Lions get Recker-ed in Hoosierland

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana men's basketball coach Bob Knight has a simple wish. Just once, he'd like to have his team play perfectly.

"You don't know how much I'd like to walk off the floor and say, 'God damn there's nothing to bitch about,' " Knight said.

Last night, with the exception of about 10 minutes, his Hoosiers almost obliged. Indiana (16-6, 7-3 Big Ten) controlled the tempo, dominated the boards and shot the lights out in a 95-76 dismantling of Penn State (10-9, 3-6) at Assembly Hall.

Indiana shot 56 percent from the floor, pulled down 38 rebounds and turned Nittany Lion errors into scoring opportunities.

While the Hoosiers were demonstrating how to do everything right, Penn State couldn't get a shot to fall, and was barely present on the defensive side of the floor.

"Our offense was leading to their offense," Penn State guard Pete Lisicky said. "We were taking quick shots, myself included."

Lisicky, in his last game at Assembly Hall, shot an awful 8 for 20 from the field, one field goal attempt short of his career-high. He was bothered all night by a stingy Hoosier defense that forced Lisicky to make three turnovers.

He finished with a team-high 21 points, a tribute to his poise.

"Lisicky is a tough-minded kid," Knight said. "He knows his role is to score, and he works hard at it. He does a damn good job."

The same can be said for Knight's freshman forward, Luke Recker. Last year's Mr. Basketball in Indiana torched Penn State for 29 points.

Penn State freshmen were not so impressive. Point guard Joe Crispin scored only four points, all from the foul line. He was 0 for 7 from the field. This was lowest point total in seven games.

Crispin wasn't disheartened, though. He took solace in the fact he only turned the ball over once.

"I'm not displeased," Crispin said. "I didn't make my shots, but that's going to happen. You're going to have those days."

It was one of those days for fellow freshman guard Greg Grays as well. He turned the ball over four times and looked confused on the court. At one point, Grays approached the foul line to shoot free throws, but it was Lisicky, not Grays, who had been fouled. This meant a lapse drew a long stare from Lion coach Jerry Dunn.

Dunn said he wasn't sure whether the freshman were intimidated by the surroundings, but he thought it could play on their minds a little bit. Assembly Hall was its usual frenzied self, packed with 15,483 fans all decked out in red. Grays and Crispin both said the atmosphere had no effect on them.

This looked to be true in the beginning of the game. The Lions hung with Indiana in the opening minutes, going up 16-15 on a Lisicky 3-pointer six minutes into the game. But then the Hoosiers took over.

Indiana went on a 23-2 run and looked lie it could do no wrong. William Gladness and Andrae Patterson dominated the paint for the Hoosiers, finishing with 10 and 15 points respectively. A.J. Guyton made acrobatic move after acrobatic move and scored 12 points and dished out four assists.

All of this led to a 50-36 halftime lead for the Hoosiers, and it looked as if Penn State was done. But the Lions came out spirited in the second half, and cut the Indiana lead to six. A 3-pointer from Guyton with 16:24 left sparked another Hoosier run, this one of the 23-4 variety. The 25-point deficit was too much to overcome for the Lions, and they were left to tack on points making the game appear closer in the record books than it ever did on the court.

"We have to put this behind us," said Lion forward Jarrett Stephens, who hit 7 of 10 shots for 16 points. "We have to come back to practice and clean up our mistakes. That's all you can do."

Up next for the Lions is a trip to Northwestern (8-10, 1-7) on Sunday. The Wildcats must be a welcomed sight for Penn State, still in search of its first coinference road win. Two weeks ago, the Lions scored their most lopsided Big Ten victory over the Wildcats, 83-45.