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Prior to this year, the season’s first five games had not been very friendly to coach Tom Crean and his Indiana Hoosiers. in each of Crean's prior two seasons at the helm, the team had lost at least twice through that first stretch of the season.
However, with a 72-56 win against North Carolina Central on Tuesday night, the Hoosiers have started this season undefeated.
“We’re getting better and they are improving,” Crean said. “Like I said, if we can continue to improve while we are winning, that’s going to really carry us down the road.”
The Hoosiers were able to win their fifth consecutive game by double digits with a solid contribution from sophomore guard Jordan Hulls, who had 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including three three-point baskets.
“I’m just taking what the defense is giving me,” Hulls said. “We’re pushing the ball in transition. I got one (three point shot) in transition I think and one through the offense. I feel like they came through our offense and my teammates found me and I was able to hit them.”
Indiana was led in scoring by sophomore forward Christian Watford who scored 17 points despite hitting only four of his 14 shots from the floor.
Watford was not the only member of the Hoosiers who could not get his shot to go in during the game. As a team, Indiana struggled with its shooting (with the exception of Hulls) finishing the game shooting just over 40 percent. Prior to the game the Hoosiers had shot 50 percent from the floor for the season.
“It was another night where things were not necessarily going great,” Crean said. “But offensively we stuck with what we were doing and continued to play very good defense.”
The Hoosiers made up for their shooting woes from the field by getting to the free throw line where they were able to knock down 19 of their 25 foul shots. Despite his poor shooting from the floor, Watford led the Hoosiers in foul shooting by draining nine of his 10 attempts.
“I couldn’t hit anything from the outside,” Watford said. “You just got to go and try to get to the foul line, and that’s what I did tonight. “
The Hoosiers were also able to celebrate the return of guard Matt Roth and forward Derek Elston from injury. While Roth was scoreless in his return, Elston provided a solid contribution off the bench with nine points and six rebounds in just 21 minutes of play.
“He had a high level of energy,” Crean said. “I’ll be shocked if we don’t look at the film and see that he was really good defensively.”
Even with the 5-0 record, the Hoosiers still understand that the season is young and they must continue to prepare for every game with the same intensity they have shown this year.
“Right now 5-0 is unbelievable and it is something you cherish,” Elston said. “I guess this is the first time since 2002, I saw in the paper, that we have been 5-0. Right now we love it, but tomorrow it’s time to go again.”
The Hoosiers' next game will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday at home against Northwestern State.
