EEK! Well, that took awhile to happen. Mine was ages ago when I had to do a new account.
Add me to that list...
Good Morning, is above freezing around here again...
IU Takes On No. 18 Notre Dame at Crossroads Classic
The 118th season of Indiana basketball continues on Saturday when the Hoosiers travel to Indianapolis for the seventh edition of the Crossroads Classic. This will be the fourth meeeting in the event between the Hoosiers and the Irish with IU taking two of the three meetings, including an 80-73 triumph in the last matchup in December 2015. IU is 3-3 in this event.
• IU holds a 49-22 edge in the series which began in 1908. This will be the 12th meeting between the two teams in Indianapolis. IU is 8-3 in those contests. Overall, IU is 76-25 in games played in Indianapolis.
THE COACHES
• Archie Miller is the 29th head coach in Indiana men's basketball history. The 39-year old native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, comes to IU after serving the previous six seasons as head coach at the University of Dayton, where he won Atlantic 10 Conference regular season championships in 2016 and 2017. He was Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2017. He guided the Flyers to a 139-63 record (69.8) and a 68-34 mark (66.7) in the Atlantic 10. He took Dayton to the NCAA Tournament each of the last four years with the Flyers advancing to the Elite Eight in the 2014 Tournament. UD was nationally ranked in three of Miller's six seasons (2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16).
• Mike Brey is in his 18th season of guiding the Notre Dame program and is 387-187. He is 3-5 against the Hoosiers.
NEWS & NOTES
• The Irish will be the 3rd ACC opponent the Hoosiers will have played this season. IU fell to #1 Duke, 91-81, in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and lost at Louisville, 71-62. Notre Dame is the 3rd ranked team the Hoosiers will have faced this season (Seton Hall and Duke).
• In the last meeting between Indiana and Notre Dame, the Hoosiers rallied from a 16-point second half deficit for the win. Then sophomore Robert Johnson had 17 points to help in the cause. Then junior Collin Hartman hit two free throws in the final minute to give IU the lead for good. Hartman finished with 9 points and 3 assists. Freshman Juwan Morgan did not play in the game due to injury. Then sophomore Bonzie Colson led the Irish with 24 points.
• Morgan has made the earliest of cases for All-Big Ten recognition. He is 5th in the league after 2 games in points/rebounds/assists per game at 29.0. The Missouri native had his 2nd double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa. He had a Big Ten career-high 24 points and added 8 rebounds at Michigan. His 9 field goals matched a career-high in that game. He is coming off a 17-point, 9-board effort at Louisville.
• Johnson is now in 47th place on the IU all-time scoring list with 1,092 points. Darryl Thomas is 46th with 1,095 and Bob Leonard is 45th with 1,098.
• Hartman is a player who has impacted winning during his career with the Hoosiers. Since the 2014-15 season, the Hoosiers are 49-23 when he is healthy. They are 21-20 when his is not. He is a career 40.1% shooter from three-point range and is coming off a 13-point, 5-rebound, 2 assist effort at home against Iowa.
• Sophomore De'Ron Davis is 2nd in the Big Ten shooting 65.7% from the field. He had 14 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks against Louisville.
• Up next, IU will host Fort Wayne on Monday, December 18 and Tennessee Tech on Thursday, December 21.
QUICK HITS
• Graduate forward Collin Hartman is back for a fifth year. The Indianapolis Cathedral product suffered a left knee injury in a non-contact drill and underwent surgery and did not play during the 2016-17 season. Hartman started 24 games for the eventual Big Ten champions in 2016, averaging 5.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He broke his wrist in the Big Ten Tournament against Michigan, but played in all three of IU's games that year as the Hoosiers played in the Sweet Sixteen. He had 11 points in 16 minutes against Duke and had a career-high 8 rebounds against Michigan. He followed that up with a season-high 13 points against Iowa. He earned the team's most recent Gold Standard Jersey.
• Senior guard Robert Johnson has been a starter for 97 of the 108 games he has been healthy to play since joining the team in 2014-15. He earned the team's third Gold Standard jersey. The newest member of IU's 1,000-point club is averaging 12.7 points per game.
• Senior guard Josh Newkirk has started 42 career games and a year ago averaged 9.0 points and led the team with 108 assists. He had his best game this season with 17 points against Eastern Michigan, hitting on 5 of 6 3-pointers. He earned the team's 4th Gold Standard jersey. He has made 10 of his last 20 3FG attempts.
• Junior forward Juwan Morgan has started 28 career games and leads the team in scoring (14.1), rebounds (6.6) and free throws made (41). He earned the team's second Gold Standard jersey. In the last 5 games, he has averaged 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and is shooting 60.0% from the floor.
• Sophomore forward De'Ron Davis is second on the team averaging 11.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. He had 14 points in the opener and notched career-high's in points (17) and minutes played (29) against Howard. He had 16 points against Duke and has made 10 of his last 11 shots. He is second in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (65.7%). He has had 7 blocks in the last 2 games and had 14 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks against Louisville
• Sophomore guard Devonte Green is contributing 8.0 points. He energized the team off the bench with 12 points and 4 assists against Iowa. He was the first player to earn the right to wear a gold jersey in practice. That is given to the player who has displayed a Gold Standard in his play.
• Freshman forward Justin Smith is averaging 4.4 points and averages 3.5 rebounds per game. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds against Howard.
• Freshman guard Aljami Durham is averaging 7.9 points. He had 9 points, 5 boards and 4 assists against South Florida.
Senior Freddie McSwain, Jr. has chipped in 3.0 points per game and is third on the team in rebounding at 4.3. He had a career-high 10 points with 9 rebounds against Eastern Michigan. He has a team-high 20 offensive rebounds.
• Since Assembly Hall was opened in November, 1971, Indiana has ranked in the top 10 in attendance in 39 of the last 46 seasons.
Pray for A Pain Free Day!
AI
