Hoosiers tailspin continues
By TYLER SMITH
ISL Editor 
BLOOMINGTON — In a game Indiana desperately needed for their NCAA tournament hopes, the Hoosiers fell just short. Their late-season tailspin continued with a 74-72 loss to the Michigan State Spartans at Assembly Hall. It was Indiana’s third straight home loss, and they finished the conference season by losing eight of their final 12 games.
Both teams traded punches in the first half, and headed into the locker room with a 34-34 tie. That set the stage for one of the bigger halves in recent memory for the Indiana basketball program.
After leading 55-50 with 10 minutes to play, Michigan State went on a 12-6 run to take a 67-56 lead with just 3:42 on the clock. A few boos began ringing out at Assembly Hall, and the Hoosiers looked to have no shot. Instead of throwing in the towel, Indiana put together a great comeback effort that eventually had Yogi Ferrell on the foul line and a chance to tie with just seconds remaining. He made the first, but missed the second to give the Spartans the victory.
“Pretty disappointing missing that second one, but it happens” said Ferrell.
Coach Tom Crean spoke about Ferrell after the loss: “He hurts. My shirt is drenched from holding on to him. But Yogi’s a winner. We’ll absolutely put him back in that situation.”
Ferrell played well despite the miss at the end, scoring 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. He remains focused on what is next for this team: “We’re not looking at where we stand for the NCAA Tournament. We have to focus on going to the Big Ten Tournament and getting a couple wins.”
Troy Williams was a non-factor for most of this game. He was limited by foul trouble in the first half, and never really got going after that point. He scored just four points to go along with three rebounds in 19 minutes. Coach Crean seemed to hint at Williams’ poor game as to what hurt the Hoosiers in the loss: “When you play Michigan State this time of year, all of your best players have to have big games, and we didn’t necessarily get that today.”
Nick Zeisloft continued his hot shooting by going 5-of-8 from behind the arc. He has now made 17-of-27 from three in the last four games. Outside of Zeisloft, however, Indiana made only 4-of-16 from behind the arc in the game.
Coach Crean was pleased with the effort, but knows there’s still a lot of work to be done with time running out: “I’m proud of the way they came back, because that’s not easy. We got right there at the end and it just didn’t happen.”
The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 19-12, and 9-9 in the Big Ten. They will head into the Big Ten Tournament as a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. They will need at least one win next week in Chicago, or possibly more, to go dancing this season. All of the praise for this young team from earlier this season has vanished, and all eyes will be on the Hoosiers next week.
Follow Tyler on Twitter: @TylerSmith_ISL
