Indiana's Jones injured against Cornell

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -Indiana guard Verdell Jones III was taken off the court on a stretcher during Sunday's basketball game against Cornell but does not appear to be seriously injured, Indiana coach Tom Crean said.

Jones was knocked hard to the floor on a pick by Cornell center Jeff Foote during the first half and lay motionless several minutes before being strapped to the stretcher and wheeled out. He was taken to a hospital, where initial tests were negative, Crean said after Indiana's 72-57 victory.

"I'm not anticipating that it's anything that's going to be significant,'' Crean said. "But it was a scary moment, scary for Verdell, scary for our team.''

Jones, a 6-foot-5 freshman who has started five of Indiana's six games, did not score in 8 minutes Sunday before the injury. After play was stopped, Crean came on court and spoke to Jones.

"I was trying to calm his fear. I didn't want him to leave like that, fearful,'' Crean said.

Every time Foote touched the ball after that, he was booed by the crowd in Assembly Hall, but Crean said it was a clean play.

"I told everybody after the game to put that in your memory bank,'' he said. "It was a basketball play. We just didn't see it coming. It wasn't anybody's fault.''