Ole Miss defeats young Hoosiers 89-71

IU’s 89-71 loss against Ole Miss on Thursday seemed similar to its past contest, except the Hoosiers were on the other end.

In its first two games, IU faced inferior talent and allowed it to stick around. However, a veteran Ole Miss team prevailed against the Hoosiers in the first of three possible games in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off.

“We made too many mistakes to win the game,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “They were more physical and we didn’t do a great job of playing through that.”

It didn’t have to be that way, though.

At the six-minute mark of the second half, IU had chopped the lead down to only eight points at 69-61.

Senior guard Jeremiah Rivers led a fast break with the Hoosiers trying to bring the deficit to six. The most hurtful of IU’s 21 turnovers in the game came during that play.

Instead of bringing the game down to six and challenging for the lead, Ole Miss extended its advantage with consecutive scores. What was a close contest became an 81-65 game by the time two minutes hit the scoreboard and the 12-4 run had ended.

Outside of its own miscues, the biggest challenge for IU was overcoming the Rebels’ size.

Although Rivers had 6 inches on 5-foot-10 point guard Chris Warren, many of the Ole Miss players stood near or above 6 feet, 5 inches.

IU reverted to a two-three zone to keep Rebel players out of the lane. It didn’t work. Ole Miss had 11 more rebounds than IU and tallied 17 of them on the offensive glass.

Ole Miss forward Murphy Holloway cashed in on second attempts more than any player. He had a game-high 26 points and also grabbed nine rebounds, six of which came from his team’s misses.

Sophomore guard Verdell Jones said IU will work to ensure it is prepared when it faces another team like Ole Miss.

“We just have to come back and improve and get tougher,” he said. “We want to grow as a team and games like this can help us understand how tough it is to compete at this level.”

IU’s offense was also affected by Ole Miss’ big men, as the Rebels tallied 12 blocks in the game. IU’s most-efficient inside player, freshman forward Christian Watford, finished with only five points and four rebounds.
 
Watford had been averaging a double-double of 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds before facing Ole Miss.  

The Hoosiers were led in scoring by freshman guard Maurice Creek who had 18 points. Jones had 17 points and Rivers chipped in 14.

No other IU player had more than sophomore forward Tom Pritchard’s eight points.
The Hoosiers had problems in areas that had been strong points in the past.

They were 12-of-25 from the free-throw line, shot only 20 percent from the 3-point line and went only 41 percent overall.

IU did have 14 steals and forced 19 turnovers, but the Rebels also gained 10 steals that played a part in IU’s 21 turnovers.

Ole Miss continued a streak of scoring 40 points in every half they have played.
Rivers said IU gritted its way through the game despite its inexperience.

“I’ve been fortunate to play against some great competition at Georgetown,” he said. “But I am proud of the way we kept fighting. The nice thing is we come out tomorrow.”