The Real IU is seen last night - Fighting Irish routes IU 88-50

Hey, at least UK isn't the only local team that sucks -

http://www.indystar.com/article/20081125/SPORTS0601/811250391/1069

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Low on experience, lacking size and athleticism, and facing the nation's No. 8 team, Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean knew his team had to do the little things well Monday if it had any chance against Notre Dame.

As it turned out, IU wasn't real good at anything, big or small.

Tory Jackson scored 21 points and handed out six assists, and Kyle McAlarney added 18 points on six 3-pointers to lead Notre Dame to an easy 88-50 victory over Indiana in first-round action of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Former Indianapolis Star Indiana Mr. Basketball Luke Zeller had 10 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes off the Irish bench.

It was far and away IU's worst loss in 13 games all time in Maui. The most lopsided previous loss was 86-68 to Tulane in 1994. Overall, it was IU's worst loss since falling 80-41 to Kentucky in December 2003 at the RCA Dome.

IU (2-1) will face St. Joseph's (1-2) at 1:30 p.m. today. St. Joseph's lost to No. 7 Texas 68-50 on Monday.

Crean said his team didn't communicate or get deflections on defense. The Hoosiers had trouble on offense, too.

"We're obviously in a learning process and we learned a lot today,'' Crean said. "We didn't put up nearly enough resistance on the defensive end, and we tried to finesse shots and create shots at the rim rather than just going in and taking what the defense was giving us. There were a couple of times when we had a great opportunity for a layup, but we were searching for a foul.

"And we just have to work through that. We have to get guys to understand that some times we just have to play basketball.''

Indiana trailed 13-9 with 11:41 to play in the first half in the tiny gym at the Lahaina Civic Center, which has a capacity of 2,500.

The Hoosiers matched Notre Dame's intensity early but missed 10 of their first 14 shots. When the Irish got clicking on offense, they pulled away for a 44-23 halftime lead.

Notre Dame has one of the nation's most experienced lineups and IU is quite young. Crean said age mattered in this one.

Crean has said for several weeks that Indiana needs to talk more. The Irish exploited that lack of communication.

"It's a lack of experience,'' Crean said. "It's a comfort level of being with one another so many different times. It's hard for the players to answer because they haven't been through it. We just have to keep trying to have them understand how important it is for that defensive and offensive communication.''

Nick Williams, who scored 10 points in 25 minutes off the bench, said he knows his team has a long way to go.

"We just need to move the ball more and make better decisions and talk to each other,'' Williams said. "I think that will help us get better and win some games.''

Freshman forward Tom Pritchard led the Hoosiers with 14 points and six rebounds, while Devan Dumes had 10 points.