Indiana Doesn’t Let This One Get Away

Indiana got the lead against Iowa again. This time, the Hoosiers held it.

Jared Jeffries dominated inside with 26 points and Indiana took control with a 13-0 first-half run in defeating Iowa, 77-66, Sunday at Iowa City to stay unbeaten in the Big Ten.

Indiana, 11-5 overall, 4-0 in the Big Ten, is off to its best start in the conference since the 1992-93 season. The Hoosiers made eight three-point baskets in building an 11-point halftime lead and answered every Iowa threat in the second half.

Last season, the Hoosiers led Iowa by 17 at halftime and lost, 71-66.

“It really helped us to come into this environment and keep our composure,” Indiana Coach Mike Davis said. “I thought there were a couple of situations that if this would have been the same team as last year, we would have lost our composure.”

Not this time. Indiana forced 15 turnovers with its aggressive man-to-man defense and contained Iowa scoring leaders Luke Recker and Reggie Evans, both of whom were ailing.

Recker, who played his first two seasons at Indiana, scored only two points in the first half and finished with 12 before fouling out with 38 seconds left. He has been bothered by a hip injury and did not practice this week. Evans, averaging 18.3 points, scored only seven, a season low. He has been slowed by a head cold.

“We’re not going to make excuses,” Recker said. “We have been sick, we’ve had a few injuries, but there are no excuses. Indiana had a great game plan and they executed it.”

No. 4 Maryland 92, Georgia Tech 87--The Terrapins (13-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) built a 16-point lead less than 10 minutes into the game at Atlanta, but struggled to hold off the Yellow Jackets (7-10, 0-4).

Georgia Tech got as close as 68-67 on Halston Lane’s basket with 8:02 left and cut the margin to two points on seven occasions in the final four minutes. Maryland never lost the lead, however.

No. 18 Gonzaga 75, San Diego 62--Dan Dickau scored 10 point of the Bulldogs’ final 19 points at Spokane, Wash., to help them pull away from the Toreros for their 12th consecutive victory.

Dickau finished with 23 points and Zach Gourde added 20 for Gonzaga, which improved to 15-2 and 2-0 in the West Coast Conference. Roy Morris scored 18 to lead San Diego (9-6, 1-1).

After trailing, 45-28, at halftime, San Diego outplayed Gonzaga for much of the second half and used a 16-6 run to move to within 51-44.

*

OTHER GAMES

Louisiana State 75, Arkansas 69--The Tigers (11-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) made 31 of 38 free throws, including eight of 10 during the final four minutes at Baton Rouge, La.

The Tigers, with the No. 1 defense in the SEC, held Arkansas (10-5, 2-1) to six baskets over the first 13 minutes of the second half and outscored them, 24-16.

Connecticut 70, Villanova 65--The Huskies (9-4, 2-2 in Big East) made four of six free throws in the final 23 seconds at Philadelphia to remain undefeated in the Big East. They used a 17-5 run to take their largest lead of the game, 57-46, with 8:50 left.

Villanova (9-4, 2-2) pulled to within 61-57 on Ricky Wright’s layup with 5:15 left.