Hoosiers take down Wolverines, remain undefeated at home

It’s another ranked opponent and another tally in the win column.

The IU men’s basketball team took down its third ranked foe of the season, knocking off No. 13/16 Michigan (12-3, 2-1) 73-71 on Thursday night at Assembly Hall. IU is now 11-0 at home and will look to go undefeated at Assembly Hall for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

“This was a big-time win tonight,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “That’s a really good team, and we didn’t play great. But we found a way, and we gritted it out. I don’t mean just gutting it out. I mean grit it out. We were gritty.”

The Hoosiers (14-1, 2-1) were paced by junior forward Christian Watford, who delivered a season-high 25 points, and freshman forward Cody Zeller, who finished with 18 points.

The performance by Watford was one that Crean said they expected from the three-year starter.

“I thought the way Christian Watford played tonight was phenomenal,” Crean said. “I thought the togetherness of Christian and Cody was the biggest part of the game plan.”

Besides pacing the Hoosiers’ scoring attack, Watford also chipped in seven boards and four assists. Watford’s ability to fill out the stat sheet was something Crean said IU needed to take down the Wolverines.

“It’s consistency,” Crean said of Watford. “There’ll be a game where he may not play well, but right now, he’s doing a lot of different things.”

Watford helped the Hoosiers jump out on Michigan early, as IU took a 17-6 advantage into the second media timeout. But a few late 3-pointers by the Wolverines narrowed the gap to 39-32 going into the half.

“Any time a team can shoot like that, they always have a chance to be in it or win the game,” said senior guard Verdell Jones III. “The three ball is a special weapon, and they hit a lot of big shots.”

Michigan carried that momentum into the second half.

The Wolverines came out of the gate connecting from long range and
shortened the IU lead to just one at the first media timeout of the half.

Enter Zeller.

The freshman big man kept the Hoosiers ahead by knocking down a few quick buckets.

Zeller chipped in six points in less than four minutes to dig IU out of its offensive rut.

But Michigan wouldn’t back down.

Though they never led in the game, the Wolverines tied it up with 3:12 to play on a breakaway dunk by sophomore guard Tim Hardaway, Jr., who led Michigan with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting.

“We could never get separation the way that we needed to,” Crean said. “Some of that was us. Some of that was them. But the bottom line was this team gritted it out again.”

Unlike the first 37 minutes of the game, IU relied on Jones down the stretch. Jones knocked down two free throws to give IU the lead and then knocked down a critical baseline jumper to give IU a four-point lead in the final minute.

Though he led IU in turnovers and failed to finish in double digits, Jones said he redeemed himself down the stretch.

“They made a lot of runs, and we just kept fighting tooth and nail to get back in it,” Jones said. “They made some big plays at the end, but we stayed focused, and we stayed hungry.”

For IU, it’s another Big Ten win at Assembly Hall, which is exactly what Crean said he envisioned his team doing.

“I’m really, really proud of our team,” Crean said. “They have won 14 games 14 different ways with a lot of room for improvement. I’m excited about them.”