Preview: IU at No. 7/5 Duke as Part of Big Ten/ACC Challenge

OPENING TIP
• Indiana University is in its 116th season of men's basketball and will face Duke in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Hoosiers are coming off a 112-70 win over Alcorn State, while the defending national champion Blue Devils topped Utah State, 85-52. This is the eighth meeting all-time between the two school's and third as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

#rv/rv Indiana (5-2) at #7/5 Duke (6-1)
Wednesday, Dec. 2 • 9:15 p.m. ET
Cameron Indoor Stadium (9.314)
Big Ten/ACC Challenge
Live Stats: IUHoosiers.com
TV: ESPN & WatchESPN (Jon Sciambi & Bill Walton)
Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith)
Series History: Duke leads, 4-3
Last Meeting: IU 51, at Duke 54 (11/28/2006)

UP NEXT
• The Hoosiers host Morehead State on Saturday, December 5 at 7 p.m.

HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean is in his eighth year of leading the Hoosiers. Over the last four+ years, IU is 98-47 and leads the Big Ten with 19 regular season wins over ranked opponents during that time. During that same span, the Hoosiers have appeared nationally ranked in at least one major poll during the season. He has also seen a Big Ten best three players selected in the NBA lottery over the last three years and has recruited a McDonald's All-American in each of the last five years. In addition, he has seen seven of his players score 1,000 points or more in an IU uniform. Since 2011, the Hoosiers have averaged 23 wins per season compared to 20 averaged at IU from 1995-2008. Seven players have scored 1,000 points in their career under Tom Crean at Indiana. Christian Watford (1,730), Yogi Ferrell (1,484), Verdell Jones III (1,347), Jordan Hulls (1,318), Cody Zeller (1,157), Will Sheehey (1,120) and Victor Oladipo (1,117). While at Marquette, Crean's teams faced Duke twice. Marquette defeated the Blue Devils, 73-62 in the 2006 championship of the CBE Classic while the following year, Duke beat the Golden Eagles, 77-73 in the finals of the Maui Invitational.

WOODEN AWARD
The John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's announced its Preseason Top 50 today on ESPN's SportsCenter and on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball's most prestigious individual honor. IU has three players on the Preseason Top 50 list that was announced on Tuesday. The Hoosiers are represented by senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell, junior forward Troy Williams and sophomore guard James Blackmon, Jr. IU is tied with Kentucky with three players among those listed.

VERSATILE CONTRIBUTORS
The Hoosiers have seven players averaging at least seven points per game including sophomore James Blackmon, Jr. (17.0), senior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell (15.0), freshman Thomas Bryant (12.3), junior Troy Williams (11.7), senior Nick Zeisloft (8.6), senior Max Bielfeldt (8.4) and sophomore Robert Johnson (7.7).

BLACKMON'S BIG NIGHT
Sophomore James Blackmon, Jr. had a career-high 33 points in the win over Alcorn State. He also added a career-high four steals. His scoring output was the most for a Hoosier coached by Tom Crean, besting the 31-point effort that Maurice Creek had against Kentucky in 2009. The Marion native also poured in 24 points in the first half. He is the first Hoosier to score 30 points or more in a game since Will Sheehey had 30 against Iowa in February of 2014. The last IU player to score 33 points or more was Eric Gordon who had 33 against Chattanooga in November of 2007.

FERRELL PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
• Senior All-Big Ten guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell has been named second team Preseason All-American by The Sporting News and USA Today, in addition to garnering third team honors from Athlon Sports and fourth team mention in Blue Ribbon Magazine. A first-team NABC and USBWA All-District selection last season, Ferrell was sixth in the Big Ten averaging 16.3 points and was fourth in assists at 4.9. Ferrell, now has 1,484 points in his IU career, which ranks 17th in school history. He trails Bracey Wright by 14 points for 16th. He now has 485 career assists in his IU career, which ranks fourth in school history. He trails Tom Coverdale who is third with 500.    He has made 204 threes in his IU career, which ranks third in school history. He had his 23rd career 20+ point effort with 22 against St. John's. Against Austin Peay, he had 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Against Creighton, he had 15 points, a career-high nine rebounds and six assists. For the season, he has 42 assists and just 15 turnovers in six games. For the season, he is averaging 15.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists.

WATCH LISTS
• The Indiana Hoosiers were well represented on the preseason watch lists released by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this month. The watch lists recognize the top 20 players in the country at each of the five positions on the court. Here's who was recognized from Indiana:

Bob Cousy Award (Top PG): Kevin Yogi Ferrell
Jerry West Award (Top SG): James Blackmon Jr.
Julius Erving Award (Top SF): Troy Williams
K. Abdul-Jabbar Award (Top C): Thomas Bryant

IU'S MAJOR CONFERENCE RANKINGS (2011-PRESENT)
• 3-point percentage, 40.1 (1st)
• Field goal percentage, 47.6 (1st)
• Free throw percentage, 73.7 (2nd)
• Points per game, 76.8 (4th)
• Home wins, 68 (5th)

SERIES HISTORY VS. DUKE
Duke leads the all-time series against Indiana, 4-3. Here's a look at each of the games in the series:
3/20/87        W, 88-82        Cincinnati
4/4/92           L, 78-81          Minneapolis
11/24/95      L, 64-70          Anchorage
11/29/96      W, 85-69        New York
3/21/02        W, 74-73        Lexington
11/30/05      L, 67-75          Bloomington
11/28/06      L, 51-54          Durham

IU IN ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE
A look at the Indiana results in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge over the years, where the Hoosiers are 6-8 overall:
12/2/15 - at #7 Duke - 9:15pm ET
12/2/14 - Pittsburgh - W, 81-69
12/3/13 - at #4 Syracuse - L, 52-69
11/27/12 - #14 North Carolina - W, 83-59
11/29/11 - at NC State - W, 86-75
11/30/10 - at Boston College - L, 76-88
12/1/09 - Maryland - L, 68-80
12/2/08 - at #17 Wake Forest - L, 58-83
11/27/07 - Georgia Tech - W, 83-79
11/28/06 - at Duke - L, 51-54
11/30/05 - #1 Duke - L, 67-75
12/1/04 - #11 North Carolina - L, 63-70
12/2/03 - at #16 Wake Forest - L, 67-100
12/3/02 - vs. #8 Maryland - W, 80-74 (OT)*
11/28/01 - at North Carolina - W, 79-66
2000 - Did not participate
1999 - Did not participate
* - game in Indianapolis

ODDS AND TRENDS
• The Hoosiers have scored 195 bench points combined in their seven games this season.

• The Hoosiers scored over 100 points for the second time this season and the most since they had 116 vs. Mississippi Valley State on 11/14/14. The 112 points scored is the second most points scored by Indiana in the Tom Crean era.

• Indiana opened the game on a 15-2 run and held Alcorn State without a point for the first 3:48 of the first half. Sophomore James Blackmon Jr. scored eight of the Hoosiers first 12 points.

• The Hoosiers had 24 assists for the game, the third time this season with 18 or more assists and most since they dished out 25 assists in a win over Austin Peay earlier this season. Nine different players had an assist for the Hoosiers.

• Indiana had six players score in double-figures for the second time this season. It is the fourth time this season the Hoosiers have had at least five in double-figures.

• The Hoosiers shot 19-of-26 (73.1 percent) in the first half and 20-of-32 (62.5) percent in the second half. Indiana has shot 50 percent or higher in eight halves this season and have been at 43.3 percent or better in every half this season. The Hoosiers made nine straight field goals from the 17:42 mark of the first half on a Blackmon three-pointer to the 11:04 mark of the half on a Zeisloft three-pointer.

Preview: IU at No. 7/5 Duke as Part of Big Ten/ACC Challenge

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Players Mentioned

Max Bielfeldt

James Blackmon Jr.

Thomas Bryant

Kevin Yogi Ferrell

Robert Johnson

Troy Williams

Nick Zeisloft