Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Morehead State
Preview: Indiana Set To Host Morehead State on Saturday
12/4/2015 3:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OPENING TIP
• Indiana University is in its 116th season of men's basketball and will face Morehead State in Assembly Hall on Saturday. The Hoosiers are coming off a 94-74 loss at Duke on Wednesday while the Eagles enter Saturday riding a four-game winning streak after posting a 60-46 win at Saint Louis. Indiana has won each of the previous four meetings with Morehead State, with the most recent being a 77-57 triumph in Bloomington on Dec. 23, 2003. Saturday's game is a Stripe Out, with fans encouraged to wear a specific color shirt depending on their seats. (Click here to view StripeOut Seating Map)
| Morehead State (5-1) at #rv/rv Indiana (5-3) Saturday, Dec. 5 • 7:00 p.m. ET Assembly Hall (12.472) • Bloomington, Ind. Live Stats: IUHoosiers.com TV: BTN & BTN2Go (Cory Provus & Shon Morris) Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith) Series History: Indiana leads, 4-0 Last Meeting: at IU 77, MSU 57 (12/23/2003) |
UP NEXT
• The Hoosiers host IPFW on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. on BTN Plus.
HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean is in his eighth year of leading the Hoosiers. Over the last four+ years, IU is 98-48 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).
WOODEN AWARD
• The John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's announced its Preseason Top 50 in November. 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. (16.6), senior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell (15.0), Troy Williams (12.4), freshman Thomas Bryant (11.5), junior, senior Nick Zeisloft (8.3), senior Max Bielfeldt (7.8) and sophomore Robert Johnson (7.8).
MOREHEAD STATE
• Coach Sean Woods is a graduate of Indianapolis Cathedral High School who played collegiately at Kentucky. He is in his fourth year at MSU and previously coached in Assembly Hall during the 2010-11 season when he was coach at Mississippi Valley State.
• The Eagles lead the nation in scoring defense allowing just 54.5 points per game, 11th in the country in steals per game (9.8), 16th in the nation in turnovers forced per game (17.7) and 17th in the country in offensive rebounds per game (15.7).
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 1,499 points in his IU career, which ranks 16th in school history. He trails Archie Dees by 47 points for 15th and Randy Wittman by 50 for 14th. He now has 490 career assists in his IU career, which ranks fourth in school history. He trails Tom Coverdale who is third with 500. He has made 205 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 52 assists and just 16 turnovers in eight games. For the season, he is averaging 15.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.5 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. MOREHEAD ST.
12/2/78 W, 80-37 Bloomington
12/20/86 W, 84-62 Bloomington
12/9/94 W, 79-62 Bloomington
12/23/03 W, 77-57 Bloomington
ODDS AND TRENDS
• At Duke, Indiana shot 50.9 percent from the floor for the game, reaching the 50 percent mark in both halves. That gives the Hoosiers 50 percent or better shooting in 10 out of 16 halves played so far this season.
• Indiana has also shot 43.0 percent or better from the floor in every half this season.
• The nine turnovers committed at Duke on Wednesday mark a season low for IU.
• Indiana is averaging 86.5 points per game to lead the Big Ten. The Hoosiers paced the conference in scoring last year at 77.4 points per game.
• As a team, the Hoosiers are shooting 54.3 percent from the field, which ranks second in the country.
• IU has continued its trend of being one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country. They are connecting on 44.6 percent from long rang, which is the sixth-best team percentage in the country.
• Troy Williams led IU with 17 points at Duke, a season-high in scoring for the junior, as he was 6-of-7 from the floor.
• For his career, Kevin Yogi Ferrell is averaging 3.2 rebounds per game. But so far this year, the 6-foot guard is hauling in 5.5 boards per contest.
• Senior Nick Zeisloft is leading the team by shooting 57.1 percent from behind the 3-point line so far this season.
• Junior Troy Williams scored 17 points and made six of seven field goal attempts against Duke.
• The Hoosiers have scored 214 bench points combined in their eight games this season for an average of 26.75 points per game off the bench.
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.
