IU beats USC Upstate 69-61

When the USC Upstate Spartans ran onto the court at Assembly Hall, their uniforms resembled the Michigan State Spartans.

Fortunately for IU, the team has three months before the No. 2 Michigan State Spartans come to town.

The Hoosiers had their first real scare on Monday as they got by USC Upstate 69-61 in their second game – and win – of the season.

USC Upstate (0-2) cut the lead to eight with 2:20 left in the second half, keeping some
fans from heading to the exits.

However, a 3-pointer by freshman forward Christian Watford and a successive block by Watford made it a 10-point game.  

“I didn’t say this to them, but it was a great learning experience for them,” IU coach Tom Crean said.

IU will use any lessons it can get as it takes on Ole’ Miss on Thursday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

While IU had a 23-point blowout on Friday against Howard, it struggled offensively on Monday. The team scored 14 fewer points against the Spartans than Howard and shot 44.4 percent compared to 55.7 percent in their regular-season opener.

They also didn’t improve much from the first half to the second Their field goal percentage remained steady with a 1.7 percent increase in the second half.

IU's total of 18 turnovers was slightly higher than last year’s average of 17.5.

Freshman guard Maurice Creek said Crean hasn’t mentioned turnovers in practice.

“He just says we need to make better decisions,” Creek said.

Watford stepped up for the team not only in the final minutes, but throughout the entire game. He had 17 points and 10 rebounds – both team highs. It was also his second double-double of the season in as many games.

“He is so talented,” Crean said, “and he’s not even close to consistent yet.”

The team only had a seven-point lead by halftime and ended the game up by eight, a big change from the 23-point performance against Howard.

The Hoosiers will have five games in 10 days, a possible struggle for a team with six freshmen.

“We’ve got to learn how to play through the fatigue,” Crean said.

Sophomore guard Verdell Jones blamed the near-loss on a lack of focus.

“We focused more on our offense than our defense,” he said. “We can’t blame that on anything. We can’t blame that on our youth.”

While the problem of youth will remain throughout the season, the issue of leadership is slowly being resolved.

Creek named junior guard Jeremiah Rivers, Watford and himself as some of the team’s emerging leaders.

“It’s coming up slowly,” he said. “It’s going to increase by time.”