digits in scoring until forward Brian Watkins hit a three to make the score 31-11 with 5:36 left in the first half. \nThe hot shooting the Hoosiers displayed in their first exhibition game against Athletes in Action carried over into Saturday's game as well. They shot 56 percent from the field and made eight of their 15 three-point attempts in the first period and went into the locker room at halftime with a 44-15 advantage.\nDavis attributed the large halftime lead to Team Nike's cold shooting more than he did to the Hoosiers' defense. \n"I think it was more of Team Nike missing shots than us playing really good defense," he said. "I thought we played OK on defense. They shot 20 percent in the first half, but it was more of them missing shots than us playing tough defense."\nTeam Nike came into the second half with a better shooting touch, outscoring IU 34-31. \n"This is the first game that Team Nike has won a half, the second half, and that tells you a lot about our state of mind and how we played," he said. "But it's OK. I'm not upset with the guys because we have a very good basketball team, and for me to get upset about Team Nike is a waste of energy."\nSenior guard Kyle Hornsby, who had 12 points and three assists, said he thought the Hoosiers began the game strong, but relaxed when they built a large lead. \n"I think the first half was better; the second half was not," he said. "The second half I thought our intensity dropped off. And we've got to play a full forty minutes, and we've gotta play basketball and not worry about how much we're up by."\nDavis said a major reason for IU's second half slump was the absence of point guard Tom Coverdale, who played ten minutes in the first half but was only on the floor for three minutes in the second due to a bad back. He finished the game with four assists and only two points.\n"Coverdale's the key to our basketball team," he said. "And Tom hadn't practiced in about three days because of his back. And without Tom Coverdale being out there leading the team, it's tough for us to be a very good basketball team."\nFreshman guard Bracey Wright had another solid outing, finishing the game with 16 points to lead all scorers. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out four assists. \nWhen asked about Wright's performance, junior guard A.J. Moye, who had 12 points and four rebounds, was uncharacteristically speechless.\n"He's comfortable," he said with a smile. "Ya'll see it, I mean, it speaks for itself. That's the only time I'm probably quiet, when talking about him. He's good. I can't do it so I can't talk about it. I don't know what he's doing. I wish I could do it."\nMoye said he thought the Hoosiers were further along at this point in the season than last year's team was, but added that their defense and intensity need to improve. \n"We missed a lot of block outs, and I think we really digressed in the second half. They outscored us," he said. "So if it's an eight-point game we end up losing maybe. But that comes. It's a feeling of complacency and satisfaction when you get a big lead like that. But we're pretty satisfied with the performance."\nTeam Nike played four Big Ten teams before matching up with IU, and Wright said the Hoosiers wanted to prove they were among the best in the Big Ten by beating the exhibition team by a larger margin than their conference foes had.\n"We came out really excited; we came out wanting to prove a point," he said. "We came out wanting to play hard and hold them to under what anybody else has held them to. They played Michigan State within one (56-55) and Ohio State within 10 or 15 (73-59) so we wanted to come out and make a statement."\nTeam Nike also played Penn State, losing 79-76 and lost to Michigan 81-77.\nWith their exhibition games now behind them, the Hoosiers will begin preparing for their trip to the Maui Invitational this week, where they meet the University of Massachusetts Nov. 25 for their first regular season match-up.\n"I think we're really comfortable," Wright said. "We're all starting to figure each other out. We're staring to gel with each other and things are gonna be alright come Maui"