Hoosiers crush Wolverines to snap 6-game losing skid
1/15/2011BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana's losing streak is finally over.
Verdell Jones scored 24 points Saturday night and Christian Watford added 17, leading Indiana to an 80-61 rout of Michigan — snapping the Hoosiers' six-game skid with their first win in three tries at Assembly Hall.
Michigan (11-7, 1-4 Big Ten) was led by Darius Morris with 22 points. Tim Hardaway, Jr., and Zack Novak each had 10 — not nearly enough to halt the Wolverines' own losing streak, which is now at four.
The refreshed Hoosiers (10-8, 1-4) made sure of it with one of their best games all season.
They clamped down on Michigan's shooters, holding them to just 23.8 percent in the first half, the Wolverines' worst shooting half of the season. Indiana also held Michigan without a rebound for nearly 10 minutes and led by double digits for the final 27 minutes.
It was one of those kinds of nights for Michigan, which ended with its 13th loss in 14 tries in Bloomington.
The reason: Indiana played with more passion and precision than it had in weeks, and it got contributions from some unlikely sources.
Indiana used an early 14-4 run to take an 18-9 lead with 8:44 left in the first half. Then, after Morris' only basket of the half, the Hoosiers held Michigan scoreless for the next 4 minutes, 37 seconds, extending the lead to 26-11.
Indiana still led 30-15 at halftime. The Wolverines shot just 5 of 21 from the field, were outrebounded 19-7 in the first 20 minutes, and Morris was a dreadful 1 of 7 from the field.