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Shooting Woes, Turnovers Doom Hatters

Men's Basketball Stetson University

Shooting Woes, Turnovers Doom Hatters

Bloomington, IN – For two long stretches on Sunday afternoon at Indiana's famed Assembly Hall, the Stetson Hatters had a hard time finding an open shot, much less making one.

After trailing by just four points at halftime, the Hatters saw Indiana go on a 21-1 run over an almost nine minute stretch during which Stetson was 0-for-5 from the field with eight turnovers. That run, and others like it, sparked the unbeaten Hoosiers (8-0) to an 84-50 victory in front of 16,821 raucous fans.

The game ended with Hoosier fans chanting “Beat Kentucky!” Indiana will face the top-ranked Wildcats on Saturday.

Indiana outscored the Hatters 51-21 in the second half, scoring 24 of those second half points directly off Stetson turnovers. The Hoosiers also dominated the game in the paint, outscoring Stetson 50-14 in the lane, with freshman phenom Cody Zeller accounting for a game-high 16 points.

“We just didn't weather the storm quite as well in the second half,” Hatters coach Casey Alexander said. “It was at both ends, but I really think that it was more defensively than it was offensively.

“We struggled to score, and they are really good. When that happens, it forces you into doing things you aren't supposed to do. When you do that, it leads to easy baskets for them. We were OK when we got our feet set defensively, but we weren't nearly as good for the last 15 minutes of the game.”

Despite three early second half turnovers that led to a 7-0 IU run in the first minutes of the second half, the Hatters (4-4) were still within nine points, 40-31, when Adam Pegg scored down low on a pass from Aaron Graham.

Pegg answered a Zeller basket with a layup moments later, but that was it for Stetson until the game was out of hand. By the time Tyshawn Patterson hit a three-pointer with 7:56 to play, the Hoosiers had pushed their lead to 31 points.

“They were doing whatever they wanted to do in the second half,” Alexander said. “They were throwing it up at the rim and we had no idea. They were driving it where they wanted to drive it and throwing it to whoever they wanted to throw it to. We are not talented enough or good enough to be anything less than solid. We were not solid on defense.”

Stetson made four three-pointers and got a layup from Joel Naburgs the rest of the way.

Despite going on an extended dry spell during the first half, the Hatters trailed by just four points, 33-29, at halftime. Stetson went almost nine minutes on the game clock between Pegg's basket at the 12:53 mark, and a three-pointer banked in by Narburgs with 4:03 to play.

After finally breaking the drought, the Hatters outscored IU 10-5 over the final minutes of the half to get back within four points at the break.

Chris Perez led Stetson, which hit just 32.1 percent of its shots in the game, with 13 points.

Indiana had four players, of the 16 Hoosiers to see action, score in double figures. In addition to Zeller, Indiana got 13 from Victor Oladipo, 12 from Jordan Hulls and 11 from Verdell Jones III.

The Hatters will take a 13-day break from game action to concentrate on finals. Stetson will return with a pair of games at the Edmunds Center, hosting USC Upstate in an Atlantic Sun Conference game on Dec. 17 and Charleston Southern on Dec. 21.

“I hope playing here will help,” Alexander said of the environment at Assembly Hall. “I think this game, the Florida game and the Florida State game, although those games did not have near the environment we saw here today, will help us. We will never see another environment like this again, at least this year.”
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Players Mentioned

Aaron Graham

#20 Aaron Graham

G
6' 4"
Freshman
Joel Naburgs

#12 Joel Naburgs

G
6' 3"
Freshman
Tyshawn Patterson

#22 Tyshawn Patterson

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Adam Pegg

#41 Adam Pegg

F/C
6' 9"
Junior
Chris Perez

#3 Chris Perez

G
6' 4"
Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Aaron Graham

#20 Aaron Graham

6' 4"
Freshman
G
Joel Naburgs

#12 Joel Naburgs

6' 3"
Freshman
G
Tyshawn Patterson

#22 Tyshawn Patterson

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Adam Pegg

#41 Adam Pegg

6' 9"
Junior
F/C
Chris Perez

#3 Chris Perez

6' 4"
Redshirt Sophomore
G