IU extends losing streak to seven

The Big Ten was expected to be one of the best conferences this year, and it has lived up to its billing.

The Hoosiers, however, aren't helping its prestige.

IU (9-16, 3-10) lost its seventh consecutive conference game to Michigan State (21-6, 11-3), 72-58, on Tuesday at Assembly Hall.

Sophomore guard Verdell Jones led all scorers with 20 points, adding 4 boards and 2 assists. But outside of freshman forward Christian Watford (14 points), he didn't have much help.

The Hoosiers shot a lowly 35 percent from the field, dwarfed by the Spartans' 59-percent shooting performance. IU went over 12 minutes without a field goal until Jones made a layup with 17 minutes to go in the second half.

The Hoosiers dominated the free-throw line, though, having 20 more points from the charity stripe than the Spartans.

Michigan State's post dominance, led by forward Draymond Green's 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting, made the Hoosiers efforts to get the line irrelevant.

On the other end, sophomore forward Tom Pritchard and freshman forward Bobby Capobianco combined for 5 points and 4 rebounds.

The Hoosiers will travel to Minnesota (14-10, 5-7) on Saturday.

-Ryan Winn