By ANDY PROFFET
ISL Correspondent 

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana coach Tom Crean said Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell’s work ethic was already strong when he came to Bloomington four years ago.

And it’s only grown, Crean said Tuesday night.

That work ethic, and Ferrell’s leadership, paid off with the Hoosiers’ career assist record. Ferrell needed two assists to surpass Michael Lewis as he came into Tuesday night’s game against Illinois.

The tying assist came on a 3-pointer by freshman center Thomas Bryant. The record came on a layup by Max Bielfeldt.

The fact that neither Ferrell nor Bielfeldt knew that until asked about it after the 103-69 win says a lot about the mentality of an IU team that has now won 11 straight overall and is 6-0 in the Big Ten.

“I like to focus in on the games … at the end of the day, they’re not going to remember the assists record, they’re going to remember that you won games,” Ferrell said.

That focus on team success over individual accolades becomes clearer game after game, win after win.

It became clear when IU’s early lead had been cut to 22-21 by an Illinois team whose lone conference win was an upset of Purdue.

The Hoosiers closed the first half on a 20-4 run. They got even better in the second half, hitting 10-of-15 3-pointers to pull away and set a Big Ten record for made 3-pointers in a game, with 19.

“I know they like to hit 3s, I just basically have to get the ball to them,” Ferrell said of his teammates.

“He’s going to give us the ball in the right spot,” Troy Williams said.

The right spot, indeed.

Follow Andy Proffet on Twitter @AndyProffet.