Indiana Basketball Notebook: IU 102, Austin Peay 76

INDIANA BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK (AUSTIN PEAY)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When Nick Zeisloft looked up after the official blew the whistle to stop play because the IU senior appeared to be in some pain, the fans in Assembly Hall were treated to more than they wanted to see.

As Zeisloft looked over to the IU bench and raised his right hand, his right pinkie finger appeared to dislocated. They showed his hand on the big screen overhead and the crowd reacted to what they were seeing.

Zeisloft, though, calmly walked to the bench and appeared to just look the other way as Tim Garl worked on his finger. Just minutes later, though, he was back in the game.

Zeisloft hit one 3-pointer before the injury and four more after he returned to help lead Indiana to a 102-76 victory over Austin Peay Monday night at Assembly Hall. Zeisloft was 5 for 7 from the field, all from 3-point range, and finished with 15 points.

The Hoosiers (2-0) made 16 3-pointers in all, just two off of the school record of 18 set against Minnesota last year at Assembly Hall. Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon Jr. each made four 3’s against Austin Peay.

IU coach Tom Crean said when Zeisloft walked over his biggest concern was that he wasn’t dizzy or nauseous have looking at his finger.

“My biggest thing was I was going to try to fix it,’’ Crean said. “I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t dizzy and be there to help him if he started to get dizzy and not to panic because he looked at it. But they fixed it right away so obviously it looked a lot worse than it actually was.’’

Crean said it was pretty obvious the dislocation didn’t affect Zeisloft’s shooting. He came back into the game with two of his fingers taped together and he quickly knocked down his second of five 3-pointers.

“I was definitely excited when they said he was fine, so we don't want to lose him,’’ Crean said. “We don't want to lose anybody, but we don't want to lose that guy.’’

Zeisloft didn’t want to talk about the finger much following the game. When asked about he said he was fine. Another question had to do with the trainers and he said they did a good job. One other question asked it was a dislocation and it just got popped back in. IU media relations director J.D. Campbell then chimed in that it was just a boo-boo.

“Yeah, just like what he said,’’ Zeisloft added.

One more note on Zeisloft, the five made 3-pointers equaled his high from last season. He did that in three games a year ago, all in the Big Ten, against Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State.

ANOTHER PRILLER MOMENT

Late in the game, fans started chanting for sophomore Tim Priller to be put in the game. In fact when Robert Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:17 to play it was difficult to tell if the crowd was going crazy because the Hoosiers had just scored their 100^th point on the shot, or if it was because Priller was coming into the game.

Priller took one shot – a 3-pointer from the left wing – but it caromed off the back iron. The shot was his only mark on the statistics sheet.

Following the game though, Ferrell and Zeisloft were asked about Priller’s popularity with the fans, and if they truly even understand it themselves.

“I don’t know why they love Tim so much, they just do,’’ Ferrell said. “And Nick showed me this about how they have in the paper about the all-time greats of IU. They've got Isiah Thomas, Calbert Cheaney, guys like that, and then there is Tim Priller, you know? You wouldn't expect to see him, but he was there.’’

Ferrell said he thinks Priller handles all the attention pretty well.

“And for the crowd to get hyped for Tim like that, Tim loves it,’’ Ferrell said. “He's not going to let it get to his head. He's still going to do everything he needs to do for our team, but it's something fun to watch.’’

PASSING THE CENTURY MARK

The 100 points scored by Indiana Monday night marked the first time that Indiana has scored more than 100 points in a game since the season opener a year ago against Mississippi Valley State. IU won that game, 116-65.

It was the 11^th time in the Tom Crean Era of IU basketball that the Hoosiers have scored 100 points or more in a game.

FERRELL MOVING UP THE OFFENSIVE CHARTS

With 22 points Monday night, Yogi Ferrell moved past two former IU greats in career scoring and into 20^th place all-time at Indiana.

Ferrell now has 1,414 points in his IU career. He passed Jimmy Rayl (1960-63) who had 1,401 points and Kirk Haston (1998-2001) who had 1,406 points.

Next players in Ferrell’s sights include Ray Tolbert (1,427), Walt Bellamy (1,441), D.J. White (1,447) and Bracey Wright (1,498).