PREVIEW: IU Begins NIT at Georgia Tech

OPENING TIP
• Indiana will make its fifth appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. IU also appeared in 1972, 1979, 1985 and 2005. The Hoosiers won the event in 1979 and finished runner-up in 1985.

UP NEXT
• The winner will advance to the second round, which will be played between March 16-20, against either #2 Georgia or #7 Belmont.

#3 seed Indiana (18-15) vs. #6 seed Georgia Tech (17-15)
Date	Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Venue	McCamish Pavillion (8,600)
Tipoff	9:00 p.m. ET
TV	ESPN & WatchESPN (Mike Morgan & Paul Biancardi)
Radio	IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith)
Live Stats	IUHoosiers.com

THE SERIES WITH GEORGIA TECH
• IU leads the series 2-0. The Hoosiers won the last meeting, 83-79, on November 27, 2007. The other meeting was an 87-65 triumph on December 29, 1969 in Los Angeles.

IU INSIGHT
• Junior Freddie McSwain Jr., is a native of Hinesville, Georgia, and played high school basketball at Liberty County High School. The Hoosiers have also signed Berkmar High School product Al Durham to a National Letter of Intent to attend Indiana starting with the 2017-18 season.

• Freshman Devonte Green is believed to be the first player in IU history to hit two half court shots in one season. He dropped a bomb at the end of the first half against Austin Peay and made what is believed to be the longest shot in Assembly Hall history (70+ feet) before halftime against Northwestern. He averaged 10.ppg, in the BTT.

• Blackmon, Jr. averaged 20 ppg., in the BTT. His 89 3FGM is the second-highest single season total in IU history. He is the fifth player in IU history to make 200 3-point field goals in his career. Tom Coverdale (200) and Blackmon (203) trail Jordan Hulls (254), Yogi Ferrell (272) and A.J. Guyton (283).

• Since Tom Crean came to Indiana, the Hoosiers have shot a major college best 38.3 percent from 3-point range over a 9-year period. Since 2011-12, IU leads all Big Ten schools, averaging 78.3 points while shooting 48.1 percent from the field.

• Since 2014-15, the Hoosiers have averaged 9.4 3FG per game, the most of any major college program.

• From 1994-95 to 2007-08, the Hoosiers won 41.0 percent of their games against nationally ranked opposition. Since 2011-12, Tom Crean's Hoosiers have the 3rd-best regular season winning percentage in the country against ranked competition at 54.3 (min. 40 games) and are third in wins with 25.

HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean, the 2016 Big Ten Coach of the Year, is in his ninth year of leading the Hoosiers, including the last six where IU has earned a national ranking. He now is 3rd all-time in victories at IU (166) behind Bob Knight (602) and Branch McCracken (364). Over the last five+ years, IU is 138-68 and leads the Big Ten with 25 regular season wins over ranked opponents. In addition, IU and Duke are tied for the most wins against top 3 teams (6). Nine players in his first 7 recruiting classes have scored 1,000 points in their career under Crean at Indiana. Yogi Ferrell (1,986), Christian Watford (1,730), Verdell Jones III (1,347), Jordan Hulls (1,318), Cody Zeller (1,157), Will Sheehey (1,120), Victor Oladipo (1,117) Troy Williams (1,115), and most recently James Blackmon, Jr. (1,207). Three players, Yogi Ferrell (2016), Cody Zeller (2013) and Victor Oladipo (2013) have been selected as All-Americans. Oladipo earned two National Player of the Year honors and was named National Defensive Player of the Year. IU won the 2013 and 2016 Big Ten titles outright. Last year's outright title is the team's 2nd in a 4-year period - the last time that happened at IU was in 1980, 81 and 83.

DID YOU KNOW
• Junior De'Ron Davis had the best shooting performance in IU post-season history against Iowa, making all seven of his field goal attempts and finished with a career-high 15 points.

• At Ohio State and against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers scored 95 points or more against Big Ten opponents ,for the first time since Jan. 31, 1998 against Minnesota and Feb. 4, 1998 against Penn State.

•The Hoosiers established new Big Ten Tournament highs for themselves in points scored (95), field goals (35), 3-point field goals (12), field goal percentage (60.3) and 3-point field goal percentage (60.0).

• The Hoosiers lead the Big Ten in scoring (80.2), and rebound margin (+7.6). They were second in field goal percentage (48.2) and 3FG% (38.3). Their 155 blocked shots are the fourth-most in IU history and the most in a season since 2002-03.

• Sophomore Thomas Bryant was named third team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media and junior James Blackmon, Jr. was named honorable mention by the coaches and third team All-Big Ten by the media.

• The 95 points scored against Iowa was the second-highest total ever in a Big Ten Tournament game by any team.

• Five former Crean-coached Hoosiers have been on active NBA rosters this season including Cody Zeller (Charlotte), Victor Oladipo (Oklahoma City), Noah Vonleh (Portland), Yogi Ferrell (Dallas) and Troy Williams (Memphis). Two of his former players at Marquette also are active - Dwyane Wade (Chicago) and Wesley Matthews (Dallas). Oladipo signed a 4-year, $84 million extension and Zeller got 4-years and $56 million earlier this season.
• The Hoosiers have three former head coaches on their coaching staff this season. Associate Head Coach Tim Buckley (Ball State) begins his ninth year at Indiana, assistant Coach Chuck Martin (Marist) is in his third year with the Hoosiers and assistant Coach Rob Judson (Northern Illinois) is in his 2nd year as an assistant coach and 3rd in the program.

• Sophomore Thomas Bryant had a career-high 5 blocks against Iowa. He had his 7th double-double of the season (9th career) when he totaled 12 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa, while matching a career-best with 4 blocks. He had a career-high 31 points and 11 boards against Penn State. He also had 23 points against Purdue. He had 23 points and 12 boards at Northwestern. He had 20 points against Illinois and made all six of his field goal attempts. He had 19 points and 9 rebounds at Penn State. He had a 15-point, 7-rebound performance against Butler. He had 19 points and 10 rebounds against Kansas.

• Freshman De'Ron Davis scored a career-best 15 points in 14 minutes against Iowa. He had 9 points and 4 boards at Iowa, 10 points and 5 boards at Minnesota and 13 points against Michigan in 3 starts. He had 9 points and 8 boards against Penn State and hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left to send the game into OT. He also had 12 points off the bench against Wisconsin. He had back-to-back 14-point efforts against SIUE and SEMO. He is averaging 6.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. The Colorado native is 3rd on the team with 24 blocked shots.

• Junior James Blackmon, Jr. is a two-time National and B1G Player of the Week. Earlier this year, he became the 50th player in IU history to reach the 1,000-point mark and is 33rd on the all-time scoring list with 1,224points. He has the highest career average (16.3) of any player who has played for Crean at Indiana. He had 22 points and 8 boards at OSU, 16 points and 5 assists at Purdue, 22 points at Minnesota and 18 at Iowa. He is 6th in the B1G in free throw percentage (84.5%). He had his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Louisville. He had 17 at Penn State prior to his career-high 33-point outburst against Michigan State. He had 26 points in the Armed Forces Classic against Kansas.

• Junior guard Robert Johnson is the most experienced Hoosier, having started 86 career games. He had 13 points and 7 rebounds against Wisconsin in the BTT. At Ohio State, he led IU with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers at Ohio State. He had finished in single digits in scoring in 5 of his previous 6 games. At Iowa, he became the first IU player in more than 20 years to score 19 points and also have 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals. Coming off of ankle surgery in the offseason, he is averaging 13.1 points and is second on the team with 83 assists. He had 17 points and 7 rebounds at Penn State. He had 19 points and 4 rebounds against Nebraska. He has scored 976 points and has averaged 10.1 points in 97 career games.

• Sophomore forward OG Anunoby averaged 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds before his season ending injury.

• Senior forward Collin Hartman has not played due to a knee injury. Although he went through the Senior Night ceremony, he could come back next season after receiving a medical redshirt.

• Junior guard Josh Newkirk is averaging 11.4points and shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range in the last 10 games. He had 9 points in the 2nd half against Iowa in the BTT. He had 18 points and 5 boards at OSU. He had 13 point, 5 rebounds and 3 assists at Purdue. He had 11-point efforts at Iowa and at Minnesota. He scored 22 points at Wisconsin and hit four 3FG. His driving layup at the buzzer sent the game against Penn State into a second OT before finishing with a career-high 27 points. He is averaging 9.0 points and 3.2 assists on the year. A native of Raleigh, N.C., he scored 10 points and 3 assists in helping the Hoosiers to the win over UNC. He had 7 assists against Northwestern and had 9 points against Butler. He had 11 points against Nebraska and 9 against Maryland.

• Sophomore forward Juwan Morgan has started 19 games this season and had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks against Wisconsin. He had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in 26 minutes the previous night against Iowa. He had a career-high 11 rebounds at Purdue. He also had 7 points and 2 steals. He followed that up with 11 points and 2 blocked shots at OSU. He came off the bench to provide 9 points and 6 rebounds against Northwestern. He had 14 points and 7 boards at Minnesota after he had 11 points against Michigan. He had 10 rebounds and had a career-high 4 blocked shots against Butler. He had 12 points and 7 rebounds against Wisconsin. He made a school-record 14 straight field goals over a 3-game period earlier this season.

• Junior Freddie McSwain, Jr. shot 61.5 percent from the field and had 28 offensive rebounds in Big Ten action. He averaged 4.4 points and 4.0 rebounds and shot 76.5 percent from the field in February. He contributed 4 points against Iowa. He made his first career start and had a career-high 8 points at Purdue. He had 4 points and 5 rebounds in 9 minutes against Northwestern. Freshman Devonte Green has started 3 games and is averaging 8.8 points and made 10-of-14 3-pointers in the last 5 games. His 13 points at Purdue were a career-high. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds against PSU. He also had 4 assists and just 2 turnovers in 45 minutes. Against Northwestern, he had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot. Freshman Curtis Jones, who scored 15 against Kansas in his first career game, sparked the Hoosiers with a steal and 6 points in the first half against Iowa, connecting on a pair of triples.

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Players Mentioned

OG Anunoby

Thomas Bryant

De'Ron Davis

Devonte Green

Collin Hartman

Robert Johnson

Curtis Jones

Freddie McSwain Jr.

Juwan Morgan

Josh Newkirk

Troy Williams

Indiana University Athletics