Indiana/Purdue Game Notes

1/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

January 10, 2005

Bloomington, Ind. - Indiana will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on rival Purdue (4-8, 0-2 Big Ten) on Jan. 15 at Noon, at Mackey Arena (14,123).
This will be the 185th meeting between the two foes - the most games IU has played against any single team. The Boilermakers hold an all-time advantage of 106-78 and have won two of the last three contests, with both IU losses coming in Mackey Arena. The last Indiana victory over Purdue in West Lafayette came in a 74-58 win on March 3, 2001.

Each Indiana basketball game can be heard live on the IU Radio Network. WHCC (105.1 FM in Bloomington) is the flagship station for the network that has more than 50 stations broadcasting Hoosier basketball all season long. Don Fischer (play-by-play), former Indiana guard Todd Leary (color commentary) and Joe Smith (pregame, halftime and postgame host) call all of the action.

The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN, and is the third of seven games the Hoosiers will have on ESPN. Dave O'Brien will do play-by-play, while Jay Bilas and Rick Majerus will handle the color commentary.

Scouting Purdue
Purdue (4-8, 0-2) enters the Jan. 15 contest after dropping two of its last three contests, including two Big Ten games. The Boilermakers, who open conference play with three of their first four conference games at home, dropped a pair of nine-point decisions to Wisconsin (77-68) on Jan. 5 and No. 1 Illinois (68-59) on Jan. 8.
The Boilermakers enter the game against the Hoosiers with four players averaging double figures, led by junior forward Carl Landry, who tallies a team-high of 17.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest. Junior guard David Teague (13.2 ppg), senior guard Brandon McKnight (12.4 ppg) and junior forward Matt Kiefer (11.8 ppg) also average double digits. McKnight leads the team with 4.2 assists and 1.3 steals a contest.
Purdue is one of just two teams that have played Indiana on more than 50 occasions and hold a winning record in the series. Kentucky also leads its series against IU, improving to 27-21 with a 73-58 victory on Dec. 11, 2004 in Freedom Hall.

The Series vs. Purdue
Purdue owns a 106-78 advantage in one of the most storied rivalries in college basketball. This is the 185th meeting played by the two rivals, the most games Indiana has played against any opponent in the program's history. The Boilermakers have taken two of the last three games, with both wins coming in Mackey Arena, but the Hoosiers have won six of the last eight dating back to 2000. Mike Davis has an all-time record of 5-2 against Purdue and is 1-2 in West Lafayette, Ind. Below is a look at a few facts between the two rivals:
SERIES FACTS
Last Meeting: Purdue 71, Indiana 56 (West Lafayette on 2/14/04)
Indiana at Home: 56-35
Indiana at Purdue: 19-70
IU vs. PU on Neutral Court: 2-2
Last Indiana Win: 63-58 (1/27/04)
Last IU Win At Purdue: 74-58 (3/3/01)
Last Purdue Win: 71-56 (2/14/04)
Last PU Win At Indiana: 86-81 (2/9/99)
Current Overall Streak: Purdue W1 (W2 at home)

Quite A Combo
Junior guard Bracey Wright and freshman center D.J. White are proving that they can be a tough tandem for opponents to deal with. The duo combines for 31.2 points, which ranks as the second-best duo in the Big Ten, and 9.3 rebounds per contests.

One, Two, Three...CHARGE!
One of the reasons for the Hoosiers' impressive 74-61 win over Wisconsin on Jan. 8 was due to the fact IU drew a season-high four charges in the contest. A.J. Ratliff, who drew a single-game high of three charges against the Badgers, Ryan Tapak and Pat Ewing lead the team, each drawing four charges on the year. For the season, Indiana has drawn 23 charges for an average of almost two per game. Below is a breakdown of which players have drawn offensive charges on the season:
Name Charges Drawn
A.J. Ratliff 4
Pat Ewing 4
Ryan Tapak 4
Sean Kline 3
Errek Suhr 2
Bracey Wright 2
Mark Johnson 1
Mike Roberts 1
Rod Wilmont 1
Robert Vaden 1
Totals 23

Sharp Shooter
Freshman guard A.J. Ratliff is becoming more comfortable in Head Coach Mike Davis' system. Since being placed in the starting lineup against Ball State, the Indianapolis, Ind., native has averaged 6.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. Most importantly, IU has gone 4-1 during that same stretch. In his last three games alone, Ratliff's increased confidence is reflected in his numbers, hitting on six of his last nine three-pointers, while also averaging 8.0 points and 4.7 boards - both numbers ranking third on the team. He leads the team by hitting 50 percent of his shots from behind the arc (9-of-18) for the season. Against Northwestern, he accounted for career-highs with 16 points, including hitting for 4-of-5 three-pointers, and 10 rebounds to record his first career double-double.

Shooting Bullseyes
Indiana has been one of the better shooting teams in the Big Ten over its last five contests. During that span, the Hoosiers have shot 48 percent from the field and have a record of 4-1. Through the first nine games this season, IU was unable to reach the 50 percent mark for field goal percentage in a half. However, the Hoosiers have accomplished the feat in four of the last seven halves, including scorching the nets for a season-high 59.1 percent in the second half against Northwestern.

Seven Straight
The 74-61 win over Wisconsin on Jan. 8 in Assembly Hall marked the seventh consecutive Big Ten home-opening win for Indiana. Mike Davis is now 5-0 in conference home-openers in his career as a head coach at IU. The Hoosiers last conference home-opening loss came in an 89-76 loss to Iowa on Dec. 31, 1997.

Recent Trends
Below is a few things to take into consideration over the last several games for Indiana:
 Mike Davis has a penchant for kicking the new year off in winning fashion. During his head coaching career, he has a 23-12 (.657) record in the month of January.
 Indiana committed just nine turnovers against Wisconsin, marking its second-lowest total of the season and the second time this year that they committed fewer than 10 turnovers in a season. In the last four years, Indiana is 14-5 when it commits less than 10 miscues.
 Due to the single-digit turnovers, Indiana recorded an advantage in points off turnovers for just the fourth time this season. IU outscored Wisconsin, 17-10 in points off turnovers, its most decisive advantage since the Dec. 4 Connecticut game (21-7).
 In the first six games of the season, Indiana averaged just 16.5 free throw attempts per game. In the seven games since, they have averaged nearly 23 free throws per game.
 Freshmen Robert Vaden has opened the season making 26 of his first 29 free throw attempts. It is the best start since Jay Edwards' freshman season when hit .909of his free throws in 1988.

Freshmen Taking Over
The Hoosiers have arguably one of the top freshmen classes in the nation. D.J. White, Robert Vaden and A.J. Ratliff are key reasons why Indiana has won four of its last five contests. Each player started the five games and have combined to average 29.2 points and 15.2 rebounds. This effort accounts for 43 percent of the team's scoring and 48 percent of the rebounding during the span.
The trio are also found among the leaders among freshmen in the Big Ten stats. D.J. White leads all freshmen in scoring (12.4), blocked shots (2.08) and field goal percentage (.577) and ranks second in rebounds (5.2). Vaden leads freshmen in free throw percentage (.897)is second in steals (1.62)and ranks third in rebounding (4.9), while also coming in fourth in scoring (9.5). Ratliff is also seen throughout the freshmen stats, ranking second in three-point percentage (.500), seventh in rebounding (3.0) and ninth in scoring (5.2). Overall, a Hoosier freshman is in the top three in every category.

The Wright Stuff
Junior guard Bracey Wright continues to show why he is considered one of the top players in not only the Big Ten, but in the country. Coming off his second 30-point performance this season and fifth of his career with 30 points in the win over Wisconsin on Jan. 5, Wright now leads the Big Ten in scoring with 18.8 points per game. In fact, over his last five contests, Wright has averaged 21.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, while shooting .472 (34-of-72) from the floor and .842 (32-of-38) from the charity stripe. During that span, IU has gone 4-1.

Home vs. Away
The Hoosiers are 5-3 in games played at the friendly confines of Assembly Hall; however, they have yet to win a game on the road, going 0-3 thus far on the season. One of the reasons for that is the rebounding margin. In home games, IU is averaging 35.0 rebounds per game, while only collecting an average of 29.3 boards on the road. Additionally, IU scores 64.0 points per game and out-scores its competition by a margin of 3.5 points at Assembly Hall. However, it is a different story on its opponents court, as the Hoosiers average 58.0 points per game and is outscored by 9.3 points per game.

Three of a Kind
Indiana is one of the youngest teams in the country, a stat backed by the Hoosiers starting three freshmen. IU is one of only three teams in the country to start three freshmen on a regular basis (Tulane, Georgia and Fresno State). IU leads all Big Ten teams with 31 starts by freshmen this season, while Penn State is second with 25 freshmen starts. In fact, on two occasions this season, Indiana has had four freshmen on the court at the same time when James Hardy, A.J. Ratliff, Robert Vaden and D.J. White played at the same time against Oral Roberts and Furman.