Hoosiers close out Cornell for W

After spending their Thanksgiving week competing in Maui, the Hoosiers returned home Sunday to defeat reigning Ivy League champion Cornell 72-57. IU (4-2) stayed undefeated at home, never trailing against Cornell.

Although IU never trailed, the majority of the two teams exchanged a series of runs. IU would open sizeable leads only to see Cornell come back to bring within one possession.

Keeping Cornell in the game was its defensive pressure. Cornell scored 20 points off IU’s 20 turnovers.

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“We got to get better with the turnovers,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “I harp on them. We show them the stats, we show them the numbers.”

Also keeping Cornell in the game was the play of Ryan Wittman, the son of former IU star Randy Wittman. Wittman scored 28 of Cornell’s 57 total points on 8-of-22 shooting. The 28 points are a career high for Wittman.

Freshman Nick Williams, who spent the majority of the time on Wittman, credited the Cornell guard for hitting tough shots.

“We knew he was a great player coming into this game,” Williams said. “I played the best defense I could on him, and he still hit some big shots.”

But eventually freshman Malik Story buried Cornell, hitting a 3-pointer with under four minutes left to put IU up by 12, and the team stayed ahead by double digits for the remainder of the game.

The Hoosiers were led by the freshman duo of Williams and Tom Pritchard. Pritchard was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor en route to 23 points. Williams put in 14 of his 18 points in the first half to jumpstart IU.

“They made the tourney last year, so we know they were coming in to play tough,” Williams said. “We watched a lot of film this week and we just came out and executed and we knew what we had to do to win this game.”

Crean was elated after the game to defeat a team he predicted will go back to the NCAA Tournament.

“For us to hold an excellent shooting team like this down into the low 30s was really strong,” Crean said. “To out-rebound them was a great thing for us.”

Not sharing Crean’s enthusiasm about Cornell basketball after the game was Cornell coach Steve Donahue.

“We did not play very well today,” Donahue said. “Offensively, defensively, in all aspects of the game. Not one of our better efforts for sure.”

While Crean once again gave credit for the non-sellout Assembly Hall crowd for the loud environment they created, with just more than six minutes left in the first half the crowd was silent. The reason being freshman Verdell Jones laid unconscious at center court after being blind sided by a pick from seven footer Jeff Foote. Jones was taken off in a stretcher and taken to Bloomington Hospital from precautionary measures.

The entire IU team stood and watched in silence as Jones was carted off the court. Pritchard said Junior Devan Dumes brought the team together to keep them focused.

“Everybody was worried about Verdell,” Pritchard said. “And Devan brought us in as a group and said we’ve got to look past it.”

TESTS ON JONES COME BACK NEGATIVE

IU freshman Verdell Jones was taken off Branch McCracken court in a stretcher Sunday after being blindsided by a pick during IU’s 72-57 victory against Cornell. After the game IU coach Tom Crean said Jones was taken to the hospital for precautionary purposes but every test came back negative.   

“It was a scary moment,” Crean said. “Scary for our team, I felt awful for him because he could move his body but he was so scared. So scared.”

Cornell center Jeff Foote, who set the pick, was boo’d loudly for the remainder of the game every time he touched the ball. But Crean insisted the play was clean.

“It was a very good basketball play,” Crean said. “And we just didn’t see it coming.”