IU blown out again!

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081126/SPORTS04/811260473/1002/SPORTS

That's Indiana University basketball in a nutshell after yesterday's 80-54 defeat to Saint Joseph's in a consolation semifinal in the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

IU (2-2) -- which landed no players in double–figure points, had 23 turnovers and was unable to slow down the Hawks -- will play tournament host Chaminade, which lost to Alabama 78-56 yesterday, at 7 tonight for seventh place in the eight-team tournament.

"We have to all stay up, stay encouraged and encourage each other," said IU coach Tom Crean, whose team was blown out by Notre Dame 88-50 on Monday. "We just have to keep working to get through it. I have no doubt that we'll turn it; I just don't know how to expect it yet. We are all very young men, with the exception of (senior) Kyle Taber, on the court.

"And we're playing against groups of people that have been together for 'x' amount of years and have well-established programs. It's not an excuse; it's just a fact."

The Hoosiers played briefly before the NCAA announced the program would be placed on three years' probation for infractions committed under former coach Kelvin Sampson. They were within 34-29 at halftime, then got four quick points from Tom Pritchard to open the second half and narrow the gap to 34-33 with 18:05 to play. Then IU's lack of experience reared its ugly head.

A three-pointer by Saint Joe's Darrin Govens, who led all scorers with 23 points and finished 7 of 9 on threes, and two IU turnovers that were converted into dunks by the Hawks (2-2) started a 19-0 run.

The Hoosiers turned it over six times in that span and trailed 53-33 with 13:19 to play.

"We just didn't come out with a lot of energy, and we just had too many turnovers and didn't pick it up," said Taber, who had seven points and six rebounds. "It's just an area where we need to improve. We need to play with the same intensity level for 40 minutes."

Malik Story was IU's leading scorer with nine points, and Verdell Jones III scored eight.

Crean said he's encouraged by how hard his team played while facing competition that is simply higher than his Hoosiers are ready for.

"It's just a different level game right now for us," he said. "We can't mirror that in practice. We've got freshmen guarding freshmen, we've got freshmen being guarded by walk-ons, and we come out in games and we're being guarded by grown men.

"And we just have to continue to take all these experiences that we're going through, keep getting better in practice and keep trying to turn it around."