Indiana University Athletics
#IUBB Game 22 Preview: Rutgers
1/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2015
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GAME 22
Saturday, Jan. 31 -- #22/21 Indiana (15-6, 5-3 Big Ten) vs. Rutgers (10-12, 2-7 Big Ten)
Tipoff: 3:15 p.m. ET
Location: Assembly Hall (Bloomington, Ind.)
TV/Video: BTN (Kevin Kugler & Stephen Bardo) | BTN2Go
Live Stats: Gametracker
Game Notes: Indiana Notes | Rutgers Notes
Series Record: Indiana leads, 1-0
Other Stories This Week
Crean Previews Matchup with Rutgers
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OPENING TIP
• The 2014-15 college basketball season represents the 115th in the history of Indiana University. The Hoosiers will host Rutgers as a member of the Big Ten for the first time. The only meeting between the two teams previously came on December 28, 1980, when IU defeated Rutgers 55-50 in the Rainbow Classic. IU would win the national title later that season.
UP NEXT
• The Hoosiers will go on the road for the third time in four games when they visit No. 5 Wisconsin on Tuesday night.
HEAD COACH Tom Crean
• Indiana named Tom Crean as its 28th men's basketball coach on April 2, 2008, and he is in his seventh year with the Hoosiers. He is 306-199 all-time as a head coach and in the last 3+ years, he has led IU to an 88-37 record, the 2013 Big Ten Championship and back-to-back appearances (12 and 13) for the Hoosiers in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994. In 2012-13, he was named NABC District 7 and USBWA District V Coach of the Year. In the last two seasons, Crean has mentored three NBA Lottery picks which is tied with Kansas for the most among NCAA schools.
• Crean is the only Big Ten coach to mentor an NBA lottery pick, a National Player of the Year, a first team All-American, a first team Academic All-American and a Senior Class Award winner this decade.
• With wins over No. 13 Maryland, No. 22 Ohio State, No. 22 SMU and No. 23 Butler, IU leads Big Ten teams with 19 regular season wins over Top 25 teams since the start of the 2011-12 season.
BEING RANKED
• IU is ranked for the second straight week, coming in at No. 21 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the Associated Press Poll. This is the fourth straight year IU has been ranked in at least one national poll.
• This is the 534th week since the AP poll began in 1948-49 that IU will be a nationally ranked squad. The Hoosiers rank 8th all-time in that list and 6th all-time in the top five (178), and top 10 (277). All three marks are the best among Big Ten programs.
• Every four-year player since the poll began has played for a nationally ranked squad at IU. The Hoosiers are tied for 2nd in the country with 4 wins against Top 25 teams this season.
LOOK AT THE IMPROVEMENT
• As far as taking care of the basketball, Indiana is the most improved team in the country from a year ago, at -3.3 per game. Last year, IU turned the ball over 15.1 times per game compared to this year at 11.8.
• Among major conference school's, IU has the highest increase in 3FG% at 5.8 percent, improving from 34.4 in 2013-14 to 40.2 this season.
• IU also is second in the nation in 3FGM improvement, going from 5.5 to 9.0 (3.5).
IU INSIGHT
• The Hoosiers are 12th in the country in scoring (80.7) and 3FGM (188) and 14th in 3FGM per game (9.0) and 16th in 3FG% (40.2)
• Since the 2011-12 season, the Hoosiers have the second-best home record among B1G teams at 61-8.
• IU has five wins when not favored including Butler, Nebraska, Ohio State, Illinois and Maryland.
• Since losing to Louisville in the Jimmy V Classic, IU has out-rebounded 10 of its next 12 opponents for a +3.7 rebound margin.
• According to Stats Inc., Indiana has the 6th Lowest Average Years of Eligibility on an NCAA Division I roster at 1.79.
• Indiana had 2 of the B1G 4 wins over ranked opponents in the non-conference season (Butler and SMU). The Hoosiers 4 wins over ranked teams is tied for the second-most in the nation.
• In 13 home games, opponents are shooting just 28.5 percent from three point range. IU has made 230 free throws, while opponents have shot just 195 charity tosses.
• IU will close out the regular season with 6 of its last 10 games at Assembly Hall.
DID YOU KNOW
• Junior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell has a school-record 52-game streak of making at least one 3-point field goal. That is the longest active streak in the nation.
ODDS AND TRENDS
• Bennie Seltzer, who served as an assistant coach at Indiana from 2008-12, has rejoined the program as Director of Player Performance for a temporary period of four months as a replacement to Je'Ney Jackson, who managed player development and strength and conditioning for the men's basketball program.
• Junior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell is 36th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,164 points. He leads all Big Ten juniors in career scoring, assists (373), 3-FGM (160) and free throw percentage (83.0). He is second in the league in free throw percentage (87.2), is 7th in the league in scoring (16.2) and 5th in assists (4.8) and 4th in 3FGM (2.3). In conference games only, he is 3rd in the league in assists (4.9) and in 3FGM per game at (2.6). In the last 3 games, he is averaging 23.7 points and shooting 56.0 from long distance. With 12 seconds left in regulation against Georgetown he hit a game tying three-pointer that sent the game to overtime against the Hoyas. It was the second time in his career that he hit a tying shot to force overtime. He also did that against Butler at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in December 2012. Easily the team's best defender, his steal and assist with 1:13 left against Illinois led IU to the comeback win.
• Sophomore Troy Williams is fourth in the conference overall shooting 57.6 from the field. In conference games only, he is 3rd in the league in FG percentage making 55.6 of his shots. He had 16 points and 7 boards against Maryland and also had 21 points and 9 rebounds at Illinois. He had 15 points and 11 boards at home against OSU .
• James Blackmon, Jr. is second in scoring among all B1G freshmen and 5th nationally among first-year players at 16.3 points per game. He had 22 points against Maryland and 21 points against Illinois. He has topped the 20-point mark 7 times this season. He is averaging 14.2 points and shooting 42.3 from long distance in the last 5 games.
• Sophomore Collin Hartman, who returned 6 months after tearing an ACL, has started the last 5 games. He had a career-high 15 points and 3 blocked shots in the win over Maryland. He followed that up with 12 points at Ohio State. In the last 5 games, he is averaging 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds. Overall he is shooting 55.4 from the field and 52.8 from three-point range. He has the 7th highest offensive player rating according to Kenpom.com
• Forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea, who had started the first 16 games for the Hoosiers this season, suffered an injury to his right knee in practice on Jan. 12 and will be out indefinitely. He is averaging 7.4 points and 5.0 rebounds and led the team with 25 blocked shots.
• Freshman Robert Johnson was limited at Ohio State after slipping on a cheerleader's placard following a made layup. He did start at Purdue and had 9 points and 2 steals. He had 20 points and made 4-of-6 from long distance in the win over Penn State. He is 4th on the team with 28 3FGM. He led the Hoosiers with 14 points against Nebraska and along with Ferrell and Blackmon have started all 21 games.
• Junior transfer Nick Zeisloft is third on the team with 33 3FGM and is averaging 19.4 minutes per game. He is shooting 38.4 from long distance and is a graduate student who played for Illinois State. He scored 10 points and started the winning run at Illinois with a three-pointer with under 3 minutes to go.
• Freshman reserve Emmitt Holt had 4 points and 5 rebounds at Ohio State. He also had 5 points and 7 rebounds in the home win against OSU. His best game of the season came against Pittsburgh, when he had 15 points against the Panthers. He also is 2nd on the team with 14 blocked shots. He is shooting 65.0 percent from the field.
• Freshman reserve Max Hoetzel has seen his playing time increase due to the Perea injury. In the last 5 games, he is averaging 8.6 minutes per game and has contributed 3.8 points. He had his Big Ten-best 6 points, including a three-pointer against Illinois.
• Sophomore Stanford Robinson had a season-high 12 points against Penn State and made all six of his free throw attempts in the game. He is averaging 4.0 points in Big Ten play. Against Purdue, he had 4 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
• Junior walk-on Ryan Burton played a huge role in the win over Penn State. In five minutes of play, he had three offensive rebounds and an assist to help IU go from a 51-51 tied to a 12-point lead.
