Indiana Holds Off No. 20 Minnesota

In his first 2 1/2 seasons on the job, Tom Crean had led his Indiana Hoosiers past zero ranked opponents. Now he's done it twice in a week.

Despite building a 16-point lead in the second half, the Hoosiers had to sweat it out late. Minnesota started to lock down Indiana on defense and started to hit some big shots. The Gophers got as close as one, 55-54, but Verdell Jones III scored five straight points to give his team some breathing room. A contested Blake Hoffarber 3-pointer was missed at the buzzer, as the Hoosiers prevailed 60-57.

The game was Jones' first since Indiana (12-11, 3-7 Big Ten) lost to Wisconsin January 20. He missed the following three games with a knee injury. Of course, his return came on the same night Christian Watford was shelved after having surgery on a broken hand bone. The Hoosiers' leading scorer and rebounder is out indefinitely. Maurice Creek -- a starter at the beginning of the season -- is also out with a knee injury.

Minnesota (16-6, 5-5) has faced its share of losing players as well, with Al Nolen out with a broken foot and Devoe Joseph having transferred.

Jones led the Hoosiers with 12 points -- along with an unlikely fan favorite for the night. Tom Pritchard, long maligned by fans for much of his career, has been playing well lately and came through with one of the biggest games of his career. He hit all five of his shots for 12 points, also pulling down seven rebounds. He also hit both of his free throws (he entered the game shooting a putrid 20 percent from the line) and brought down the house with a thunderous put-back dunk in the first half.

Hoffarber led the Gophers with 15 points, but struggled, hitting just 4-of-12 shots and turning it over four times.

Key Stats: Indiana made 13 free throws to Minnesota's 11. Of course, Minnesota attempted 22 while the Hoosiers only needed 15. Also, despite a really huge size advantage, the Gophers only out-rebounded the Hoosiers by one.

How it was won: Indiana played great defense, again, despite being undersized. Crean constantly switched from zone to man to even a box-and-one on Hoffarber. The different looks left the Minnesota offense stagnant for much of the game until the late rally.

How it was lost: Rebounds and free throws, as mentioned above -- but the Gophers also failed to take advantage on the interior with big height advantages across the board, hitting just 14 of their 36 2-point attempts.

Freshman moment: After a stellar entry pass from Jordan Hulls, Victor Oladipo electrified Assembly Hall with a big dunk in the second half, but he hung on the rim screaming for a second or two -- earning a technical foul.

Where to from here: The Gophers needed this one. They just lost at Purdue and now have to host No. 1 Ohio State. Unless some major improvements are made before Sunday, the Buckeyes won't have their hands full.

Indiana has done this since Jan. 15: Blown out Michigan, taken Wisconsin to the limit at the Kohl Center, beat Illinois, taken Michigan State to overtime at the Breslin Center and beaten Minnesota. Oh wait, I left out getting worked at Iowa -- which appears an anomaly at this point. As fate would have it, the Hawkeyes visit Assembly Hall Saturday. If this team has truly grown in the past month, we'll see a blowout win.