Hoosiers win in Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With tournament hopes on the line, IU played the role of Senior Day spoiler for the second game in row. \nThe Hoosiers upended Michigan 69-67 on the Wolverines' Senior Day just three days after IU traveled to West Lafayette to taint Purdue's senior festivities. \nAfter firing off a four-game winning streak, IU is now 4-1 since IU coach Mike Davis announced his resignation Feb. 16. \n"I probably should have stepped down a little earlier," Davis said. "Our guys' minds were just gone because what you have to understand is they care about me ... Sometimes when you're playing to try and keep someone's job, you have a tendency not to do anything." \nThe win gave the Hoosiers a 9-7 finish in the conference and marked their 10th straight victory over Michigan. As the fifth seed, IU will play fourth-seeded Wisconsin Friday in the Big Ten Tournament after a first-round bye. \nSince the Big Ten adopted the 16-game schedule, 41 teams have finished 9-7. Thirty-six of those squads have gone on to the NCAA Tournament. \nThe Hoosiers (17-10) also finished with the same conference record and a similar overall record to the 19-10 (9-7) Badgers -- a team most analysts considered tournament-worthy for most of the season. Both teams hammered out their finishes in one of the highest rated conferences in the nation. \nDavis said he thought the NCAA Tournament selection committee would recognize IU's recent efforts as worthy of a quality postseason seed.\n"They've got a lot of people on the committee that understand that right now we are playing good basketball," Davis said. \nClutch possessions in the closing minutes from senior \nforward Marco Killingsworth and sophomore guard Robert Vaden capped off the IU victory. And junior guard Rod Wilmont -- a 64 percent free-throw shooter -- hit all four of his foul shots down the stretch to secure the Hoosiers' second conference road win.\nVaden finished a 13-point performance with a 3-pointer from the corner, tying the game at 62 with a little less than two minutes remaining.\nKillingsworth then hit a baseline jump shot just inside the arc to tie the game at 64-64 with a minute remaining. The Auburn transfer squared up, dribbled through his legs and nailed the delivery over Michigan forward Graham Brown. \n"I got a whole lot of stuff to my game, man -- I just don't use it," Killingsworth joked. \nHe led IU in three categories with 19 points, 13 rebounds and three assists. \nWilmont and senior guard Marshall Strickland added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Wilmont's final two points came after Brown launched his inbounds pass off Crisler Arena's scoreboard and out of bounds with 2.1 seconds remaining and the Wolverines down by three. \n"We just played with energy, leaving everything that happened before in the past," Wilmont said. "Our minds are just all clear, and we're just playing basketball now."\nAn all-senior Wolverine starting lineup walked on the floor, and the group immediately pushed off to a 10-0 lead. IU answered by outscoring Michigan 27-20 to make for a 30-27 \nhalftime deficit. \nMichigan began the second period with a 9-2 run, going up 39-29, but the Hoosiers responded with a 14-3 run to take their first lead at 43-42. The lead swelled to as large as six points, but Dion Harris retook the Michigan advantage with a 3-pointer at the 7:30 mark. Junior guard Earl Calloway put IU up at 65-64, connecting on one of two free throws. \nThe Hoosiers overcame 20 team turnovers and 34 points from Michigan guard Daniel Horton to give the Wolverines their sixth loss in their last eight games. Michigan finished 18-9 overall and 8-8 in the conference. \n"The Big Ten is a great conference," Davis said. "If you go 8-8 in the best conference, you should be in (the tournament)"