Here are some talking points:

+ It didn’t seem like Indiana had much going offensively in the first half — except for all those shots the IU radio team said Jordan Hulls put three-quarters of the way down that came back out — but Maurice Creek absolutely lit it up with 17 points, largely on the back of the four threes he hit. It was a large reason the Hoosiers had a lead at half, 34-29. But it should have been a bigger lead than that, as Boston only shot 20 percent — 20 percent! — in the first half.

But Creek didn’t register a point in the second half, and with a chance to tie the game with under 30 seconds to go, he missed what would have been a game-typing three pointer.

+ IU did a much better job taking of the ball tonight, as they only registered 12 turnovers. But it was negated by an awful showing on the boards. Boston snatched 19 offensive rebounds, and scored 19 second-chance points to IU’s three. The Terriers were the ones with the turnover problems tonight: they had 21, which led to 14 points off turnovers for IU.

+ IU did  a better job with free throws this evening, too. But it still wasn’t that great. They were 14-of-22 for 63.6 percent. Make a few more, and a four-point loss suddenly becomes a one-point win.

+ This would have been a good victory for this young squad, especially as far as confidence is concerned. But alas, they just were never able to mount a lead of any substance in the second half and let the Terriers hang around until they grabbed a small lead in the final minutes, and that was that. And IU has George Mason next, which is no cakewalk, either.

And for most of consolation bracket contest in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic, it appeared Boston and first-year coach Patrick Chambers would drop their fourth straight.

But after trailing the entire second half, a pair of free throws from Jake O’Brien gave Boston a 67-65 lead with 2:19 remaining and the Terriers (1-3) held on to beat Indiana, 71-67.

John Holland scored 21 points off the bench to lead Boston and O’Brien added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

The Terriers out-rebounded IU 52-32, had 19 second chance points and scored 15 more points from the foul line.

The Hoosiers (2-2) had a chance to tie the game in the final thirty seconds, but Maurice Creek and Verdell Jones both missed three-point attempts in the final 21 seconds and Corey Lowe hit a free throw to ice it for Boston.

“We tried to go to the best play possible,” Creek said. “Coach brought it up and it just didn’t work out.”

Creek paced the Hoosiers with 17 points, all in the first half. Jones added 14 points and six assists and Jeremiah Rivers chipped in 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“I thought we played a very aggressive 35 minutes,” Jones said. “But once again we didn’t play a full 40 minutes like we needed to and the result is a loss.”

• Box score

Date: Friday, November 20 | 6:00 EST

Arena: Coliseo de Puerto Rico – San Juan, Puerto Rico

Line: Indiana by 4

All-time series: Indiana leads 1-0

TV: None

Radio: IU Radio Network (Jeremy Gray and Todd Leary)

Probable Starters:

• Boston University (0-3): Tyler Morris, Carlos Strong, Corey Lowe, Jake O’Brien, Valdas Sirutis
• Indiana (2-1): Jeremiah Rivers, Verdell Jones, Maurice Creek, Christian Watford, Tom Pritchard

With no television coverage tonight, it’s as good a night as any to roll out the live chat. Join us tonight starting at around 5:45 and we can all talk about what we’re hearing on the radio. Good times.

No TV: Tonight’s game will not be televised. ESPNU, which the schedule originally indicated would air the game, will broadcast college football: Akron vs. Bowling Green. Might be time to sound check your radio.

Scoring update: You can view the standings on this spreadsheet. Christian Watford won the first two games and Jeremiah Rivers was the winner against Ole Miss.

This is what this Hoosiers team can be. Running the break efficiently, not letting teams get set up on D, pushing the pace, getting controlled buckets in transition with Jeremiah Rivers and Verdell Jones leading the charge. It actually looked slow to me at points, because IU wasn’t trying to do too much — just simply taking what they were offered.

Rivers had a nice play during this stretch, as he grabbed an air ball and went coast to coast. But then Ole Miss turned up the pressure, started dominating inside, starting hitting shots, blocking IU’s shots, and IU began turning the ball over at an alarming rate. What was once a 20-11 lead quickly became a double-digit deficit.

Ole Miss just had too much to throw at the Hoosiers. They blocked a ridiculous 12 shots on both lines (starters DeAundre Cranston and Eniel Polynice had two each; Terrico White had one, while the bench picked up the remaining seven), and scored at will in stretches. They overpowered IU. The Hoosiers were able to make mini-runs here and there — something last year’s team would not have done — and had it to 69-61 with a bit over 5:00 to go. But after yet another turnover on a fast break (an errant Devan Dumes pass), that was basically it for their chances at a comeback.

THE BAD: TURNOVERS AND FREE THROWS.

So far this season, what killed IU last year is killing them this year. Sure, there’s more talent at pretty much every position. And a turnover from Rivers this early evening might not look as bad as a Daniel Moore one from last year. But the fact remains: this team is having an awful time taking care of the ball. They had 14 turnovers at half, and 21 for the game. Rivers led the way with six (though some of his drives to the rim were pretty, no?), while Maurice Creek had five. And free-throw shooting was bad again as well: the Hoosiers only hit 12 of their 27 attempts for 44 percent.

It’s tough to win a game, no matter how well you play otherwise, when you’re shooting under 50 percent from the free-throw line and turning the ball over more than 20 times in a contest.

I have faith the Hoosiers can correct the sloppiness as they begin to adjust to Crean’s up-tempo style. But sometimes with free-throw shooting you either have it or you don’t.

THE UGLY:

Tom Pritchard’s air-balled free throw. Back-to-back-to-back missed threes from nearly the same spot late in the second half: the first two from Dumes, the last one from Maurice Creek. The near empty gym:

And just like that, the Rebels reeled off a 28-5 run en route to a comfortable 89-71 win in the opening round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic.

“I thought our guys responded to Indiana coming out and being aggressive, which you would hope an experienced team would do,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “We have some experienced guards and made some adjustments.”

Indiana had no answer on the inside for Ole Miss (3-0), which blocked 12 shots, out-rebounded IU 46-43 and shot 51.5 percent from the field.

Murphy Holloway scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Rebels and Chris Warren had 16.

“We tried to get Murph behind the zone, because they got so extended on the perimeter,” Kennedy said of Holloway. “It opened up some opportunities behind the zone.”

The Hoosiers (2-1) committed 21 turnovers, 14 in the first half, and shot just 12 of 27 from the foul line.

“We made too many mistakes to win the game,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “They were more physical and we didn’t do a great job of playing through that.”

After trailing by as many as 15 in the second half, Indiana had a chance to cut the lead to six with 5:40 remaining. But an errant pass from Devan Dumes to Jeremiah Rivers on a 3-on-1 fast break ended IU’s 9-2 run.

Maurice Creek led three Indiana players in double figures with 18 points. Verdell Jones added 17 and Rivers had 14. The bench, however, contributed just nine points.

“A loss is a loss,” Jones said. “We just have to come back and improve and get tougher.”

Pick to Click: Jeremiah Rivers

Up next: Boston University at 6:00 ET on Friday.

Tough game for Watford: The freshman from Birmingham (AL) hit just 2 of 10 shots and scored five points. Watford was averaging a double-double in his first two games.

Off the mark from outside: The Hoosiers shot just 3 of 15 from behind the three-point line.

• Box score

Date: Thursday, November 19 | 5:00 EST

Arena: Coliseo de Puerto Rico – San Juan, Puerto Rico

Line: Ole Miss by 9

All-time series: First meeting

TV: ESPN 2 (Jon Sciambi and Hubert Davis)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Jeremy Gray and Todd Leary)

Probable Starters:

• Ole Miss (2-0): Chris Warren, Terrico White, Eniel Polynice, Murphy Holloway, DeAundre Cranston
• Indiana (2-0): Jeremiah Rivers, Verdell Jones, Maurice Creek, Christian Watford, Tom Pritchard

Game Notes:

• Ole Miss
• Indiana

As always, game predictions and thoughts are welcome in the comments leading up to tip-off and during the game.

And also, interviews with Christian Watford and Bobby Capobianco:

Scoring update: Several people are two for two, so we’ll wait until the scoring thins out a bit at the top to post a leaderboard.

Roth injured: Not that it matters for PTC purposes because he’s yet to be picked, but Dustin Dopirak of The Herald-Times/Hoosier Scoop is reporting that Matt Roth is injured and likely will not play at all in Puerto Rico.

Two games into the 2009-2010 season, we’ve learned little about the Indiana team that should blossom into a respectable squad once conference play rolls around in late December. Sure, the Hoosiers have won two games comfortably, but it’s hard to judge progress against the likes of Howard and USC Upstate. We know IU is better — but how much better? Our understanding of this question will come more into focus Thursday when IU takes the floor with Ole Miss in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic in Puerto Rico.

Plagued by an injury bug that claimed guards Chris Warren, Trevor Gaskins and Eniel Polynice for the season, Andy Kennedy’s admirable coaching job in 2008-2009 led Ole Miss to seven conference wins and a 16-15 record. Warren and Polynice have both recovered from left knee injuries and are joined in the backcourt by sophomore guard Terrico White (pictured), who is projected as a fringe lottery pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

White emerged as Kennedy’s best player as a freshman and averaged 18.4 ppg in conference play on his way to being named the SEC freshman of the year. “Rico,” as he’s called by his coach and teammates, hit close to 50 percent of his two-point attempts as a freshman, but shot just 63 percent from the foul line. Expect Jeremiah Rivers to draw this assignment.

Warren, a 5-10 guard, was averaging 19.6 ppg last season before tearing his left ACL in a December game against Louisville. He’s started the season slow offensively, but he shot 39 percent from three as a freshman, which suggests he’s due to break out of his early slump sooner rather than later. The 6-5 Polynice is a physical guard that can defend. He led Ole Miss with 1.6 steals per game a year ago and was 25th in the SEC in with 5.3 rebounds per game.

Up front, Tom Pritchard, Christian Watford and Derek Elston will have their hands more than full with Murphy Holloway, who Basketball Prospectus calls one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. He’s only 6-7 and doesn’t block many shots, but IU must keep a body on him. Joining Holloway in the front court rotation: 6-9 DeAundre Cranston (13.5 ppg in two games) and 6-8 freshman Reginald Buckner, who was the No. 29 player nationally in 2009 according to Rivals.com.

All in all, this looks like a probable NCAA Tournament team that could give Indiana more than it’s fair share of trouble. Lightning quick point guard? Check. Strong backcourt running mates that can score the ball? Check. Size inside that can rebound? Check. Sounds like it’s time to get out that measuring stick, Hoosier fans.