Jared Jeffries lead IU (6-2) with 22 points as Indiana downed No. 15 Ball State 74-61. The Hoosier defense held Ball State's Petie Jackson to 3 for 11, and Theron Smith to 5-13. Smith and Jackson finished with 13 and eight points respectively.
Chris Williams was Ball State's leading scorer with 18 points.
After trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, Ball State (5-2) brought the score within one point, 35-36 at the half.
A great deal of Indiana's points came in the paint. IU finished with 40 points under the basket, holding the Cardinals to just 12.
According to IU coach Mike Davis, putting the ball up inside was part of his original game plan.
"We made a point in practice that every time a guy was open inside we were going to go to him," Davis said.
Davis went on to say he was very confident about the match up with the Cardinals saying he "he thought it was funny" Ball State was favored by some.
"It blew my mind that people picked Ball State over us," Davis said. "It's a slap in the face to say Ball State would come here and beat us."
One thing that continued to hurt the Cardinals throughout Saturday's game was shooting. The Cardinals never could get into a rhythm shooting just 41 percent from the field, and 30 percent from the charity stripe.
"They hurried us a little bit with what we were trying to run," Ball State coach Tim Buckley said. "The thing about Indiana is that they have great length"
Indiana's Jeff Newton and George Leach combined for six blocked shots.
One of IU's biggest weapons for the day was Tom Coverdale. Coverdale finished with 19 points, nine of which came from three-point land.
Buckley said after the game that his team will not take the loss to hard but instead will go back to work come Monday's practice.
"We have to work on the defensive end that's our foundation," Buckley said. "We have to play it with more discipline and more heart and then we just have to go get lose balls."
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