Preseason game chance to build for IU

In its last preparation before the start of the 2004-05 regular season, the IU men's basketball team plays host to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 8 p.m. tonight at Assembly Hall.\nComing off a 101-64 win in their first exhibition game against Bellarmine Nov. 4, the Hoosiers have spent the past week working on fine-tuning their offensive sets, junior guard Marshall Strickland said. \nThe Cougars come into Bloomington with an 0-2 exhibition record, with one of those losses coming against Big Ten rival Illinois, 78-58. This is the first-ever meeting between IU and SIUE, and the Hoosiers are looking to take last week's game and build on it.\n"We want to improve defensively," said junior Sean Kline. "I think last game we had a little bit of a letdown, especially the last five or six minutes. At times we weren't really focused toward the end of the game from a defensive standpoint. We also need to get better on the boards."\nOn top of defense and rebounding, IU coach Mike Davis said he thinks his team needs to keep up its attitude.\n"We continue to improve with intensity," Davis said. \nWorking toward improving on last year's forgettable season, the Hoosiers will face a liability that burdened them on their way to a 14-15 record -- a presence in the middle.\nSIUE features 6-foot-11 center Dan Heimos, who is averaging 8.5 points per game this exhibition season. \nBut Davis isn't concerned about the Cougars' big man.\nEven though the only listed center for the Hoosiers is 6-foot-10 freshman Lucas Steijn, Davis said IU has been battling a big man all year in practice against 6-foot-8 senior Marco Killingsworth, preparing the Hoosiers for a man in the middle.\nOnce the Hoosiers finish their exhibition schedule, they will have more than 10 days to fine-tune and prepare for the grueling regular season, which features a span of six NCAA tournament teams in 22 days.\n"The best thing about this game is we have 11 days before our season opener against Indiana State," Davis said. "It is important for us to continue to get better. Last game we got 19 assists, and we made 37 field goals. We also got 20 points in transition. We are really going to try to focus in getting more transition baskets."\nWith these games not counting toward the Hoosiers' overall record, Davis said he is antsy to get the real season going.\n"This is an impatient period from a coach's standpoint. You want everything ready right now, and that's not the case," he said. "I just want to continue to get better in transition and set better screens, read screens better and rebound better."\nWhen most teams are resting its players and working on basic offenses, Davis said the Hoosiers are diving headfirst into what they want to do for the rest of the season.\n"We're not going to be as clean as (we) should be," Davis said. "We're not holding anything back. If we're not doing something well, its not because we're holding back."\n-- Contact senior writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu.