RUNNING THE FLOOR: Not too shabby

As the IU men’s basketball team exited the first-ever basketball court inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, the assembled thousands swathed in cream and crimson rose to their feet in applause.

Proudly, vociferously and not without merit, they cheered their team off the court after a 70-54 loss to No. 5 Gonzaga.

Their reasoning was justified.

For the first time this season, the Hoosiers played a Top-25 opponent and stayed with them for the better part of the game.

Faced with the highest-ranked opponent they had seen all season, Tom Crean’s bunch played rather stiff defense and found its 3-point shot. It wasn’t enough in the end, as every time IU hit a big shot and tried to seize momentum, the Bulldogs answered in kind to keep the game in control.

But that didn’t stop IU from trying.

Now I’ll be the first in a long line of people who would agree moral victories are about as useful as Canadian air conditioning. But to say that there were no positives for the Hoosiers to take from this game would be plain wrong.

There was noticeable improvement in small things IU did Saturday. Defenders met bodies on box outs instead of waiting for the ball. Players talked on defense and offense. When Crean brought players over or out of the game to make small adjustments, they were made.

All of that, of course, only led to a 16-point loss, instead of a 30-point blowout. But for this team, covering the line against legitimate Final Four contenders is more than acceptable, and it should be applauded.

Still, ignorance of some of basketball’s most basic chestnuts – limiting turnovers and offensive rebounds – and one of IU’s biggest problems all season – coming out strong after halftime – led the Hoosiers down to defeat in the end. They are things that must be worked on, and surely will be.

IU also struggled to hold momentum. Every time the Hoosiers hit a 3-pointer or made a play offensively, Gonzaga would answer. The mark of the kind of battle-tested team IU won’t have for two more years.

“They were a veteran team, and every time we hit a big bucket, they came back with a big bucket,” Devan Dumes said after the game. “That’s what really hurt us today.”
But on this snow-white night in early December, losing the first basketball game ever played in Lucas Oil really shouldn’t seem that bad, especially when you consider the opponent.

Dumes agreed.

“It’s new playing against these teams to all of us, but more so to (IU’s young players), so I feel like they gained something out of this today,” Dumes said outside the IU locker room after the game.

Saturday’s loss was by no means a harbinger of what is to come. Crean himself said in postgame that a young team offers no hard promises to consistency day to day.

But the fact remains there is improvement where there wasn’t before. To think that this game wouldn’t have been different had Illinois – or West Virginia, or dare I say Kentucky – been sitting on the other bench is foolish.

The Hoosiers are a long way from respectability, this much is certain. But even if this team had nowhere to go but up, that’s where they’re headed right now.
See you Tuesday.