Buckeyes offer no bulletin board incentive

Even with the season more than halfway through, the young Hoosiers are still experiencing firsts.

Saturday will mark the first time IU will see a team for the second time this season when it faces the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The first meeting between the two was a little more than two weeks ago when the Buckeyes embarrassed IU 77-53 in Columbus, Ohio.

IU has shown signs of improvement in its three games since, but Ohio State coach Thad Matta and his team gave no bulletin board material for the Hoosiers to use as motivation for Saturday’s clash.    

Matta said he wasn’t looking forward to his trip to Bloomington, while Buckeye sophomore Jon Diebler sung the praises of the Hoosiers moments after scoring 17 points on them, shooting 5-for-8 from behind the 3-point line.    

“You’ve got to give Indiana a lot of credit,” Diebler said. “I think (Devan) Dumes is a good player, and they’ve got a lot of guys that play hard and they’re only going to get better. The one thing you’ve got to give them (is) respect.”

IU continues to crash the boards
Although the Hoosiers have yet to win a conference game this season, they’ve yet to lose the battle on the glass.   

In its seven Big Ten matches so far, IU has out-rebounded its opponents five times and drew even twice.

In total, IU has averaged more than five rebounds per game more than its conference opponents.    

In their last game against Northwestern, the Hoosiers pulled down 12 more boards than the Wildcats.    

Despite having one of the smaller teams in the conference, IU coach Tom Crean remains adamant the best chance his team has at breaking the long losing streak is to remain assertive on the glass.  
 
“If we can’t rebound the ball, we have no chance to compete,” Crean said.

Rivers staying active
While many in Hoosier nation might already be looking ahead to next season, perhaps no one is looking forward to the 2009-10 campaign more than junior Jeremiah Rivers.

Having to sit out a year due to his transfer, Rivers has been able to do nothing during games but sit back and watch his teammates struggle.

“Game day is probably the toughest day,” Rivers said. “When you realize your team is getting geared up and ready and excited and playing basketball, it’s tough.”

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t working.

Rivers is still an active participant in practice, typically occupying the role of the opposing team’s most dynamic guard as a part of the scout team.

Rivers said he has impersonated Minnesota’s Lawrence Westbrook and Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks, among others, in practice to help his teammates prepare for the real thing come game day.

Recently, Rivers said he has tried to emphasize to his teammates not to let opponents take open shots.

“I think part of it is an adjustment of them understanding that this is college b-ball, and we don’t really miss too much,” Rivers said. “We’ve got a lot of freshmen, and in high school you can back off and say, ‘Go ahead and shoot it,’ and they’ll probably miss it.”