IU hosts Northwestern At Assembly Hall Today At Noon

Indiana University is ranked #23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and #25 by AP and will put an 11-game winning streak on the line when it hosts Northwestern on Saturday.  L

You can catch the pre-game show with Don Fischer at 11a on WSLM 97.9 FM and the tipoff at Noon.

The Hoosiers are coming a off a record setting 103-69 win against Illinois on Tuesday.  Last year, Northwestern defeated IU, 72-65 in Evanston, while the Hoosiers defeated the Wildcats, 71-56 in the Big Ten Tournament.

UP NEXT
• The Hoosiers travel to Madison to face Wisconsin on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

HOOSIERS SET LONG DISTANCE RECORD
• Nine players combined to hit 19 three-point field goals against Illinois on Tuesday to set  a new Big Ten record for three-point field goals made in a Big Ten game.  IU had previously owned the record after making 18 last year against Minnesota.

HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean is in his eighth year of leading the Hoosiers.  Over the last four+ years, IU is 109-48 and leads the Big Ten with 19 regular season wins over ranked opponents during that time.  During that time, the Hoosiers have appeared nationally ranked in at least one major poll during a season.  He has recruited a McDonald’s All-American in each of the last five years.  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 (1,703), 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 second in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency in conference games at 93.4.  In conference games only, IU ranks third in scoring defense (65.2) and field goal percentage defense (42.1) and leads in steals (+7.6) and is second in rebound margin (+9.3)

YOGI BREAKS IU ASSIST RECORD
• With his nine assists on Tuesday, senior Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell became the IU all-time leader surpassing Michael Lewis who had 545 from 1997-00.  Ferrell now has 553 assists and is trying to become the first player in IU history to lead the Hoosiers in assists in each of his four years with the program.

He enters his final conference season as the Big Ten’s active leader in scoring (1,703), assists (553),  three-point field goals made (232) and is the only senior in the league to have started every game he has played (121).

HELPING WAS CONTAGIOUS
•  In Big Ten games, IU is leading the league averaging 17.3 assists per game.  The Hoosiers had 27 assists from eight different players in the lineup against Illinois.  That number ties the most ever established in a game during the Crean Era.

FRESHMAN IMPACT
• In Big Ten play, IU freshmen Thomas Bryant, OG Anunoby and Juwan Morgan  have had a tremendous impact in their first exposure to the Big
Ten.  Collectively, they contributed 125 points, 69 rebounds, shot 73.4% from the floor, made eight of 11 long distance attempts and made 78.2% of their FT attempts.  In addition, they combined for eight assists and 10  blocks and 13 steals.

MORE YOGI
•  Ferrell is second in the  Big Ten in scoring during conference games at 19.8 per game.  He is one of two active players in the country to have at least 1,550 career points (1,703), 500 assists (553) and 350 rebounds (387) (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 Sportsand fourth team mention in Blue Ribbon Magazine.  For the season, he is averaging 17.1 points (4th in Big Ten), 4.3 rebounds and 6.1  assists (4th in Big Ten).

ODDS AND TRENDS
• The Hoosiers have notched 50 percent or better shooting in 25 out of 38 halves played so far this season.

•  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).  It also marked just the third time in 22 years IU has scored over 100 in a Big Ten game.

•  Senior graduate transfer Max Bielfeldt had 16 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and three steals against Illinois.  He has now made as many three-pointers at IU (11) as he did in three years at Michigan and his 156 points scored this year eclipses his previous best of 154 scored last season.  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.

•  Sophomore Robert Johnson is third in the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage making 48.3% of his shots.   Team is 13-0 when he starts.  He forced a game-winning steal in the final seconds against Wisconsin and had 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Illinois.

•  Senior Nick Zeisloft is second on the team in three-point field goals with 38.  He hit five of eight long distance shots and finished with 15 points against Minnesota.  He is shooting 42.7 from long range.

•  Freshman Thomas Bryant  was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second time this season (January 11).  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 71.5% 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 eighth in the league in rebounding (6.6) and in field goal percentage (56.9) and  is second in the Big Ten in steals (1.4).    He had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the Hoosiers’ win against Notre Dame.

•  Junior Collin Hartman has moved into the starting lineup with Blackmon’s injury. He is averaging 5.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and is shooting 50.0 from the field and 53.8 long distance since moving into the starting lineup.
•  Freshman OG Anunoby is averaging 8.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in his first six Big Ten games.  He scored a career-high 11 points against Nebraska and Wisconsin. He has shot 73.9% from the field and made seven of nine three-point field goal attempts.

•  Freshman Juwan Morgan had two rebounds, two blocks and a steal in the Wisconsin win and also had two points and four rebounds against Ohio State.   At Rutgers, he had two points and three rebounds in six minutes off the bench against Rutgers.

•  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.

•  With Blackmon out, the Hoosiers have turned to freshman walk-on Harrison Niego who has seen 51 minutes of action and hit two of three long distance shots.

•  For the second time under Tom Crean, the Hoosiers have put together an 11-game winning streak.  IU won 12 to start the 2011-12 season.

• 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.