Preview: Indiana at Illinois on Thursday

OPENING TIP
• Indiana University is ranked #15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and #18 by the Associated Press and will visit Illinois on Thursday. The Hoosiers won the first meeting in Bloomington, 103-69, on January 19. The Hoosiers have won 20 games for the fourth time in five seasons and have won 12 of their first 15 Big Ten games for just the third time in 20 seasons (2008, 2013).

#18/#15 Indiana (22-6, 12-3 Big Ten) at Illinois (12-15, 4-10)
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 • 9:00 p.m. ET
State Farm Center (15,544) • Champaign, Illinois
Live Stats: IUHoosiers.com
TV: ESPN & WatchESPN (Rece Davis, Dan Dakich & Seth Greenberg)
Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith)
Series History: Indiana leads, 88-86
Last Meeting: at IU 103, ILL 69 (1/19/16)

WILLIAMS SHARES B1G POW
• Junior forward Troy Williams was named co-Big Ten Player of the Week. In the two games last week, Williams averaged 18.5 points and shot 75.0 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from behind the 3-point line. In the win over Nebraska, Williams posted 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting to go with five rebounds. Then in Saturday's win over Purdue, he registered 19 points and became the 49th player in IU history to surpass 1,000 career points and the eighth to do it under head coach Tom Crean.

TOM CREAN'S
1,000 POINT SCORERS BY RECRUITING CLASS
2008-Verdell Jones III (1,347)
2009-Christian Watford (1,730) and Jordan Hulls (1,318)
2010-Will Sheehey (1,120) and Victor Oladipo (1,117)
2011-Cody Zeller (1,157)
2012-Yogi Ferrell (1,845)
2013-Troy Williams (1,008)

HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean is in his eighth year of leading the Hoosiers and led them to the 2013 Big Ten Championship. Over the last four+ years, IU is 115-51 and leads the Big Ten with 21 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.

HOOSIER SHOOTING
• The Hoosiers are fourth in the country in field goal percentage making 50.2% of their shots. IU also is seventh in the country in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting on 41.8% of its long distance attempts. IU is 12th in the country in scoring margin (13.7), scoring (83.2) and in 3-point field goals made per game (10.0).

FERRELL TO SET SCHOOL RECORD FOR STARTS
• Senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell will be making his 131st career start tonight in the Cream and Crimson, which will put him ahead of Christian Watford and Calbert Cheaney for the most starts in IU history.

YOGI UP FOR NATIONAL HONORS
• Senior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell is being considered for the Wooden, Naismith, and Robertson Awards for National Player of the Year. He was also named one of 10 finalists for the Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard. He tied his Big Ten career-high with 30 points against Wisconsin and is now seventh on the IU all-time scoring list with 1,845 points. He also recently became the school's all-time assist leader at 593. He is the Big Ten's active leader in scoring, assists, 3-point field goals made (252) and is the only senior in the league to have started every game he has played (130).

AGAINST NATIONALLY RANKED TEAMS
• Since the 2011-12 season, IU has the top regular season winning percentage against Top 25 teams in the Big Ten Conference with a 21-16 mark (56.7). Wisconsin is 20-18 and Michigan State is 20-19 in regular season games. Against Top 10 foes, Indiana is second in the country with 11 wins and the Hoosiers have seven top 5 wins, which also is second among Division I programs.

MORE YOGI
• Ferrell is one of two active players in the country to have at least 1,550 career points (1,845), 500 assists (593) and 350 rebounds (413) (other is Juan'ya Green, Hofstra). For the season, he is averaging 16.6 points (6th in Big Ten), 3.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists (4th in Big Ten).

Yogi is one of five Big Ten players to have 125 assists in four straight seasons.

Yogi Ferrell, Indiana (2013-16)
Aaron Craft, Ohio State (2011-14)
Dee Brown, Illinois (2003-06)
Dean Oliver, Iowa (1998-2001)
Mateen Cleaves, Michigan St. (1997-2000)

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.
Sophomore guard James Blackmon, Jr., (15.8 ppg) is out for the season after he had surgery on his right knee. In his two years with the Hoosiers, IU is 21-0 anytime he shot 47.0 percent or higher from the field. He is the Big Ten sophomore class career leader in scoring averaging 15.7 ppg. He had 21 points at Illinois last year.

ODDS AND TRENDS
• Senior graduate transfer Max Bielfeldt is averaging 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds. In his fifth start of the season, he had 10 points and six boards against Purdue. He had his second double-double with 15 points and 10 boards at MSU. He had 16 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and three steals against Illinois. His best day as a collegian came at Rutgers, when he recorded 18 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and two steals off the bench. He has shot 42.6% (20-of-47) from long distance this season.

• Sophomore Robert Johnson is shooting 43.6 percent from 3-point range. He forced a game-winning steal in the final seconds at home against Wisconsin. He had 16 points and six rebounds at Michigan and had 13 points against Iowa and Nebraska. He is second on the team with 88 assists.

• Senior Nick Zeisloft is second on the team in 3-point field goals with 51 made. He hit 5-of-8 long distance shots and finished with 15 points at Minnesota and led the Hoosiers with 14 points at Penn State after hitting 4-of-7 triples. He is shooting 41.5 percent from long range this season and is averaging 9.5 points in his career against the Illini.

• Freshman Thomas Bryant is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week honoree. He had a career-high 23 points at home against Minnesota. 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 68.9% of his attempts. He had an offensive rebound and a putback to give IU the lead for good against Minnesota with 1:56 remaining and added a fast break dunk to seal the win.

• Junior forward Troy Williams leads the Hoosiers in rebounding, averaging 6.0 per game. He had 13 points and seven rebounds against Iowa, including nine points in the final 10 minutes of the game. He is coming off an 18-point performance against Nebraska and a 19-point effort against Purdue. He matched his career-high with 23 points against Ohio State. He has made 17 3-point field goals this season after making 12 total during his first two years with the Hoosiers.
• Junior Collin Hartman had 11 points off the bench at Michigan State. He also had 8 points and five boards against Nebraska. He has hit 5 of his last 10 3-point attempts. He is averaging 5.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and is 45.0 percent from long distance in conference play. Over the last two years, he has shot 46.2 from 3-point range.

• Freshman OG Anunoby is averaging 6.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in Big Ten games. He scored a career-high 11 points at Nebraska, at Wisconsin and most recently at Michigan. He has shot 55.6 percent from the field and made 9-of-20 3-point field goal attempts. He had eight points, five boards and two blocks at MSU.

• Freshman Juwan Morgan had a career-high 12 points against Nebraska and also added 5 rebounds. He also had 7 points in the win over Northwestern. He has made 12-of-18 field goal attempts in conference play and is averaging 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds.

• Senior walk-on Ryan Burton played 10 minutes against Rutgers and scored a career-high six points on a pair of 3-point field goals. He also hit a 3-pointer against Northwestern. Freshman walk-on Harrison Niego played seven minutes against Iowa and had a basket and took a charge. He also had a basket against MSU. Former manager Jackson Tharp is now on the 2015-16 roster. Tharp has been an undergraduate manager at IU since the 2012. He had an assist in his first game against Illinois.

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Players Mentioned

OG Anunoby

Max Bielfeldt

James Blackmon Jr.

Thomas Bryant

Ryan Burton

Collin Hartman

Robert Johnson

Juwan Morgan

Harrison Niego

Jackson Tharp

Troy Williams

Nick Zeisloft