Preview: IU Returns Home To Host Gophers

Saturday, January 30

Bloomington, IN

2:15 PM

Indiana University

Minnesota

1/29/2016 3:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

OPENING TIP
• Indiana University is ranked #17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and #19 by AP and will play Minnesota for the second time in two weeks on Saturday. The Hoosiers won the first meeting, 70-63, in Minneapolis. The Hoosiers are third in the nation in points per possession at 1.186.

UP NEXT
• The Hoosiers visit Michigan Tuesday night at 9 p.m.

Minnesota (6-15, 0-9) at #17/#19 Indiana (17-4, 7-1 Big Ten)
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 • 2:15 p.m. ET
Assembly Hall (17,472) • Bloomington, Indiana
Live Stats: IUHoosiers.com
TV: BTN & BTN2Go (Josh Lewin & Bob Wenzel)
Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith)
Series History: Indiana leads, 98-69
Last Meeting: IU 70, at MINN 63 (1/16/16)

COACHES VS. CANCER
• The IU coaching staff will be wearing sneakers for this game as part of the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer Initiative. By wearing sneakers, participating coaches help raise awareness about cancer and the importance that nutrition and physical activity play in reducing one's risk of the disease.

HOOSIERS AT HOME
• IU has defeated three Big Ten opponents at home by 25 or more points in consecutive games for the first time since the 1987-88 season. IU beat Ohio State (85-60), Illinois (103-69) and Northwestern (89-57).

HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean is in his eighth year of leading the Hoosiers. Over the last four+ years, IU is 110-49 and leads the Big Ten with 19 regular season wins over ranked opponents during that time.    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. Yogi Ferrell (1,750), Christian Watford (1,730), Verdell Jones III (1,347), Jordan Hulls (1,318), Cody Zeller (1,157), Will Sheehey (1,120) and Victor Oladipo (1,117).

DEFENSE KEYS BIG TEN START
• According to KenPom.com, IU is ranked first in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency in conference games at 94.6. In conference games only, IU ranks third in scoring defense (66.3) and leads in steals (7.6) and is second in rebound margin (+9.9)

YOGI UP FOR OSCAR ROBERTSON AWARD
• Senior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell is one of 20 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Award presented to the National Player of the Year by the USBWA.

He tied a career-high with 30 points against Wisconsin and is now seventh on the IU all-time scoring list with 1,750 points. He also recently became the school's all-time assist leader at 560.

Ferrell was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday after he averaged 16.5 points and 7.5 assists against Illinois and Northwestern. He enters his final conference season as the Big Ten's active leader in scoring, assists , three-point field goals made (240) and is the only senior in the league to have started every game he has played (122).

LAST TIME AGAINST THE GOPHERS
• Indiana rallied from a nine-point first half deficit thanks to Ferrell who finished with a game-high 20 points and senior Nick Zeisloft who added 15. Senior Max Bielfeldt had 10 points off the bench and freshman Thomas Bryant had 10 points and seven rebounds. IU took the lead for good with 13:35 left in the game.

TOP SCORERS FOR TOM CREAN
Yogi Ferrell, Indiana 1,750
Christian Watford, Indiana 1,730
Travis Diener, Marquette     1,691
Steve Novak, Marquette       1,567

MORE YOGI
• Ferrell leads the Big Ten in scoring during conference games at 20.3 per game. He is one of two active players in the country to have at least 1,550 career points (1,750), 500 assists (556) and 350 rebounds (397) (other is Juan'ya Green, Hofstra) He was 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. For the season, he is averaging 17.7 points (4th in Big Ten), 4.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists (4th in Big Ten).

ODDS AND TRENDS
• The Hoosiers have notched 50 percent or better shooting in 28 out of 42 halves played so far this season.

• In the Gophers last visit to Assembly Hall, IU made a then Big Ten record 18 three-point field goals before breaking that mark with 19 earlier this month against Illinois.   The 103 points scored by the Hoosiers against Illinois, marked the second time in the Crean Era that IU had eclipsed the century mark in a conference game (103 vs. Iowa in 2012).

• Senior graduate transfer Max Bielfeldt had 16 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and three steals against Illinois. He also added 13 points and four rebounds against Northwestern. He had his best day as a collegian with 18 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and two steals off the bench at Rutgers. He is fifth in the league in shooting making 58.3% of his shots. His 12 three-point field goals this season eclipses the 11 he made in three years at Michigan .

• Sophomore Robert Johnson is sixth in the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage making 46.6% of his shots.   He forced a game-winning steal in the final seconds against Wisconsin and had 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Illinois and added nine points against Northwestern.

• Senior Nick Zeisloft is second on the team in three-point field goals with 39. He hit five of eight long distance shots and finished with 15 points against Minnesota. He is shooting 41.1 from long range.

• Freshman Thomas Bryant is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week honoree. He had his first career double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds against OSU. He leads the Big Ten in field goal shooting making 71.6% of his shot attempts. He had 19 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots at Nebraska and also had 10 points at Minnesota.

• Junior forward Troy Williams had 21 points and five assists with no turnovers against Illinois. He matched his career-high with 23 points against Ohio State. He is ninth in the league in rebounding (6.5) and is sixth in the Big Ten in steals (1.3).

• Junior Collin Hartman has moved into the starting lineup with Blackmon's injury. He had 11 points against Northwestern. He is averaging 6.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and is shooting 51.4 from the field and 52.4 from long distance since moving into the starting lineup. His Big Ten three-point shooting percentage is 5th in the league.

• Freshman OG Anunoby is averaging 6.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in Big Ten games. He scored a career-high 11 points against Nebraska and Wisconsin. He has shot 64.3 from the field and made seven of 12 three-point field goal attempts. He is fourth in Big Ten games in steals at 1.6

• Freshman Juwan Morgan had a season-high seven points in the win over Northwestern. He also had two rebounds, two blocks and a steal in the Wisconsin win and also had two points and four rebounds against Ohio State.

• Junior walk-on Ryan Burton played 10 minutes against Rutgers and scored a career-high six points when he drained both of his long distance attempts. He also hit a three-pointer against Northwestern.

• With Blackmon out, the Hoosiers have turned to freshman walk-on Harrison Niego who has seen 230 minutes of action in Big Ten play and hit a three-pointer and has four steals.

• Crean announced the addition of Jackson Tharp to the 2015-16 roster, effective immediately. Tharp has been an undergraduate manager at IU since the 2012 after playing at Zionsville High School. He earned All-Hoosier Crossroads Conference honors as a junior and senior at Zionsville. He is 6-4, 205, and will wear #24. He had an assist in his first game against Illinois.

• For the second time under Tom Crean, the Hoosiers put together a 12-game winning streak. IU won 12 to start the 2011-12 season.