Bob Cook

If things keep going as they are at Indiana, for once coach Mike Davis might not have to wonder if he'll have a job next year.

The embattled Davis - so often described as embattled that casual college basketball fans wouldn't be blamed for thinking it's his given name - is no longer having to spend every post-game news conference defending himself and his team. Not with an 11-3 record that includes a 26-point defeat of hated foe Kentucky and a gut-check victory over then-undefeated Ohio State, rallying from 17 points down for an 81-79 home win. Throw in another home win over No. 7 Illinois, and the Hoosiers are set.

All during last season - in which Indiana narrowly averted its second straight losing season, which hadn't happened in Bloomington since 1969-70 - Davis frequently said help was on the way for his freshman-heavy team. Not that anyone believed him. Davis said that every year, at least every year after 2002, when Davis previously had seemed to cement his job by taking the Hoosiers to the NCAA championship game.

But it turns out this season he was right. Help goes by the name of 6-foot-8, 268-pound Marco Killingsworth, the Big Ten's third-leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, and its fifth-leading rebounder with a per-game average of 7.5. Killingsworth, along with guard Lewis Monroe, transferred to Indiana for his senior season after coach Cliff Ellis was fired at Auburn.

Killingsworth, paired with 6-foot-9, 240-pound reigning Big Ten freshman of the year D.J. White, has finally given Indiana an inside game to complement what was a team that seemed incapable of operating anywhere inside the 3-point arc.

Indiana still fires a lot of 3-pointers, but with Killingsworth and White drawing defenders inside, more often than not they're open shots, rather than last year's wild throws as the shot clock wound down. And they're shots that someone in the same-colored shirt might rebound.

Indiana is shooting a nation's-best 47.7 percent from 3-point range, with sophomore guard Robert Vaden and senior guard Marshall Strickland each shooting better than 52 percent. Killingsworth himself has hit 40 percent of his 3-points (four-of-10). Overall, Indiana is shooting 53 percent, second to Florida (53.3 percent), with Killingsworth hitting 63 percent from the field – better than his 58 percent from the line.

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Last season, without Killingsworth, Indiana shot 42.5 percent overall, and only 33.7 percent from behind the 3-point line. With Killingsworth, a rebound disadvantage of 34-31 last year has turned into an advantage of 35-32 this season. Indiana is giving up slightly more points – 64.8 to 63.6 – but that's more than mitigated by a per-game scoring increase to 80.7 from 63.8.

It's interesting how one impact player can make any coach suddenly look smart, although Davis also is running an offensive system that plays to his team's strengths. Killingsworth tends to set up in the low block (as will White, on the opposite side), and get a pass inside. If he's double-teamed, a guard will zip through the middle of the lane to take a pass from Killingsworth for an easy layup. Or, Killingsworth will pop the ball back out for an open 3-pointer. The biggest problem is Indiana's guards having the confidence to get the ball to Killingsworth.