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No. 18 Indiana stays undefeated with win over Notre Dame

Dec 18, 2011 - 7:32 AM Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Cody Zeller scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, leading No. 18 Indiana to a 69-58 win over Notre Dame in the inaugural Close the Gap Crossroads Classic.

Victor Oladipo added 16 points, while Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford had 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Hoosiers, who improved to 10-0 for the first time since the 1989-90 season.

Eric Atkins paced the Irish (7-5) with 15 points, while Jerian Grant had 14 and Jack Cooley added 12.

The Irish hit four of their first six shots and took an early 11-6 lead on Atkins' layup less than six minutes into the game. They went cold, however, missing their final 14 attempts from the field in the opening half.

Indiana took advantage and grabbed a 26-20 halftime lead on Remy Abell's put-back at the buzzer.

Notre Dame ended the drought less than two minutes into the second half on Cooley's inside bucket, but the Hoosiers continued to pull away.

With 14:15 left, Hulls' pull-up trey made it a 37-25 game and the lead reached 13 on Oladipo's layup midway though the half.

Notre Dame failed to threaten down the stretch.

In all, the Irish shot just 38.1 percent from the field, including a 4-of-11 effort from three-point range.

"I thought we got off to a good start," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said. "I was hoping we could ride that a little bit more offensively, but after that we kind of struggled."

Game Notes

This was the 69th all-time meeting between the in-state rivals. Indiana leads the series 48-21 and halted a two-game slide to the Irish...This was the first meeting between the schools in Indianapolis since the 1959-60 season...The Hoosiers outrebounded the Irish 32-24.