IU looks to stay on top

For a brief 24 hours, the IU men's basketball team was the sole leader of the Big Ten with a 3-1 conference record. But after Wednesday night's games, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Purdue jumped into the number one spot with IU (9-6 overall).\nAt the bottom of the Big Ten standings lies a lonely Minnesota team, 0-4 in the Big Ten and 8-8 on the season. It's a Minnesota team that's struggled at home and away, and it's a Minnesota team that sophomore guard Marshall Strickland says IU will not take lightly.\n"They really need this win, and they are going to come out really hard," Strickland said. "So we're going to go in there and battle them."\nStrickland averaged 16 points a game in the last three IU games, hitting .500 (15-of-30) from the floor and .588 (10-of-17) from beyond the arc. He has also been perfect in his last ten free throw attempts.\nThe team has been 5-0 this season when Strickland has contributed at least 14 points.\nIU has lost its last 5 games at Minnesota, and senior center George Leach said in order to break the jinx, the team will have to come together as one and play a solid game.\n"We can't have any screw-ups," Leach said. "We'll have to get the lead and hold it, and that's all on defense."\nWhen IU defeated Ohio State 69-61 on Tuesday in their second Big Ten road win, it was the third straight game in which IU held an opponent to .400 or less shooting from the field.\nJunior guard Donald Perry, who had six assists against Northwestern and five at Ohio State, said one of the improvements in the IU team is communication on the court.\n"On the court now we talk to each other more," Perry said. "Now we try and encourage each other, pick each other up."\nLeading the Gophers in scoring has been freshman Kris Humphries. He averages 22.8 points and 10.4 rebounds a game.\nLeach said adjusting to the 6-foot-9 Humphries would be key for IU, but that he isn't the entire team. IU will have to play hard on everyone, Leach said, because the team is going to be hungry for a win.\n"They don't want to lose just as much as we don't want to lose," Leach said. "I'm sure they'll attack us inside and out."\nThe IU team could walk into Minnesota expecting mediocre play from a winless team against Big Ten opponents. But instead, Strickland, Perry and Leach say the team knows much better and is expecting what could be Minnesota's best game so far this season.\n"We're probably the favorite in this game, but we're going in there as underdogs," Strickland said. "We're going into their house, and it's not going to be easy."\n-- Contact staff writer Natalie A. Trout at natrout@indiana.edu.