Hoosiers defeat Minnesota to remain perfect at home

After two tough road losses, the IU men’s basketball team needed a miniature homecoming. \nA match up with Minnesota, the team with the worst winning percentage in the Big Ten, didn’t hurt, either. \nThe combination of IU’s home dominance – the Hoosiers were 13-0 at Assembly Hall coming into Wednesday’s game – and a visit from a struggling Minnesota team gave the Hoosiers a 71-59 win Wednesday night, but the victory wasn’t as easy as the conditions suggested. \nThe Hoosiers opened an early 9-3 margin and jumped out to a 13-point lead with 7:44 left in the first half. \nIU never surrendered that lead, but they allowed Minnesota within marksman’s distance of it midway through the second half. The Gophers’ Lawrence McKenzie, who scored 20 points in the game, cut the lead to two on a long three with 11:46 left in the second half. \nIU responded, but the Gophers cut the lead to two again. At 52-50, IU guard Rod Wilmont drove to the hoop and was fouled. He made the first shot and missed the second, and the IU offensive rebound eventually led to an open three by IU freshman guard Joey Shaw. The Hoosiers built on that lead throughout the rest of the game and Minnesota never threatened again. \n“That was a huge, huge play,” Minnesota interim coach Jim Molinari said. “We don’t have any margin, so when we get in the game we can’t give up plays like that.”\nMolinari is leading the Gophers because former coach Dan Monson resigned on Nov. 30. Minnesota has since limped to a 9-19 record on the season, including a 3-11 Big Ten mark. \nThe win was the first for IU since their last game at Assembly Hall, a 65-61 win against Illinois. Since then, the Hoosiers dropped an 81-68 loss to in-state rival Purdue and missed late opportunities in Ann Arbor, Mich. in a 58-55 loss to Michigan. \nIU was led by junior forward D.J. White, who scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in 28 minutes of play. But White’s effort was complemented by an unusual amount of minutes from some of IU’s bench players. \nThe Hoosiers used six players for more than 20 minutes each, and two more for more than 13 minutes. Junior forward Mike White also played significant time; he notched five points and three rebounds in nine minutes of play.\n“You go in thinking ‘Who’s ready to play,’” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. “There’s a difference between knowing your role and accepting your role, and sometimes that can be hard to adjust to. I don’t sit on the bench and say ‘this guy’s played this many minutes.’ If someone’s playing good, I’m going to keep him in the game.” \nWilmont scored 16 points for the Hoosiers on 5-for-14 from the field and grabbed five rebounds. Junior guard A.J. Ratliff added 10 points on 4-for-8 from the field. \nFor the second straight game, IU was without senior point guard Earl Calloway, who suffered a slight separation of his shoulder in the loss to Purdue. Calloway wasn’t cleared to play by the team’s medical staff, Sampson said.\n“There’s no question our team would have been different tonight if we had Earl,” Sampson said. “I think we would have been different at Michigan, too. But you take blessings as they come. In this case, Armon gets the chance to play more point.”