Sluggish Hoosiers beat SIUE by 10

For the first 18 minutes and 19 seconds Friday, the men's basketball team scored as many points as the IU football team scored Saturday. \nIn their last exhibition game of the 2004-2005 season, the Hoosiers came out tired and sluggish against Division II Southern Illinois University -- Edwardsville, in a 57-47 Hoosier victory Friday night at Assembly Hall. \nIU coach Mike Davis blamed the lethargic effort on the tough practice schedule he put his team through last week -- but he said it was all done on purpose.\n"I wanted to see the response of the guys after a tough week of practice," Davis said. "On Monday, we went 10 hard minutes running after a full practice. Tuesday, we worked for three hours. Wednesday, we had our conditioning coach come in and run the team after another three-hour practice. Thursday, we went for three hard hours again."\nTheir soft legs caught up with IU at the outset of Friday's game. \nThe Hoosiers came out shooting 31 percent in the first half from the field and made only one of six three pointers. After Davis stressed defense, taking time on offense, cutting hard and playing as a team, IU missed only eight shots in the second half, shooting 60 percent and made four of eight three pointers -- keeping IU ahead against SIUE.\nIU was led by sophomore reserve guard Roderick Wilmont, who played only 23 minutes but scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds. \n"In the beginning of the game, we weren't really flowing like how we do in practice in offense," Wilmont said.\nHe added SIUE scouted the Hoosiers well and were prepared for what the crimson and cream had to offer.\n"I kind of thought we took a step backwards from our offensive points, but we did pretty good," Wilmont said. \nFreshman D.J. White added 12 points, four rebounds and three blocks in his second unofficial game as a Hoosier. But the Alabama native thought the Hoosiers were inconsistent and had a lot of room to improve. \n"I feel we didn't come out there and do what we are capable of doing," White said. "We had some ups and we had a lot of downs, but a lot of that can be corrected."\nJunior Marshall Strickland rounded out the trio of Hoosiers who scored in double digits with 10 points. He also added five rebounds and three assists. Junior Bracey Wright only dropped in eight points, while grabbing three rebounds and dishing out two assists. \nWilmont said the Cougars were not what they expected, but all the experience the Hoosiers get now will help in the long run. \n"They're more physical than the first team we played and that's what we needed because Carolina and UConn -- those guys are going to be physical. It's going to be war every game here on out," Wilmont said.\nSIUE coach and former Hoosier Marty Simmons praised the Hoosier defense -- even though the Big Ten and Division I team allowed the Cougars to get within 10. \n"We felt like we ran the shot clock down every time, and part of that had to do with (IU)," Simmons said, "They took us out of what we wanted to do."\nWith Indiana State and the beginning of the regular season just eight days away, Simmons said the Hoosiers are already looking good.\n"They cut hard, they're unselfish. I'm very impressed with them," he said. "I just think the longer the season goes the better and better they're going to get." \n-- Contact senior writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu.