Hoosiers draw lessons from past opponents, performances

A day short of one year ago, a highly ranked IU squad stormed into the Bryce Jordan Center against a seemingly overmatched Penn State team and left with a narrow 88-82 victory against a team IU would later dominate in home and neutral floor contests.

A year later, the Hoosiers (13-1, 1-0) are ranked even higher, the Nittany Lions (8-5, 0-1) — without injured star guard Tim Frazier — are again among the Big Ten cellar dwellers.

However, sophomore forward Cody Zeller knows what to expect from Penn State.

“I know from last year they always play hard and never let up,” Zeller said.

That could perhaps be said about much of the Big Ten, which has seemingly distanced itself from other conferences thus far this season.

Led by No. 2 Michigan and No. 5 IU, the league conference boasts six ranked teams, five in the top 11 and none ranked lower than 18th. Early projections have said the league conference could send as many as seven or eight teams to the NCAA tournament come March.

If last year’s Penn State away game was not a convincing indication of just how tough it could be to win on the road in the Big Ten in 2013, IU needs only to look at this past week for several conference rivals.

No. 11 Illinois, after an unexpectedly strong non-conference run, fell victim to an unranked and rebuilding Purdue squad on the road, then days later thoroughly drubbed No. 8 Ohio State on its own home court.

IU, the only Big Ten team to open league play with two consecutive road games, already has one conference win under its belt after grinding out a 69-65 triumph against Iowa on New Year’s Eve, another potential predictor of what is to come.

“It’s crucial that they have that,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “This team needs to be in some fights. We’ve been in some fights, and the only way you can learn to win consistently in a league like this is to fight your way through it. It gave them confidence.”

Iowa in particular had been a thorn in the side of the Hoosiers for several seasons, regardless of ranking. Last Monday’s win in Iowa City was the first for IU’s current seniors.

“It was big, just getting us started being 1-0 in the Big Ten,” Zeller said. “Winning at Iowa has been tough for us, but it was a big win for us. But we went right back to work the next day.”

For the team’s freshmen, the Iowa victory was both their first true road game in college as well as their conference debuts. As such, it made several lessons quickly apparent to the young players.

“I remember at Iowa I couldn’t really hear,” freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said. “It’s just that much more focus we have to have on communication on offense and defense.”

Players and coaches alike preached efficient communication as an always-present key to conference play, especially on the road.

“We emphasize to make sure our communication travels,” Assistant Coach Kenny Johnson said. “Your scoring may not always travel, but if your defense and communication travels, you’re at least giving yourself a chance, and it’s something that has to happen in this league to be successful.”