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 The 12th-ranked Hoosiers secured sole possession of the league crown
by defeating No. 16 Iowa 81-78 Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Indiana improved to 24-6 overall, 14-3 in Big Ten play. Iowa (20-9,
11-6) lost for the fifth time in six games.
Hoosiers coach Tom Crean said he didn't have all the words to
process winning a second title in four years. However, he said he
always saw the potential of a championship-caliber team in his
players, even early in the season when the Hoosiers were manhandled
at Duke.
"The ingredients were there," Crean said. "The ingredients of
workers, the ingredients of guys that cared about one another, guys
that wanted to improve, guys that were working hard, and it
continued to get better and better.
"They treat every day as the most important day they have, and
they've shown that, or I don't think we could win a championship in
this league without it."
Indiana won this game by shooting a sizzling 50.8 percent from the
floor, including 60 percent in the first half. They also made half
of their 22 3-point tries, the last attempt drained by senior guard
Yogi Ferrell with 37 seconds remaining.
"I felt like all my shots were great that I was shooting before,"
Ferrell said. "It was winding down the shot clock. I felt like (Iowa
guard Mike) Gesell's hands were down, so I felt like I had an open 3
and I shot it.
"Shooters just shoot, and that's basically all that I did. I missed
a couple of close ones throughout the game, so I knew I had to make
one for us every now and then."
Ferrell led the team with 20 points and was one of four Hoosiers to
finish in double figures. Indiana also received a 15-point,
seven-rebound performance from junior forward Troy Williams.
Freshman center Thomas Bryant had 12 points and 10 boards, and
senior guard Nick Zeisloft provided 11 points.
After trailing 47-41 at halftime, Iowa appeared out of it for good
when Indiana took a 70-59 lead with 9:30 remaining. However, the
Hawkeyes responded with an 11-0 run to tie the game, highlighted by
a pair of 3-pointers from freshman forward Nicholas Baer.
With 3:59 left, senior center Adam Woodbury hit a free-throw attempt
to put the Hawkeyes up 75-74. Iowa then proceeded to miss nine of
its last 10 attempts of the game while the Hoosiers ended the
contest with a 6-3 run.
Iowa had a chance to tie the game with 6.1 seconds remaining. Senior
guard Anthony Clemmons missed a 3-pointer, but Woodbury hauled in an
offensive rebound and called Iowa's last timeout with 2.1 seconds
left.
In the closing seconds, junior guard Peter Jok missed a 3-pointer
from the corner, securing the Hoosiers' victory.
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Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said the 3-pointer shot by Clemmons came
on a play that featured multiple options, whereas the last 3-point
attempt by Jok was designed for him.
"We got another clean look at the 3," McCaffery said. "Pete did a
great job of getting open, (Clemmons) did a great job of finding
him, but it didn't go."
Senior forward Jarrod Uthoff led Iowa with 18 points and added eight
rebounds. Clemmons scored 14 points. The Hawkeyes also received a
strong showing off the bench by freshman forward Ahmad Wagner, who
had 11 points and nine boards.
"A loss is a loss. It feels terrible either way," Uthoff said after
playing his final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. "I mean, I can't go
judging on a scale of one to 10 how bad a loss is. A loss is a 10
every time."
Both teams have one game remaining before next week's Big Ten
tournament in Indianapolis. The Hawkeyes travel to Michigan to face
the Wolverines on Saturday. Iowa won the first meeting between the
teams 82-71 on Jan. 17.
Indiana returns home to play No. 14 Maryland on Sunday.
NOTES: Tuesday marked Indiana's first trip to Carver-Hawkeye Arena
since Dec. 31, 2012, when the Hoosiers won their Big Ten opener that
season over Iowa 69-65. The last four meetings between these teams
prior to Tuesday were all played at Assembly Hall in Bloomington,
Ind. ... During the first half, Indiana senior G Yogi Ferrell became
just the second Big Ten player ever to record 1,800 points, 400
rebounds and 600 assists in his career. The only other player to do
so was former Illinois G Dee Brown... Iowa senior C Adam Woodbury
finished with 11 rebounds, marking the 11th time in the last 12
games where he tallied nine or more boards in a contest. Woodbury
had 15 rebounds against Indiana in the teams' first meeting back on
Feb. 11 in Bloomington, Ind.
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