9:00 PM EST, ESPN – Line: Indiana -3.5, Over/Under: 151.5
Big Ten powerhouses collide in Bloomington, as the Indiana Hoosiers host the league-leading Iowa Hawkeyes in a matchup that will likely go a long way towards deciding the conference. One of the many surprises of this college basketball season, Iowa (19-4, 10-1, 1st in Big Ten), has run roughshod over the last few months, winning eleven out of their last twelve games. With the exception of a 74-68 loss at Maryland, Fran McCaffery’s charges have proved to be a very difficult puzzle to solve in league play, winning their last three outings by an average of 16.7 points. Their run continued in Champagne, Illinois this past Sunday, as they handled the Illini in a 77-65 victory. The visitors jumped out to a 38-29 lead by Halftime, before largely coasting through the final twenty minutes of action. At the end of the day, the Hawkeyes got the better end of a very defensive contest, in which both teams shot below 44.0% from the field; the hosts struggled throughout the tilt, shooting a mere 39.4% from the field, including just 8-of-25 from behind the arc (32.0%). Though they didn’t shoot much better themselves (43.1%), Iowa did manage to establish a number of advantages, including from three, where they netted 8-of-20 attempts (40.0%), and the charity stripe (13-of-16, 81.3% ) where they outscored them by eight points, but as usual, the real difference came on the boards. Anyone who has seen these kids play will tell you that they are a bonafide beast when it comes to rebounding on BOTH ends of the floor, and that once again rang true Sunday, as they posted a 42-31 advantage on the glass, including a 12-6 advantage on the offensive end. As we all know, offensive rebounds oftentimes lead to easy second-chance points of a high percentage. Both Jarrod Uthoff (fourteen rebounds) and Adam Woodbury (twelve rebounds) accounted for over half of that total, including nine of the offensive variety, while four out of five starters ended the day in double-figures scoring. Peter Jok led the way with a game-high twenty-three points, knocking down three of his seven attempts from downtown, while the aforementioned Uthoff chipped in with eighteen points himself. Apart form their legitimate size, the other factor in their success has been their experience, as McCaffery has the luxury of a starting unit that is comprised mostly of upperclassmen, including three Seniors and a Junior (Jok). Basically, this group has been together for quite a while, and their chemistry becomes readily apparent. Uthoff and Woodbury are as tough a tandem in the paint as their is in the country, averaging a combined 26.9 points, 14.1 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks per game, while Anthony Clemmons (8.9 points, 3.7 assists) and Mike Gesell (8.4 points, 6.0 assists) are steady and interchangeable in the Backcourt. Jok, however, has been the proverbial straw that stirs the drink, bringing a creative flair to the wings, scoring 15.5 points per game on 43.8% shooting from the field, along with 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 steals, while also leading the Hawkeyes in three-point field goals made (53). So with this kind of continuity, is it any wonder that they’ve been the most efficient offensive team in the Big Ten? Iowa leads the league in scoring (78.5), and turnovers committed (9.2), while only one team has managed to shoot better than they have from beyond the arc (39.6%). Furthermore, few teams have proven more adept at getting to the free throw line, WHILE also managing to keep their opponents off of it; in eleven conference contests, they have averaged a league-high 22.9 free throw attempts per outing, making 16.5 of them (2nd Overall), while relegating the opposition to just 14.6 attempts on average (2nd Overall). And at the end of the day, that’s an advantage they exploit mercilessly, outscoring opponents in that regard by 7.1 points per game. Senior Leadership? Check. Size? Check? Experience? Check. Rebounding? Check. Efficiency? Check. Free throws? Check. Sounds to us like a winner come March…
Meanwhile, Indiana (19-5, 9-2, 3rd in Big Ten) has spent the majority of the past month living on the fringes of the AP Poll, as their surprising 68-63 loss at Penn State managed to remove them from the Top-25 once more. In what was an ugly contest, the Hoosiers never really got things going offensively, squandering a narrow 34-33 Halftime lead as they were outscored 35-29 in the second half. Crean’s charges struggled to throw the ball into the ocean this past Saturday, netting just 36.2% of their attempts from the field, including 9-of-27 from beyond the arc (33.3%), while committing fifteen turnovers. In a truly bizarre stat line, the visitors only managed to attempt forty field goals, making just seventeen of those attempts. In fact, they scored on a mere EIGHT of their twenty attempts from inside the arc (40.0%), which sounds more like a poor day’s work from the charity stripe. And speaking of the free throw line, that is about the only place where these kids got things right; Indiana was a healthy 20-of-26 from the stripe (76.9%), outscoring the hosts by ten points. Yogi Farrell encapsulated their performance perfectly, scoring thirteen points on a dreadful 3-of-12 shooting from the floor (25.0%), making up the difference via freebies (6-of-7, 85.7%). However, what may be even more concerning for Crean and his Staff is the fact that his defense only managed to force a scant six turnovers, while the Nittany Lions’ Brandon Taylor scorched them for twenty-four points on 10-of-20 shooting (50.0%), including 4-of-9 from three (44.4%). Ironically, defense hasn’t really been an issue in league play for the Hoosiers, who have relinquished just 66.6 points (3rd Overall) 43.2% shooting from the field (5th Overall), including 47.6% from within the three-point line (5th Overall) and 33.5% from beyond it (6th Overall), while forcing 12.5 turnovers (3rd Overall) compared to yielding 10.2 assists (3rd Overall). However, they’ve been very one-dimensional on the offensive end, relying almost exclusively on the money ball. Indiana has taken (105) and made (269) the second-most three-pointers in the Big Ten thus far, shooting a healthy 39.0% in the process (3rd Overall). Four players have attempted more than eighty three-pointers this season, with the aforementioned Farrell (114) and Nick Zeisloft (113) accounting for a sizable 227 of those attempts. With that said, all those treys have come at the expense of easier points in the paint, where Crean has seen his kids attempt just 368 field goals (12th Overall). In fact, 42.2% of their 637 field goal attempts have been of the three-point variety, one of the largest figures in the country. Losing Sophomore Guard James Blackmon Jr. (15.8 points) to a season-ending knee injury has greatly effected them in this regard, who despite being a stellar marksman in his own right (46.3%), was one of the only players in the Backcourt capable of slashing towards the basket and creating his own shot. This overdependence on the perimeter has also placed an adverse amount of pressure on their Guards, which has led to a lot of turnovers; simply put, no team in the Big Ten has coughed up the rock more than Indiana, committing 14.5 turnovers per game (14th Overall) equating to a disappointing 1.09 Assist/Turnover Ratio. While they have the talent to pull the upset, the Hoosiers must find a way to take better care of the ball against an Iowa team that has proven capable of making their opponents pay for their mistakes, while also keeping them off the stripe; their opponents have attempted a total of nineteen more free-throws in conference play, which is again a reflection of their reticence in the paint.
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