Indiana University Athletics
Release Notes
12/12/1997 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Release Notes
HOLIDAY CHEER: The Hoosiers have usually played well in December. IU's record in December since the 1990-91 season stands at 53-8 heading into this weekend. That mark includes a 2-1 record this season and 9-0 in 1990-91 which is the best record of the month during this span.
TOURNAMENT CONNECTIONS: Indiana freshman Luke Recker and Wisconsin-Green Bay's Jeremy Pfister played on the same team at DeKalb High School. They are both from Auburn, Ind. Should Indiana and South Alabama meet Saturday it would be another Coach Knight against former assistant coach matchup. USA head coach Bob Weltlich served as an assistant under Knight at Army from 1969-71 and at Indiana from 1971-76. This potential matchup would be the first between the two as Weltlich has also been the head coach at Ole Miss, Texas and Florida International.
BEST FOOT FORWARD: Several Hoosiers registered career bests in the win over Evansville. Luke Jimenez's 3-6 field goal and 3-point field goal percentages were both career-highs and he tied his career best with 9 points. Andrae Patterson tied a career best with 8 free throws while Luke Recker set a career best by going 5-7 from the line.
ON THE REBOUND: Perhaps the most interesting statistic of the early season is A.J. Guyton's presence on the boards. The 6-1 sophomore is the team's second leading rebounder at 5.4 per game and has 38 on the season. Last season he averaged a respectable 3.3 per game but if you were to take his current average and project a total for the entire season he would end up with 151 rebounds. Last year he had 110. He has 27 rebounds in the last five games all of which are defensive boards.
FINAL EXAMS ON THE HORIZON: This weekend's games are the last for the Hoosiers before final exams. After these two games, Indiana doesn't play until Dec. 22 against San Francisco in the Pete Newell Challenge.
COMING OFF THE BENCH SEEMS TO WORK: Andrae Patterson has become the Hoosiers sixth man recently with good results. He has come off the bench in three of the last four games and averaged 11.3 points and 5.0 rebounds a contest in those three games. Included in those totals are season-high games of 16 points against Notre Dame and Evansville.
BALANCED ATTACK EQUALS VICTORIES: The Hoosiers have had a balanced attack in games they have won this season as five players are scoring in double figures in those four games. However, in the three losses only A.J. Guyton and Rob Turner are in double figures and no other player is above 7.3 points per game.
WATCH OUT FOR THESE TWO: A.J. Guyton and Rob Turner have become the Hoosiers Dynamic Duo. The two lead the team in scoring at 16.6 and 14.4 points per game as well as in assists with 26 and 23 respectively. They have combined for 39.5% of IU's offense to date.
RANDLE EL JOINS TEAM FOR PRACTICE: Antwaan Randle El, who is at Indiana on a football scholarship, has begun practicing with the basketball team. An all-state performer in both sports, Randle El led Thornton High School (Riverdale, Ill.) to consecutive state runner-up finishes in basketball. Last season he led the state of Illinois in assists. He is ineligible to play this season in either sport as he was a partial qualifier per NCAA rules.
FROM THE FIELD: The Hoosiers have been enjoying one of their best shooting streaks in recent memory over the last four games. They have shot better than 50% in each game and are a combined 128-231 (55.4%) during this span. This includes a season-high 58.5% (31-53) against Notre Dame, 42-74 (56.8%) against Northeast Louisiana, 51.9% (28-54) against Kentucky and 54% (27-50) vs. Evansville. The last time Indiana shot better than 50% in four consecutive games was in 1993-94 when they accomplished the feat against Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio State and Penn State (a span of 110 games). The hot shooting has increased Indiana's percentage for the season to 50.8% (196-386) which is well above last season's 43.8% team mark. Four Hoosiers P Rob Turner (62.5%), William Gladness (58.1%), Jason Collier (56.3%) and Luke Recker (23-45 (51.1%) P are shooting at least 50% from the field. The Hoosiers have shot 54.7% (128-234) in their victories but just 44.7% (68-152 ) in the losses. Last season the Hoosiers shot better than 50% only three times but have done so four times already this year.
CHARITY TOSSES: The Hoosiers have shot better than 70% in each of the last four games (72-91, 79.1%) from the line. That includes a season-high in attempts and makes (25-32) vs. Notre Dame and a season best 16-17 (94.1%) effort vs. Northeast Louisiana. The 94.1% mark tied for the 10th best in school history. Indiana was one of the top free throw shooting teams in the nation last season finishing second at 76.6%. With the recent successes, the Hoosiers are at 71.7%. Andrae Patterson is the top player at 21-22 (95.5%). In the their victories IU has made 82 free throws while the opponents have attempted 71. In the losses the opponents have almost twice as many attempts (56) as IU does free throws (32).
THREE-POINTERS: Indiana attempted a season-high 24 3-pointers against Evansville, making eight. The Hoosiers have shot at least 33% in each of the last three games after a season-low 25% vs. NLU. Indiana is shooting 37.7% on the season. Rob Turner is off to a 13-28 (46.4%) start from 3-point range . He and A.J. Guyton have combined to make 30 of the Hoosiers 43 3-pointers. IU is shooting 43.1% in the losses but 33.3% in the victories.
THE BOARD REPORT: Indiana had its largest rebounding margin of the season vs. Evansville (35-20). After registering 40 or more rebounds in three of the first four games, the Hoosiers have averaged 32.6 rebounds per game in the last three games (although the teams in those games have combined to shoot better than 50% from the field). The Hoosiers have held an edge in rebounding in five of the seven games and enter tonight's game with a +5.0 rebound margin on the season.
ASSISTS ANGLE: IU had its second-highest assists total of the season Tuesday with 23. The Hoosiers have averaged 22 in the last four games after an average of just 11.7 in the first three games. Taking care of the ball has been a good barometer for Indiana success this season. In the victories they have 85 assists but just 38 in the losses. Indiana's assists are now equal with the turnovers for the first time this season (123-123).
TURNOVER TALE: The Hoosiers had been better at taking care of the ball but have averaged 19.5 miscues in the last two games. The Hoosiers best halves of the season have been 5 in the second 20 minutes against UAB and Notre Dame. In the victories the Hoosiers have turned the ball over just 62 times (15.5 tpg) while in the losses that number inflates to 61 (20.3 tpg). Indiana has registered three games this season in which the assists have outnumbered the turnovers (happened only 5 times last season).
BLOCK PARTY: The Hoosiers have 26 blocks this season but 21 of those have come in the victories. Indiana has been stuck on 3 as that has been its total in each of the last three games. Jason Collier (6) and Andrae Patterson (5) lead the team.
MAKING THE STEAL: Indiana has only 10 steals in the last two games after recording 26 in the two games prior to that. IU's season-high of 14 against Northeast Louisiana ties for the eighth-highest mark in school history. IU has 39 steals in the victories but just 13 in the losses.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: Indiana's defense has held three of its opponents under 40% (accomplished this 13 times last year in 33 games). The opponents are shooting just 43.4% coming into tonight's game. In the victories, Indiana has held the opponents to 43.1% from the field and forced them into 71 turnovers. By contrast in the losses, the opponents are shooting 43.8% and have turned the ball over 39 times.
GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD: This year the Hoosiers are 3-1 while leading at halftime, 1-1 when trailing and 0-1 when tied. The Hoosiers are usually good at holding onto a lead as they are 20-2 in the last 21 games in which they led at the half over the last two seasons.
MARGIN MATERIAL: Each of Indiana's wins this season have been by at least 11 points. The average margin of victory is 18.3 ppg while the loss margin stands at 8.7. Only two of the Hoosiers' games this season has been decided by less than 10 points and that was the season-opening 6-point loss at Temple (59-53) and Saturday's loss to Kentucky.
SCORING SOME POINTS: The Hoosiers enter tonight's game averaging 78.4 points per game. Indiana averages 89.8 ppg in the wins but just 63.3 ppg in the losses. IU scored 194 points in wins against NLU and Notre Dame which was its best two-game total since 1993-94 when they scored 218 in wins over Notre Dame and Tennessee Tech (span of 124 games). The 103 points was the first time the Hoosiers had eclipsed the century mark since Dec. 29, 1995 when they also scored 103 points against Appalachian State (span of 56 games). The Hoosiers scored over 90 points only twice last year in 33 games but have already matched this number through 7 games.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: Indiana has led the Big Ten in scoring over the last seven years with a average of 79.9 points per game.... As strange as it might sound, no Indiana player has ever recorded a triple-double... The Hoosiers have had 27 consecutive winning seasons. Every Coach Knight team at IU has had a winning season. During Knight's tenure in Bloomington, Indiana is the only school in the Big Ten to register an overall winning record each year. Along those same lines with 9 conference victories last year, the Hoosiers have 24 (out of 26) non-losing conference seasons during Knight's tenure... Indiana is one of the top schools in the country during the 1990's. Entering the season, IU ranks 12th among all teams during this span with a 72.4 winning percentage... All-time in Assembly Hall the Hoosiers are an impressive 321-42 (.884) including a 193-35 (.846) record in Big Ten games. Since the beginning of the 1990-91 season the Hoosiers are 88-9 (.907) in Assembly Hall. Indiana is 61-22 (.735) against ranked teams in Assembly Hall.
NEXT UP: The Hoosiers play tomorrow night in either the consolation (4:45 p.m.) or championship (7 p.m.) game. Indiana's games will be televised by the Indiana television network through the ESPN-Plus network.
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