If you’re looking for a snapshot of Indiana’s performance in this fifth-place game, this one works: in the time it took you to read those six paragraphs in turned the ball over six times and let two Running Rebels drive untouched to the basket. They forced a UNLV turnover and earned another shot. They’re coming in the half court too. After a disappointing loss in the second round of the Maui Invitational, the Hoosiers will look to rebound against the Red Storm. While Duke already has one foot in the offseason, this game still really matters to Wake Forest. Michigan State’s stifling defense held the Eagles to 33.8% shooting from the field, while the Spartans also came close to doubling up EMU on the glass (56-29 rebound advantage).
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No. 2 Maryland 77, Illinois State 66 • In Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, Rasheed Sulaimon scored 16 points and Melo Trimble added 15 to help Maryland beat Illinois State in the Cancun Challenge. Day one of the tournament was largely a disappointment for the Indiana Hoosiers.
After a Blackmon Jr. three with 15:03 to go in the second half, the Hoosiers tied it up at 46 and had all of the momentum. The rest of the Hoosiers were 6 of 14. Carter’s second block of the game basically sealed it with less than a second left, and the guy known for filling up the stat sheet did just that with a career-high 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
In 62 games at Oregon, Ben Carter scored in double digits three times and recorded multiple blocks only twice.
“Yeah, that was the set that we have”, said Zeisloft. “This is a team everybody thinks we can compete with, and if we play well, we have a chance to beat”. Svi Mykhailiuk led all KU players with 13 shot attempts from the field. “It’s unacceptable with the guys that have the ball in their hands for us to be giving the ball that way, and we’ve got to get that fixed”.
The teams combined for 60 fouls and 74 free throws.
Outside of those two missed free throws, Parker did just about everything he could to keep UCLA in the game. “It brought us back to doing what we do – forcing three-and-outs; scoring points when we need to score points”. I didn’t have to, but I took him out.
In terms of the tournament as a whole, the Hoosiers had higher expectations than finishing sixth and going 1-2, but these are tournaments where you learn a lot about your team, and it’s safe to say IN learned the hard way. We’ve got to get ready to play another tough team tomorrow and go from there. He did however commit three personal fouls which did limit his abilities, but was certainly effective for 27 minutes on the floor tonight.
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Even if IN doesn’t stay ranked for very long (the Hoosiers went 1-2 IN Maui), this is still going to be a good win for UNLV’s resume at the end of the year. “It’s the end of November“, Crean said. “There is no question we can get better at every aspect of the game”.
