Roth, Rivers To Be Ready for Exhibition

Bloomington – IU Coach Tom Crean expects to have two of the four guards who missed Saturday’s Haunted Hall of Hoops scrimmage available for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. exhibition opener against Grace College.

The second-year Indiana coach said junior Jeremiah Rivers and sophomore Matt Roth have returned to practice this week and should be ready to go. Devan Dumes and Brett Finkelmeier, meanwhile, remain on the sidelines and are unlikely to play.

“Jeremiah Rivers and Matt Roth have had their first full contact practices today,” Crean said Tuesday following practice. “(Monday) they did everything except the live work. We changed our practice to allow them more action (Monday), 5-on-zero, shooting. They look fine.”

While Crean thinks they look like they’ll be ready to go, Roth will have a different look when he takes the court Wednesday night. He’ll be wearing a protective facemask, much like the one that guard Daniel Moore wore most of last season.

“It’s something you have to get used to,” Roth said. “I’ve (worn) it the last couple of practice. It doesn’t really bother me too much anymore. It’s always going to be a little uncomfortable, but it’s something you have to learn to play with and I have.”

Roth returns to the court tomorrow night after being one of the team’s most dangerous 3-point threats a year ago. He made 57 3-pointers as a freshman – two shy of Dumes’ team-best 59 – and shot 37.3 percent from behind the arc while averaging 6.7 points per game.

Rivers, meanwhile, will be making his highly anticipated debut after transferring from Georgetown following the 2007-08 season. He sat out last season and is expected to be critical piece of the Hoosiers’ 2009-10 puzzle.

Dumes is also expected to be a key as the Hoosiers look to rebound from last season’s 6-25 campaign, but he’ll have to wait until at least the Nov. 9 exhibition game against St. Jospeph’s (Ind.) College. A year ago Dumes led Indiana in scoring (12.7 ppg), shot 38.1 percent from 3-point range (59-of-155) and was Indiana’s best perimeter defender.

“Devan has done some shooting (in practice), but nothing to make me think that he’ll be able to play tomorrow,” Crean said.