Creek propels men's basketball team past Evansville

Maurice Creek was the spark IU needed Sunday.

With his team trailing by six after one half, the sophomore guard knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers to jump-start a 22-0 run and lead the Hoosiers to a 67-54 victory against Evansville in Assembly Hall.

“That’s what I have to be able to do for the team to be successful. I have to knock down shots,” Creek said. “Today was my day, and it’s going to be somebody else’s day another day, but they got me the ball when I was wide open, and I just knocked down shots.”

Creek’s run pushed the IU lead to as large as 20 in the second half.

When the Purple Aces trimmed the lead to 10 with less than three minutes remaining, Creek banged home a fourth 3-pointer for the dagger.

The Hoosier defense tightened as Creek ignited the offense, keeping Evansville without a point from 16:05 to 8:17 in the second half.

That defense, IU coach Tom Crean said, was the catalyst for the Hoosiers’ first victory when trailing at halftime in his three-year tenure.

“It’s very important for us to keep establishing that we can play excellent defense and we can rebound the ball and take care of the basketball, even when things aren’t going great for us,” Crean said. “In the second half, we made it a little easier for ourselves.”

Creek finished with a game-high 19 points on 50 percent shooting, including a perfect effort from the free-throw line.

The rest of the Hoosiers struggled from the charity stripe, finishing just 15-of-28.

Junior forward Tom Pritchard was the worst offender, going 0-of-3 from the line, but his defense was the apple of Crean’s eye.

Pritchard recorded a career-high five blocks, pulled down eight rebounds and added eight points. Crean said Pritchard had 12 deflections and was plus-12 on the floor, which helped solidify the middle for the Hoosiers.

“He did a very good job on the ball,” Crean said. “He rotated well off the ball, which is where blocked shots are usually going to come from.”

Pritchard’s presence was needed more than any other time this season, as sophomore forward Derek Elston dressed but did not play, and sophomore forward Bobby Capobianco had four fouls in only 11 minutes.

Three other players, including Pritchard, drew at least three fouls. To combat the quick whistles, Pritchard said he fell back on his basics.

“Everybody was getting in foul trouble early, and I just wanted to stay out of trouble and not foul out, obviously,” he said. “Staying down, staying in my stance has really helped me to help block shots easier.”

For the fourth straight time to open the season, the Hoosiers forced their opponent to less than 40 percent shooting.

They also won the rebounding game for the fourth time, grabbing 31 boards to Evansville’s 28.

“We’re not a great block-out team yet,” Crean said of his team’s rebounding. “We’re getting better, but if we’ve got five people in the lane, then we’ve got a chance to defensive rebound and get our break going.”

Junior guard Verdell Jones scored IU’s first eight points and finished with 18 on 7-of-10 shooting.

Sophomore guard Christian Watford had his lowest scoring output of the season so far with 12 points.

The Hoosiers are right back at it Tuesday when they play North Carolina Central and will play a third game in six days when they face Northwestern State on Friday.

Crean said as a coach, he would prefer more practice but is forced to give less time due to the fast-paced schedule.

“We took Wednesday off, and we didn’t even practice Thursday. We just did individuals and lifted because I knew we had a long stretch coming up,” he said. “Did that hurt us at times today? Probably. But the season is a marathon, not a sprint, and you’re trying to read your team constantly for what they need.”