Insider: With so much at stake, Hoosiers pass biggest test of the year

BLOOMINGTON – Indiana needed this kind of win in the worst way, and yet somehow, the Hoosiers managed to add more weight to Thursday's game halfway through.

Sprinting to a 16-point lead, IU looked like it was running away from No. 4 Iowa, with a share of first place in the Big Ten on the line. Down four points not 17 game-minutes later, the Hoosiers looked like they had collapsed. What got the best of them in Maui in November, and in Durham in December, once again threatened to derail everything.

“If you get down, you can go one of two ways when things get bad: You can fall off and crumble, or you can rise to the occasion,” junior forward Collin Hartman said. “I think we showed, from top to bottom, that we’re maturing.”

• BOX SCORE: Indiana 85, Iowa 78

This was the win, 85-78, Indiana (20-5, 10-2) needed. To keep its Big Ten title hopes alive. To bolster an NCAA tournament resume conspicuously bereft of this kind of high-quality win. To rebound from Saturday’s upset loss at Penn State, and to show the conference and the country that Saturday was the fluke, not the six weeks leading up to it.

All of this was at stake, and Indiana played like it in the game’s opening minutes.

The Hoosiers were sharp at both ends. Iowa forward and Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Jarrod Uthoff excelled, but his teammates did not immediately come with him, and Indiana found itself ahead by 16 with six minutes left in the first half.

“We had a lot of energy,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “We were playing a great team.”

Just as it had at Purdue in January, Iowa – still probably the league favorite – steadied itself.

Peter Jok hit a pair of 3-pointers. IU’s offense stagnated, and Iowa pounced, cutting the lead to seven at halftime. That preceded a 7-0 run after the intermission, and Indiana’s lead was gone.

Crean didn’t waver, even as Iowa took control. IU’s coach stuck his head into post-timeout huddles, just a few more rapid-fire words of encouragement to keep eyes up and heads screwed on, when the Hoosiers were at their worst.

“He kept telling us, ‘We’re gonna win this game, we’re gonna win this game,’” senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. “I felt like, looking around, that guys believed.”

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And they played like it. After Iowa took that four-point lead, with 9:35 remaining, Indiana outscored its visitors 29-18 the rest of the way.

Uthoff, who finished with a game-high 24 and looked every bit the league MVP hopeful, would score just four more points, and miss his last seven shots. After Iowa’s defense had knuckled down to start the second half, the Hoosiers returned the favor.

And Ferrell, who shot just 2-of-12 from the floor but hit all eight of his free throws, didn’t need his offense to take command of his team. IU’s senior point guard steered the resurgent Hoosiers superbly at both ends of the floor. His corner 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock capped the run that gave Indiana control for good.

IU had a half-dozen reasons to need Thursday’s win, and for good measure, the Hoosiers added one more. They put themselves in position to fall apart, and then played their way out of trouble.

Nothing was easy. Everything was valuable.

“This is definitely another step in the right direction,” Ferrell said. “It can just propel us to our ultimate goal, which is the Big Ten championship. We definitely want to win it outright.”

This was not an insignificant statement. It was Indiana’s identified talisman and senior leader making a firm statement of intentions. Nothing wide-lens or broad. We want to win the Big Ten. Outright.

And it was the kind of statement the Hoosiers earned the right to make Thursday night. The schedule isn’t back-loaded anymore – IU just beat the No. 4 team in the country. It blew open a 16-point lead, spotted Iowa a whirlwind comeback and then snatched victory at the end.

The Hoosiers looked like they were collapsing. Instead, they stood their ground.

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Maybe they won’t win the Big Ten. Sunday’s trip to No. 8 Michigan State is the next test, but everything is for Indiana from this point forward. Because the Hoosiers fought – back into Thursday’s game, back into the Big Ten title race, back from a season that once peered into the abyss.

“The things that we had were correctable,” Crean said, when asked if he were ever worried the season was slipping away during that rocky nonconference season.

“I was never worried that they could get better,” he continued, “and I think they can continue to get better.”

After losing by 20 at Duke, Crean was happy – eager, even – to turn the page. Under vastly different circumstances Thursday, he acted the same.

“It only gets easier,” he deadpanned with a smile, as Thursday night turned into Friday morning. “Now we get to go to East Lansing.”

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

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NEXT: Indiana travels to Michigan State at 1 p.m. Sunday.