Hoosiers can't keep up with No. 4 Kentucky, fall 90-73

The beginning of IU’s 90-73 loss to Kentucky on Saturday at Assembly Hall seemed too good to be true – and it was.

Riding the play of freshman guard Maurice Creek, IU took an early lead that extended to as much as eight before reality set in. After Kentucky gained a 21-19 lead on the back of guard Eric Bledsoe, the Wildcats began to pull away.

The Hoosiers fought to stay in the game, but a 49-24 rebounding disadvantage and an 18-0 Kentucky run ended their chances to pull an upset. They fell below .500 after the game and are now 4-5 on the season.

IU coach Tom Crean said a season has made a difference for his team and what they expected from the rivalry contest.

“A year ago, we play Kentucky and it was a stunned locker room,” he said. “This year, we play Kentucky and it’s a hurt locker room. There’s progress in that.”

The Hoosiers stayed close for much of the game, but Kentucky coach John Calipari’s team eventually landed a blowout win against IU. The first-year coach of the 10-0 Wildcats said he was impressed with how IU began the game.

“You know what I was so happy about?” Calipari said. “How Indiana University came out and tried to run us off the court and hit every shot.”

The Hoosiers’ adrenaline-filled first half ended with only a 42-41 lead for Kentucky. Creek scored 20 of those, including a long 3-pointer for the game’s first points.

As the standout freshman slowed down, so did IU.

Calipari said he made sure his players focused on Creek and didn’t allow him to score. After the early 3-pointer, more than nine minutes would pass before he would chart a bucket.

In that span, IU fell apart.

The Hoosiers shot 63 percent in the first half when Creek was scoring, but managed only 33 percent when he struggled. Kentucky shot 56 percent in the first half and maintained their average, tallying 50 percent shooting in the second half.

The difference in percentages came largely on second-chance points for Kentucky, and Crean said that was the only area in which IU didn’t improve.

“Where we didn’t make progress is we weren’t nearly good enough on the backboards,” he said.

He refused to speak on the play of Kentucky guard John Wall but did make a single assessment.

“There’s one analysis I’m wiling to make on Wall,” he said. “He is a great rebounder. That’s something we need Jeremiah Rivers and our guards to do.”

Kentucky led IU 16-8 in rebounding in the first half but gained separation with a 33-16 margin in the second half.

Kentucky also recovered a large portion of the loose balls and had the arrow go its way on many plays where the ball landed out of bounds near the Wildcat basket.

IU did slow down its turnovers, only relenting nine during the game.

Despite the discrepancy in many of the stats tolled to measure effort, Creek said IU continued to fight after they went down big in the second half.

“We don’t look at the score,” he said. “We look at it as still giving an effort. Coaches look at that all the time; who’s going to give up and who’s going to bow down. And none of us did that today.”

Creek finished the game with 31 points. The next leading scorer was freshman forward Christian Watford with 7 points, only 2 of which were scored in the second half.

The span where IU was out-rebounded also led to an 18-0 run by Kentucky that sealed the game for the Wildcats.

In that portion of the contest, Bledsoe scored a large percentage of his 23 points and Patrick Patterson, who scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, was also proficient.
Crean said the Hoosiers let the defensive side of the ball take them out of the game in the second half.

“We just were not as aggressive defensively and then we settled for some shots,” he said. “But I think it was just the defense more than anything else. We’ve got to score off out defense.”

There were defensive lapses and passive offensive possessions in the second half, though IU had stunned Kentucky for a moment.

Neither the Wildcats nor a surprised and cheerful Assembly Hall crowd seemed to know what they were in for in the opening minutes.

Calipari said IU’s opening run was good for his team.

“Them coming out of the gate and trying to punch us in the mouth was the best thing that could have happened to us,” he said. “How did we respond to that?”