Hoosiers take unbeaten record on road

Junior guard Verdell Jones is ready to hit the road.

The IU men’s basketball team (6-0) will play away from Assembly Hall for the first time this season when it faces Boston College (4-2) in the ACC/Big Ten/Challenge at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.  

While Jones has only one true road victory in his two years as a Hoosier, he said he’s excited to get to the hostile environment.

“I personally like playing away because it’s like you against the world,” he said. “That’s just a good feeling. I think it’s going to be fine and I think we’ll be all right.”

The Hoosiers are off to their best start since the 2002-03 season, but Jones said the team isn’t getting caught up in its success this early in the 2010-11 season.

“We just go practice by practice, game by game, and just try to go 1-0 every day,” Jones said. “That’s the biggest thing. I think if you look at the record then it puts a lot of extra pressure on, and that’s not what we need right now.”

IU will get enough pressure from its next opponent as it is.

The Eagles are led by first-year coach Steve Donahue, who last coached Cornell to three straight 20-win seasons.

IU coach Tom Crean is familiar with Donahue’s style, having faced and defeated him 72-57 in Assembly Hall two years ago.

“What he’s doing more than ever — and I think this is where he’s playing to his talent level — is he’s really utilizing the ball screen in a lot of different ways,” Crean said of Donahue. “He does some very unique things with the ball screens. So we’re going to have to be locked into our game plan as much as we can possibly be.”

Boston College is led by guard Reggie Jackson who is scoring 17.7 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the field. The Eagles can also score in bunches in the post, led by 6-foot-8-inch, 232-pound forward Joe Trapani’s 13.0 points per game and forward Corey Raji’s 62 percent field goal clip.

With 12 upperclassmen on the Boston College roster, Crean said a more mature IU team that understands the value of defense will be key to handling the different situational difficulties Boston College will present.

Jones, who has seen the lowest of points with an 0-11 road record two years ago, said the vibe is much more positive as the team prepares for its first trip.

“We’re expecting to win a little bit more, and we’re playing a lot more confident,” Jones said. “I think we finally realized that in order for us to win games, you have to start with defense.”