The waves got bigger and IU's chances of an upset were blown away, losing to No. 8 Notre Dame in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational, 88-50.
"It is what is it is," Crean said of his young team losing to one of the oldest teams in the country. "Were a brand new program. Its unprecedented in Indiana history...every game you have is going to be an experience and a test."
Despite All-American Luke Harangody scoring only 14 points, Notre Dame (3-0) led by double-digits the entire game after Irish senior guard Kyle McAlarney hit a 3-pointer with 7:35 left in the first half to put the Hoosiers (2-1) down 11.
"Obviously we're in a learning process," Crean said. "We learned a lot today."
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey described IU's effort as "awesome," but Crean was less than pleased after the 38-point drubbing.
IU's first-year coach said that the Hoosiers' defensive intensity didn't rise to the increased competition. He said the team's number one problem was a lack of communication on defense and that IU also struggled with weak side defense and pressuring the ball.
"Were not even scratching, not even sniffing a win with activity like that," he said.
Every game the Hoosiers goal is to have 35 deflections on defense. On Monday, they had 13; a total that Crean said might be his lowest as a head coach.
"After the game is over, win or lose, we have to tell them what they have to get better at and build on the successes that we've had in the short period of time," Crean said. "But really it's a collective thing, learning how to talk and having a physical mindset.
The Irish shot 50.7 percent from the field for the game and out rebounded IU, 43-33.
IU struggled on the offensive end all game, shooting fewer than 40 percent from the field and only 1-of-12 from beyond the arc. At halftime, the team only had two assists and finished the game with six.
"As good as Notre Dame played, and they did they played very well, we didn't put up nearly enough resistance on the defensive end and we tried to finesse shots and create shots rather than taking what the defense was giving us," Crean said. "There were a couple of times we had great opportunities for lay-ups and we were searching for a foul and wondering where so-and-so was at...we need guys to understand that a lot of times we just need to play basketball."
Freshman forward Tom Pritchard led the Hoosiers in the losing effort with 14 points and six rebounds. The Westlake, Ohio native has struggled with foul trouble this season, but finished Monday's contest with no fouls, despite guarding Harangody a majority of the afternoon.
"Tom Pritchard is getting better all the time," Crean said. "He's going to be a focal point of what we do at Indiana for a long time and he'll be a focal point in the country at some point."
Junior guard Devan Dumes and freshman forward Nick Williams chipped in with 10 points each. After playing well recently, Crean gave freshmen guards Daniel Moore and Malik Story their first starts of the season, but the two struggled. Moore finished with more turnovers (four) than assists (three) and Story scored six points in 19 minutes.
"Every guy on our team does some things really well, but if we're not doing them all together we can't beat really good basketball teams like we faced today," Crean said.
The Hoosiers resume action on Tuesday (8:30 a.m. island time, 1:30 p.m. EST) when they play Saint Joseph's in the second round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
