Hoosiers to face No. 5 Michigan State

Each of the two times IU and Michigan State clashed in the 2012-13 season, Victor Oladipo led the Hoosiers to narrow victories en route to an outright Big Ten championship.

Then-junior Oladipo tallied 40 points, 16 rebounds and 11 steals as IU recorded victories of eight and four points.
    
With Oladipo gone to the NBA, IU – the 12th-least experienced team in D-I basketball – will attempt to find a new solution to the No. 5 Spartans as they clash in Assembly Hall Saturday.
    
The Hoosiers’ youth has worked against them at times this season: with 63 turnovers in its last three games, IU has struggled to take care of the ball.
    
Freshman guard Stanford Robinson said the Hoosiers’ inexperience combined with a desire to play quickly has led to the turnover issues.
    
“We’ve been focusing on playing fast, so when you’re playing fast, all you’re thinking is, ‘Push, push, push,’ instead of just thinking about the play, seeing the play ahead of time,” Robinson said. “Some plays, we were just throwing the ball carelessly when we could’ve made the simple play. We were trying to make the home run play.”
    
Despite his team’s inability to protect the ball, IU Coach Tom Crean said Saturday’s opponent might provide more of a challenge on the defensive end. The sixth-year head coach said the Spartans’ depth and versatility allow them to create dangerous match-ups all over the floor.
    
“There’s so many players on the court that can play,” Crean said. “They’re rarely putting somebody out there that can’t make shots.”
    
The Spartans’ attack is spearheaded by a pair of preseason All-Big Ten selections in senior center Adreian Payne and sophomore guard Gary Harris.
    
The two have proven a potent inside-out combination this season, with each averaging more than 17 points per game.
    
Harris, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, is a versatile shooting guard who has been known to take games into his own hands, but he has been hampered by an ankle injury. Despite missing three games and being limited in others, Harris leads the Spartans with 17.4 points per game.
    
The 6-foot-10 Payne has made good use of his improved shooting stroke this season, shooting 46 percent from behind the three-point line while still pulling down 8.1 rebounds per game.
    
“You can’t build your defense around stopping (Payne), because then they’re going to carve you up with threes,” Crean said. “You can’t go out and overpressure, because then they’re going to go around you.”
    
Crean said that Payne in particular can create matchup problems by himself due to his versatility on the offensive end of the floor.
    
“You’re talking about a guy like Payne, who’s one of the most unique matchups in the country because he can post, he can play at the foul line, he can drive it now, and he can shoot threes,” Crean said. “Not to mention rebound and defend. He becomes that much harder to guard.”
    
IU will look for sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell to continue his red-hot offensive performance in order to keep pace with the Spartans. Ferrell leads the Hoosiers in scoring (17.7 points per game), three-point shooting (44%), and assists (4.1).
    
Senior forward Will Sheehey said the Hoosiers’ early-season difficulties were to be expected with inexperience, but that further preparation can alleviate some of the issues.
    
“We’ve got young guys who haven’t really played a season yet and haven’t had too many losses,” Sheehey said. “It’s good to see them come in and practice hard and really prepare for the next game, so they just have to come in and work.”