Indiana Makes a Blanket Statement

Who wins when a team that shoots first and asks no questions plays a team whose electric blanket defense has an answer for everything?

It was an intriguing matchup of contrasting styles in Thursday night’s first-round NCAA South Regional game at Arco Arena, where Indiana scored a 75-56 decision over Utah.

The fifth-seeded Hoosiers of the Big Ten advanced to a second-round game Saturday against 13th-seeded North Carolina Wilmington, which upset fourth-seeded USC in overtime, 93-89.

Indiana didn’t invent defense, but the Hoosiers played as though they did. Utah didn’t break 50 points until 2:31 to play, and by that time, Indiana was well on its way to putting it away with a 65-51 lead.

Actually, this Utah team, which finished 21-9, isn’t as heavy in offensive firepower as in prior years, but what the Utes do have is a lot of big players who can shoot from the perimeter, and that worried Indiana Coach Mike Davis.

“What we wanted to do was come out and make it the toughest game they’ve ever been in defensively and I think we played them well,” said Davis.

“I don’t think there is a team out there that does what we do defensively.”

The defeat ended an impressive streak for Rick Majerus, who had coached Utah to eight consecutive first-round victories in the NCAA tournament.

“We had a very good year and I don’t know we played a bad game, but Indiana played a terrific game,” Majerus said. “Indiana beat us up physically.”

Tom Coverdale led the Hoosiers with 19 points and four assists, which are nice numbers for a 6-foot-2 guard, but he also had eight rebounds. Jeff Newton added 15 points and Jared Jeffries had 12.

Coverdale opened the second half with a pair of breakaway layups that forced a quick timeout from Majerus. Less than five minutes deep into the second half, Indiana had a 50-30 lead.

Utah made it tougher, thanks to Phil Cullen, a 6-9 senior and the player Davis worried about the most. He made seven of eight three-pointers and wound up with 25 points in 26 minutes.

“We prepared for Indiana just like any other team,” Cullen said. “They were just really good.”

Majerus said one of the bigger differences in the game was that his team didn’t have a dominant player inside.

Indiana led, 42-27, at halftime, doing a lot of it with defense. The Utes could only get 19 shots, and only Cullen, who scored 16 points in 13 minutes, kept them remotely close.

Otherwise, the Utes shot a combined five for 13 in the first half, which may be why Majerus stood up most of the half, trying to coax a few more jump shots to fall.

Newton gave the Hoosiers a lift with 11 points in 13 minutes off the bench and Coverdale had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists at the half.

It was not easy for the Hoosiers to forget about last year’s first-round tournament loss to Kent State.

“When you’re getting questions all the time about whether you’re going to win in the first round, what you’re going to do, it creates pressure,” Jeffries said

Said Newton: “We came out thinking about last year’s loss to Kent State. We didn’t want that to happen again.”