Bad night in Bloomington

You have to believe that Tom Crean will have the Hoosiers back on top eventually. He's got a solid class coming in next year, lots of history to sell, and a rabid fanbase at his back. When Indiana is "back," there will no doubt be some stories told about this period, and figuring out where the bottom was. John Gasaway wondered if the bottom was already past, but maybe the bottom was last night. Northeastern is now 6-4 on the season, with a couple of very bad losses. But they beat IU handily last night, and like it has been so many times this season, the story was turnovers. IU committed 21 turnovers in the 58 possession game, a figure that can only be described as "astronomical." Indeed, giving the ball away on 36% of your possessions is not going to earn a lot of victories. Normally a TO-prone team could try and shift the shots outside to help cut down on the the turnovers, but as the Hoosiers are shooting 27.9% from 3 point range this season, that isn't going to help matters any. The backcourt play has just been horrid for Indiana, and until that gets better, the team will continue to flounder. Tom Pritchard had a 12/14 dub-dub...but he also had 5 turnovers. Box score.

Michigan posted one of its better defensive performances of the season, defeating Florida Gulf Coast 76-59 in a 72 possession game. FGC actually shot alright, but was harassed into 26 turnovers. DeShawn Sims was a monster, posting a perfect eyesight (20/20) dub-dub on 12 shots. He and Manny will be quite the handful in Big Ten play. Box score.

Purdue won a ho-hum game in ho-hum fashion, taking down the outmatched IPFW 70-55 in a 62 possession game. Just like most Purdue games, the opponent turned it over a lot, Purdue didn't. JaJuan Johnson scored a career-high 21 points on 14 shots, and also pitched in 9 boards and 3 blocks. Box score.

The freshman had a breakout game for Ohio State in their win over UNC-Asheville, 83-59 in a 69 possession game. William Buford and BJ Mullens combined for 35 points on 25 shots (and 15 rebounds). OSU also owned the paint, swatting 8 shots. The surprising thing was, only one of those blocks came from Dallas Lauderdale, who didn't start. Oh, and Evan Turner was great, but that's sort of boring news now. Box score.

Big games tonight - perhaps the biggest is Illinois vs. Missouri in St. Louis. Both teams are rated in the top 20 by Pomeroy, so they've been good so far this season. Also tonight Texas visits the Kohl Center, in Wisconsin's last chance to win a statement non-conference game.

Also,

Sacred Heart @ Penn State
SMU @ Northwestern
Southeastern Louisiana @ Minnesota