Shuffled lineup struggles for IU

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- When the Hoosiers' starting line-up was called at Michigan State's Breslin Center Tuesday night, things didn't seem quite normal.\nAfter the No.19 Hoosiers' (14-5, 4-3) poor showing against state-rival Purdue last Saturday, coach Mike Davis hinted that he was considering shaking things up a bit in the line-up in an effort to infuse some intensity.\nTuesday night at Michigan State he delivered on that promise.\nDavis opted for a much younger, and smaller, starting five than he had put on floor over the first 18 games of the season, granting freshmen Marshall Strickland and Sean Kline their first ever starts over senior Kyle Hornsby and junior George Leach. \nFreshman Bracey Wright, who had been out with an irritated nerve in his back, re-entered the starting lineup after missing the past four games.\nIn Wright's absence, Davis had been using guard/forward A.J. Moye in the starting lineup. But Moye did not dress for last night's game due to the flu, and that left point guard Tom Coverdale and forward Jeff Newton as the only two players who had started consistently since the Big Ten season began.\nCoverdale said the new-look starters did provide a boost at the beginning of the game. \n"We played harder," he said. "We got better tonight as a team and that's all you can ask for. But we need to find a way to win on the road if we're going to be a good team and we still haven't done that."\nStrickland said he wasn't sent into the backcourt with Coverdale necessarily for his scoring ability, but rather to add some quickness and aggressive play on both ends of the court.\n"That's one of the things that Coach wanted me to do ... just bring the intensity to the team and just pick the guys up," he said. "I think we came out from the start really well."\nAfter the first five minutes, Kline answered Davis's call for more physical play in the frontcourt as he battled down low. But MSU senior forward Aloysius Anagonye proved to be bigger, stronger and more experienced in the paint and, with fifteen minutes left in the first half, Davis sent in Leach.\nIn recent games, and in practice, Davis has pleaded with his junior center to be more physical in the paint, and Leach proved that he got the point the first time he touched the ball with a putback dunk off a Newton miss. \nLeach would go on to score eight points in the first half, using very physical post moves to knock down short hooks and layups. He also pulled down three boards in the first half. \n"George played a great game tonight," Davis said. "Probably his best game since Maui (Invitational)."\nLeach started the second half and was able to score six more points, including two clutch free throws with 2:41 left that kept the Hoosiers within three points. \nBut after the game he said he was more concerned with missing the block on senior forward Adam Ballinger's back-breaking three-pointer with 39 seconds to go and with giving up a double-figure scoring night to Anagonye. \n"I was thinking about the things I could do to help my team win, that's all," Leach said of his time on the bench at the beginning of the game. "(But) I gave up (11) points to Al (Anagonye) today so I don't think I did my job."\nAlthough Davis's strategy of shuffling the lineup did appear to be successful in that it gave the Hoosiers some much needed energy in a road game, the ultimate result made it a moot point.\n"We lost, so I don't think it worked," he said.