Indiana looks to put together streak

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Men's Basketball Team head shots, 07/29/10_Mike Dickbernd

Updated: March 11, 2012 8:40AM

Two common traits stand out when looking at No. 23 Indiana and the Hoosiers’ opponent tonight, Illinois.

The Hoosiers and Illini are the only two teams to defeat Big Ten-leading Ohio State in conference play this season. And neither team has been a consistent winner since.

Indiana’s 74-70 home upset of the Buckeyes on Dec. 31 improved the Hoosiers’ record to 13-1. They’re 5-5 since.

Illinois stunned the Buckeyes 79-74 on Jan. 10 in Champaign, Ill., then lost three straight. The Illini (16-7, 5-5 Big Ten) have lost four of five overall since defeating Ohio State.

The Hoosiers (18-6, 6-6) aren’t taking Illinois lightly, though.

“They’re one of the better teams in this league, and I think when you have a lot of teams that are right there together, sometimes it’s easy to forget that,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said.

There’s no forgetting Brandon Paul, Illinois’ senior guard who scored 43 in the win over Ohio State and leads the Big Ten in scoring during conference play, averaging 20 points.

“We’ve just got to stay on him and not let him get loose or get any shots, because once he gets his confidence up, he can hit really tough shots,” said Indiana junior guard Jordan Hulls.

This is no one-man team, though. Sophomore center Meyers Leonard is averaging 13.3 points and eight rebounds, and junior guard D.J. Richardson is another double-digit scorer, averaging 12.2 points.

The Hoosiers know it’s imperative to control the tempo.

“It’s on us to play our own game, don’t let them dictate what we do,” Hulls said. “They are very versatile; they can run (or) slow it down.”

Indiana hasn’t won consecutive games since starting a three-game winning streak with the victory over Ohio State. But the win at Purdue last Saturday — Indiana’s first Big Ten road win somewhere other than Penn State under Crean — has the Hoosiers in a more positive frame of mind.

“We learned a lot about ourselves last week,” Crean said. “We learned what we’re capable of. We learned what kind of toughness you have to have and how you have to be resilient.”

Perhaps no Hoosiers player exemplifies that more than sophomore guard Victor Oladipo. After starting the first 19 games, he was out of the starting lineup for two games before starting again at Purdue.

He responded with a career-high 23 points.

“It was really good for Vic and good for this team, because Victor can do so many things,” Hulls said. “He made good decisions in that game and hopefully we can see that develop.”