|
 Ferrell made 7-of-8 shots from 3-point range, establishing a
career high for 3-pointers made, and finished with 27 points to lead
all scorers. He was 8-of-10 from the field overall.
The students did not rush the court after the win, but left
chanting, "Yo-gi Ferr-ell."
"Once I hit the first couple," Ferrell said, "they all felt good.
Once I had an opening, I wasn't really going to force it. Once I had
an opening I was just going to let it fly."
Michigan (16-5, 8-1 in the Big Ten) is the second top-10 team the
Hoosiers (14-8, 4-5) have knocked off in Assembly Hall this season.
They beat then-No. 3 Wisconsin on Jan. 14.
"That was a great college basketball game, there's no question about
it," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said.
The loss is Michigan's first in Big Ten play, and it snaps the
Wolverines' 10-game winning streak, the second longest streak in the
John Beilein era. It is the Wolverines' first loss since Dec. 14,
when they lost 72-70 to No. 1 Arizona.
"I didn't think we were going to go undefeated [in the conference],"
Beilein said. "In the long run, we just have to grow from it and get
better. This team really played well today. I don't think anybody is
going to beat them if Yogi goes 7-for-8."
Michigan's last lead came with 8:42 left in the first half. Indiana
led the rest of the way, but the game was tied three more times.
"We know we beat an outstanding team and we're proud of it," Crean
said.
After Michigan cut the deficit to 56-52 with 1:07 to go, Indiana
responded with a layup, free throw and dunk to take control of the
game.
The Hoosiers held a 61-52 lead with under 20 seconds to go when
Indiana forward Noah Vonleh dunked a tip-in off of a missed free
throw by guard Evan Gordon to put the exclamation mark on the
victory for the Hoosiers.
Ferrell broke a 29-29 tie early in the second half with a 3-pointer
off of an offensive rebound. Almost four minutes later, Ferrell
brought Hoosier fans to their feet with his made layup that came off
of an offensive rebound. The basket gave the Hoosiers a 37-31 lead
with 12:35 to go.
Indiana, one of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten, finished
with 31 rebounds, nine of which came at the offensive end. The
Hoosiers had nine second-chance points.
Ferrell's 3-pointer two possessions later forced Beilein to call a
timeout as Indiana took a 40-33 lead with 11:27 to go. Ferrell left
his wrist extended for a bit after making the shot.
Before he attempted two free throws at the 9:57 mark, the crowd in
Bloomington chanted, "Yo-gi Ferr-ell."
"That's as good of point guard play — he only took 10 shots, had 27
points, and ran his team, even in shot-clock time he made big, huge
shots," Beilein said.
Michigan would never get closer than four points in the final 14
minutes.
Guard Derrick Walton Jr. finished with 13 points to lead the
Wolverines. Guard Caris LeVert added 12 points.
The Wolverines scored a season-low 52 points. They entered the game
averaging 77.2 points per game.
[to top of second column] |
Michigan, whom Crean called "an assist team," also only had eight
assists. They had averaged 15.5 per game.
Gordon said Indiana's key to limiting the Wolverines was the
Hoosiers' defensive communication. Crean said Indiana finished with
49 deflections and was proud of the Hoosiers' defensive activity.
"We really held true to what we wanted to do defensively," Crean
said.
Ferrell also guarded Michigan's leading scorer, guard Nik Stauskas,
who only scored six points, his second-lowest total of the season.
He came in averaging more than 18 per game.
"They take their quickest player and don't let Nik get the ball,"
Beilein said.
Michigan, the best 3-point shooting team in the conference at nearly
40 percent, shot just 3-for-13 from long range in the game. The
Hoosiers also held the Wolverines to just 40 percent shooting from
the field. Michigan had averaged a Big Ten-best 49 percent entering
Sunday.
At halftime, the Hoosiers clung to a 25-22 lead.
Twice in that half, Ferrell managed to drain desperation 3-pointers
as the shot clock fell under five seconds. The second time he did
it, with 1:17 left to play in the first half, he gave Indiana a
25-22 lead.
Ferrell accounted for nearly half of the Hoosiers' offense in that
half, going for 12 points. Only four other Indiana players scored,
and none of them managed more than four points.
All of Ferrell's first-half field goals came from beyond the 3-point
line, and he never attempted a shot from inside that line, going
4-for-5 in the first half.
While the Wolverines went 0-for-4 from 3-point range, Walton Jr. got
fouled from distance twice, and converted all six free throws.
Michigan finished the half 8-for-8 from the line, while Indiana had
zero attempts.
NOTES: Indiana F Noah Vonleh finished with a double-double with 10
points and 12 rebounds. It was his third double-double of Big Ten
play. ... The Hoosiers now have 10 wins against top-10 teams since
the 2011-12 season, tied for the most in the country. ... Indiana's
2013 Mr. Basketball, G Zak Irvin, finished with seven points on
3-of-6 shooting in his first career game against his home state
Hoosiers. ... Only six players scored more than one point for
Indiana. ... Indiana is now 7-2 against top-10 team in the last two
years. ... The Hoosiers, who have averaged 15.5 turnovers per game
entering Sunday, finished with 13 turnovers.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
