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.BLOOMINGTON – Halfway through the second question of Saturday’s postgame news conference, Tom Crean turned his attention to Loyola of Maryland.
And the Indiana coach had a warning.
“We’ll be in for a real fight. I mean if there’s a Lipscomb moment in our spot right now, it’s Loyola,” Crean said, referring to last year’s December 74-69 loss to the Bisons.
The Hoosiers (5-5) meet the Greyhounds (5-5) at 6:30 p.m. today at Assembly Hall.
“They’re coming off of a 34-point win (Saturday against Howard). Their coach is an intense, driven, exciting, enthusiastic guy in Jim Patsos, who coached with (Maryland’s) Gary Williams. They run basically the same things,” Crean said.
“If we come out the way we did in the first half (of Saturday’s 81-58 win against North Carolina Central), we’ll leave for Christmas with a sad feeling. And that’s not what we’re looking for. So we’ve got to continue to understand what 40 minutes is all about.”
IU led the Eagles 36-33 at halftime. The Hoosiers made improvements on defense (North Carolina Central shot 40 percent in the first half, 28 percent in the second) and did a better job rebounding (going from a plus-four advantage at halftime (17-13) to plus-18 for the game (46-28) in the second half.
Freshman guard Maurice Creek also got hot after halftime. He scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half.
“The whole thing comes down to, no matter what, it’s doesn’t matter what the numbers are in any category, that you’re only going to be as good as your energy and your ability to cover for one another defensively,” Crean said. “And when you have that and you’re not out of rotation, you’re not getting a lot of guys cross-matched on block-outs, you’re getting a chance to fast-break, you’re getting a chance to get easy baskets.”
Loyola of Maryland snapped a three-game losing streak with its 85-51 victory against Howard. Jamal Barney and Brett Harvey are the team’s top scorers, averaging 14.6 and 13.2 points, respectively.
