Signs For An IU Victory?

Bobby Capobianco needed a shave -– again. Jeremiah Rivers strode into Assembly Hall’s media room shoeless.

Is this a sign the Hoosiers are ready for No. 13 Ohio State?

Perhaps, although signs won’t help much. Performance will. Indiana’s four-game losing streak isn’t the kind of momentum you want before facing a team that crushed you by 25 points a month ago.

“We know how talented they are,” Rivers said. “The game at Ohio State was real rough for us. I think we’ve grown and learned a lot. I don’t think we’ll have that lack of energy and effort.”

Effort and energy are the keys given Ohio State has gone to a seven-player rotation, and basically plays its starters as much as the foul situation allows. In theory at least, that gives the Hoosiers a chance to wear out the Buckeyes and force them to use their bench.

“That gives us the opportunity to do some things to help us expose that,” Capobianco said. “We want to make him go to his bench.”

Wanting isn’t the same as doing. As coach Tom Crean has said, Ohio State might have the best starting five in the conference, so getting into that bench will be difficult.

But it’s likely IU’s best way to victory.