College Basketball: Deacons stun No. 13 Indiana
Published 1:29 am Tuesday, November 24, 2015
JIM O’CONNELL, AP Basketball Writer
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Tom Crean didn’t care what the box score said, his 13th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers didn’t play 40 minutes against Wake Forest.
“We played 15, 16 good minutes when we got the lead to nine points,” he said. “Then we started committing turnovers and taking quick shots. You’re not going to beat anybody with 16 good minutes, especially at Maui.”
Freshman guard Bryant Crawford made a driving layup with 3.2 seconds to play to give the Demon Deacons the lead and they went on to an 82-78 victory in the opening round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Monday.
The Hoosiers (3-1) will play St. John’s, a 92-55 loser to No. 19 Vanderbilt, in the consolation round on Tuesday.
“We learned a hard lesson,” forward Max Bielfeldt said. “Being in the losers’ bracket isn’t something we planned for. Things didn’t go our way.”
Crawford had the ball at the head of the key for about 8 seconds before he put his head down and using a screen by Thomas drove to the basket to give Wake Forest (3-1) the lead.
“That was a great play by Bryant, to turn the corner and to find the seam and score,” Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said. “We were fortunate enough to score.”
Wake Forest will face No. 19 Vanderbilt in the semifinals on Tuesday.
“We won our first game and there’s not a lot of time to celebrate,” Manning said. “We will celebrate on the bus but once we get to the hotel property we will be getting ready for Vanderbilt, another good team.”
Indiana (3-1) led 75-67 with 4:50 left but the Demon Deacons went on a 9-2 run to take a 78-77 lead on a drive by Crawford with 24 seconds to play.
Troy Williams made one of two free throws with 13 seconds left to tie the game.
“Once we got the nine-point lead we stopped doing the things that got us that lead,” Crean said. “I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed we didn’t play the way we should have.”
Thomas led Wake Forest with 21 points while Dinos Mitoglou scored all 18 of his points in the first half. Crawford finished with 13 points and Collins had 10.
Williams led the Hoosiers with 16 points and Robert Johnson added 14.
Crean said the final play for the Hoosiers was supposed to be a long pass that would have allowed Max Bielfeldt to find a cutter.
“They covered it well and we made a bad pass,” Crean said.
Collins had nine rebounds for Wake Forest, which finished with a 43-30 advantage on the boards including 18-11 on the offensive end. The Demon Deacons had three of the offensive rebounds in the final 2:32.
“We were able to slow it down over the last 8, 9 minutes,” Thomas said. “And then we got a great stop at the end.”
An up-and-down first half ended with a 3-pointer by Mitchell Wilbekin that gave the Demon Deacons a 50-45 lead.
TIP-INS:
Wake Forest: Trent VanHorn was called for a Flagrant One foul when he went after Williams on a breakaway. It appeared VanHorn got the ball but the officials looked at a replay and ruled the Flagrant One. Williams made both free throws and Indiana was given possession of the ball. … This is Wake Forest’s first appearance at the Maui Invitational but Manning played here with Kansas the year they went on to win the national championship. … The Demon Deacons went 0-6 against ranked teams last season but three of the losses were by single digits to Top Ten teams.
Indiana: The Hoosiers won the Maui Invitational in 2002 and they have made six appearances in all. … Indiana had the most fans by far, seemingly taken every spot in the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center. … The Hoosiers were sixth in the nation last season in 3-point field goal percentage (40.6). … Freshman center Thomas Bryant came into the game shooting 80 percent from the field (16 of 20). He was 2 of 5 against Wake Forest and scored eight points and had eight rebounds. He made himself a crowd favorite when he chased his own missed hard dunk and went about six rows up into the bleachers.
UP NEXT:
Wake Forest: No. 19 Vanderbilt in Maui Invitational semifinals on Tuesday.
Indiana: St. John’s in consolation round of Maui Invitational on Tuesday.