Indiana began the season with 12 consecutive victories.But coach Tom Crean said IU is a better team now than they were after capturing that 12th straight victory Dec. 22 against Maryland-Baltimore County.The No.The 200th win of Tom Crean’s coaching career could also serve as a turning point for the Indiana basketball program.
The Hoosiers topped Pittsburgh 74-64 Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Panthers are known for their physical style, but the Hoosiers were the tougher team.
“(The win) was great. There was a lot of hugging going on in the locker room,” Crean said in postgame transcripts. “The bottom line is that they (the players) really earned it. It gnaws at you as a coach, as a leader or as a parental figure when your guys are working so hard and you want them to have success.
“These guys … needed a reason to see why they practiced twice on Thanksgiving Day and why we do individual workouts in the morning. And why we are walking through in ballrooms at hotels. But this was great, at a great venue, and it was fantastic.”
IU (4-4) had 40 points in the lane to Pittsburgh’s 20. The Hoosiers also made more free throws (25) than the Panthers attempted (17).
“I told our coaches that this was the closest that we have come in our one-plus years here to transferring our practice over into a game,” Crean said. “We’ve had a great week of practice.”
IU nearly let an 18-point lead slip away after leading 67-49 with 2:59 to go. Pittsburgh (7-2) cut the lead to six in the final minute. But unlike last year, when Michigan and Lipscomb completed double-digit rallies against Indiana, the Hoosiers finished.
“Leadership really came into it,” sophomore guard Verdell Jones III said. “Devan (Dumes) did a great job, behind the scenes, of calming us down. It was a big game, nationally televised game, we knew that, and we really wanted to win. Our hunger really showed.”
The Hoosiers now have a signature victory to build on.
“From the nine-minute mark on, our guys never wavered in how they were talking to each other, in terms of finishing the game,” Crean said. “It was all about defense. I could have not talked offense those last nine minutes and I think we would have still won the game because we were so locked in to defending.
“We made some mistakes like going too fast when we were trying to put the game away, but that is all part of the learning process. There are still so many learning situations that we have to go through. Thankfully all of these are teachable moments from a win.”
