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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- Instead of Bob Knight in a red sweater
in front of the bench, it was Mike Davis in a green suit and tie.
There was a much different atmosphere inside Assembly Hall on
Tuesday night but it was another Indiana victory.
|  | | Indiana's Kirk Haston (35) and Kyle Hornsby defend Craig Lewis. Haston equaled his career high of 28 points in IU's win. |
A new era of Hoosiers basketball began with an 80-68 victory
over Pepperdine in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.
But everyone, especially Davis, could sense the difference that
permeated Indiana's first game without Knight as head coach in 29
years.
"When I walked out, you know how sometimes when you're walking
you can't feel your legs? That's how I felt," Davis said,
referring to his stroll to bench and standing ovation about three
minutes before tipoff. "I'm kind of a quiet guy, a laid-back guy,
so you try to act cool and play it off.
"I was hoping I didn't trip over the line when I got to the
bench."
He didn't, but neither could he completely avoid the long shadow
of Knight, who was on a hunting trip in Spain with King Juan
Carlos, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and former President George
Bush.
A little more than two months after Knight, the fifth-winningest
coach in Division I history and the man who led the Hoosiers to
three national championships, was fired for violating the
university's "zero-tolerance" policy, Indiana started anew.
And the Hoosiers unveiled a more up-tempo style, a slight
departure from Knight's disciplined motion offense.
"I want to play up tempo, I want to get up and down the
floor," Davis said. "I want to run and run hard."
The result was five turnovers in its first seven possessions,
but Indiana recovered and beat Pepperdine at its own game, leading
40-36 at halftime and then using an 11-0 run midway through the
second half to build a 67-51 lead and pull away to advance to
Friday night's quarterfinals against South Alabama.
Kirk Haston led the Hoosiers by matching his career-high with 28
points.
"I think we were all a little nervous, you could see it at the
beginning," said guard Dane Fife, who helped settle down the
Hoosiers midway through the first half. "We were scrambling around
on the floor. It most definitely had to do with everything
surrounding it and that it was the first game."
But Knight and his legacy were far from forgotten Tuesday night.
The Hoosiers were competing in the Preseason NIT, a tournament
Knight long revered, playing Pepperdine, the team that handed
Indiana a 20-point loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament
last March in what turned out to be his final game as the Hoosiers
coach.
Fans wore T-shirts emblazoned across the front with "Hoosier
Daddy Now?" a reference to an incident in which Knight criticized
the Northwestern band for shouting "Who's your daddy?" at the
Hoosiers bench two seasons ago. Across the back the words read
"Goodnight General The Day A Legend Died: Sept. 10, 2000."
One fan, Davis' wife, Tamilya, hoped the victory would being
some closure to the situation.
"Now that we've had this, our first official game, it's
starting to feel like, maybe, it's our season," she said. "Maybe
people won't keep bringing up the past and will get behind our
boys."
Some of the changes were obvious, though.
"What is new is looking over there and not seeing a red
sweater, not watching him walk across the floor with about 30
seconds left, not watching him walk over to the other coach and
getting him laughing," said Don Fischer, the Hoosiers' radio voice
for all but two of Knight's seasons.
"I will miss some things about Coach Knight being here, I'm
sure about that. But this is a whole new era starting, and it's
something to be excited about, too."
Even if it didn't appear that way initially as Assembly Hall,
which is usually filled near capacity, was not. There were about
5,000 empty seats.
That didn't matter to the Hoosiers.
Davis did manage to get in a couple of tongue-lashings and
reveal a more demonstrative side, like when he called a timeout with
4:55 remaining after Pepperdine had gotten within 67-59.
"Our guys were just too tense and that's understandable.
They've been through a lot, a whole lot emotionally," Davis said.
"They're young and they don't understand there's still a
basketball game to be played no matter whether your mother's sick
or your brother's sick or whatever. You have to go out and perform
because there are so many people supporting Indiana basketball and
they want a good performance.
"It wasn't a good performance (Tuesday) night, but it was a
win, and as a coach I'll take a win."
Davis gets his next chance Friday when the Hoosiers play host to
South Alabama, which is coached by Bob Weltlich -- another Knight
disciple.
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Indiana Clubhouse
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Bradley likes new Villanova home, nets 22 in NIT victory
S. Alabama clamps down on Marquette; faces Indiana next in NIT
NIT at a glance
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Indiana's Jared Jeffries feeds Andre Owens in the key.
avi: 905 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Pepperdine's Kelvin Gibbs draws the foul and gets the reverse to fall.
avi: 793 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Indiana's Jeffrey Newton scores on the spin move.
avi: 402 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Mike Davis is excited to get his first win at Assembly Hall.
wav: 205 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Indiana's Kirk Haston comments on his 28-point performance.
wav: 92 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mike Davis says that the team started out tight.
wav: 159 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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