IU BBall Charlotte

IU's players played with a lot of effort and showed a lot of talent and heart tonight. This was the best they have played all year.

Charlotte 74 - Indiana 73

I give all the credit in the world to Bracey for playing in tonight's game with a broken nose. It clearly was hurting him and affecting his game. He struggled in the first half, with 4 turnovers and 3 points, but fought through it and had a great second half. He drove to the basket and was aggressive.

First 2 possessions... 2 layups for the 49ers... 2 times our inside guys were out of position. Withers is a very strong Power Forward, yet those first 2 possessions we switch off screens and a guard is on him. Tactical error!

Plavich obviously is a 3 point shooting specialist. He averages making 4.5 threes a game. Yet we don't guard him outside the 3 point line. Tactical error!

Charlotte was settling back into a zone giving IU the 23 ft 3 point shot. IU kept taking it and missing it. 1-8 in the first half. Tactical error!

Goldwire hit a wide open 3 pointer, then another, then another. All the while, Indiana didn't get out to guard him. Tactical error!

Kline makes a great inside post move for 2, then draws a charge on Withers on the other end. Davis takes him out. Charlotte scores 2 inside buckets. Tactical Error!

IU made a nice run with some tough man to man defense and cut the lead from 11 to 2 in the second half. The crowd was into it, then IU came out of a time out and switched to a 2-3 zone and Charlotte got 2 easy buckets. Tactical error!

On a positive note, Ratliff and Vaden did a great job of getting the ball inside to White, Kline and Ewing. That was some of the best post passing I've seen all year. Unfortunately we went away from it down the stretch and shot 3s. Tactical error!

IU had a 1 pt lead with 4 minutes left... then coaching took over. Bracey took an NBA 3pt shot off a time out... at least Ewing saved him by tipping it in. Still a Tactical error!

1 pt game with a minute and a half left and we press... giving up a dunk. Tactical error!

54 seconds left... tie game... IU time out... Bracey takes a bad off balance closely guarded 3... but nailed it bailing out his coach's tactical error!

21.8 seconds left... tie game... IU time out... IU dribbled the ball around and called a time out with 4 seconds left... Davis set up a double screen for Bracey, but instead of inbounding the ball to Bracey, Tapak inbounded to White who missed the 5 footer, but Ewing tipped it in with .7 left Brilliant play.

Then following a time out, Charlotte inbounded to mid-court where Plavich caught, turned and nailed the shot from mid-court. The ball left his hand before the clock expired. Stunned... IU loses 74-73 despite the great play Davis designed at the end of the game.

Guess one great play can't offset many tactical errors.

Despite the loss, there were positives in this game. Ratliff, Vaden and Bracey actually passed the ball into the post and White (18), Kline (8) and Ewing (13) finished inside. I just wish they would realize this is the key to their success. 3 point shooting is not. IU went 3-16 and made their final 2 threes to get to that total.