GAME 9
December 11, 2010 5:15 PM
Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY
INDIANA HOOSIERS (7-1)
TV – ESPN
SERIES HISTORY
Kentucky leads 30-23
RECENT MEETINGS:
12/12/2009: KENTUCKY 90 INDIANA 73
12/13/2008: KENTUCKY 72 INDIANA 54
12/8/2007: INDIANA 70 KENTUCKY 51
12/9/2006: KENTUCKY 59 INDIANA 54
12/10/2005: INDIANA 79 KENTUCKY 53
It’s been “old rivalry week” as Kentucky will have faced North Carolina, Notre Dame, and Indiana all in the span of eight days. The big question lately has been whether Indiana still qualifies as a bitter rival to the Wildcats. Yes, the recent history has been close with Kentucky winning three of the last five years and those two losses were key to the downfalls of Billy Gillispie and Tubby Smith. But before those losses, Kentucky had put together a pair of five game winning streaks and are 15-5 over the past twenty years.
On the surface, things seem different this year as Indiana brings a sparkling 7-1 record into this game. If you dig deeper, you see that
Tom Arnold
Dwight Schrute
Tom Crean has ingested enough cupcakes this season to induce a diabetic coma. The Hoosiers “boast” wins over the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, Wright State, Mississippi Valley State, Evansville, North Carolina Central, Northwestern State, and Savannah State. Whew. I actually had to look up a couple of schools to see if they actually existed. Their only real test was a 88-76 loss to a pretty good Boston College squad. Gone are the days of Indiana fielding a competitive early schedule, but with a 16-46 record the previous two season, you can’t blame Tome Crean for going after whatever wins he can get on the schedule.
STARTERS
#1 – G – JORDAN HULLS – SO 6’0 175
9.5 ppg, 3.3 apg. 2.4 rpg
#12 – G – VERDELL JONES III – JR 6’5 185
14.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.4 apg
#3 – G – MAURICE CREEK – SO 6’5 200
11.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.1 apg
#2 – F – CHRISTIAN WATFORD – SO – 6’8 -230
17.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.0 apg
#25 – F – TOM PRTTCHARD – JR – 6’9 – 250
2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.6 apg
BACKCOURT
Jordan Hulls is going to have his work cut out for him against Kentucky. He’s undersized and a bit slow, but he does have a knack in dishing the ball to his teammates and he is dangerous when left open beyond the three point line. He is hitting 58.1 on his 3-pointers, but not surprisingly, his worst game was against Boston College in which he went 1-4. He’s not much of a rebounder, but he takes care of the ball and does not turn the ball over a lot. Wildcat fans may remember Verdell Jone’s name as a player Kentucky had recruited in the past and he has blossomed into a pretty decent player. Jones can definitely score and likes to attack the basket, with four games with 18 or more points and is hitting 52.4% of his shots and is a pretty solid defender. On the negative side, he turns the ball over a lot (4.8 per game) and is just 1-11 from 3 point range over his last 6 games. Sophomore Maurice Creek had a big game against UK last year as he scored 31 points, but his season ended shortly thereafter due to a knee injury. Creek has been slowly rebounding into form and loves to bomb away from three. He hit 5-8 vs UK last year, but as of yet, his overall game is not quite where it was yesterday when he started the season one of the country’s top freshman with 16 points a game. Jeremiah Rivers (yes, Austin’s brother) started for the Hoosiers this year and does not now. That apparently set off a twitter rant from little brother against Tom Crean earlier this season. River is a pretty good rebounder for a guard, but not much of a scoring threat as he has just attempted four shots all year. 6’5 freshman Victor Oladipo is a pretty good scorer off the bench as he is scoring 6.4 points a game. He is also very quick defensively and can rack up some steals.
FRONTCOURT
Christian Watford presents a significant presence to the front court. Waterford is the Hoosier’s most consistent scorer and he is good at scoring from everywhere on the court and is good at creating his own shots. He gets to the basket easily and creates his own shots. He has 3-point range, but has just made four of them on the season. He is an adequate rebounder but you would expect a bit more of a rebounding presence in the post from him. He is a pretty good defender, but has not faced anyone like Terrence Jones this season. Tom Pritchard is the equivalent of the hockey goon in the Hoosiers starting lineup. He is a big, physical player that does not mind mixing it up and playing rough. His big scoring outburst of the season has been 8 points and he has grabbed 8 rebounds twice. He is a decent shot blocker, with 12 on the season, and you would think his big goal Saturday will be to get Josh Harrellson in foul trouble. On the flip side, Pritchard is prone to foul trouble as well, fouling out twice. Freshman Will Sheehey plays both the guard and forward positions and averages 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in just about 10 points a game. Derek Elston shares the front court with PritchardPritchard but is not as physical.
OUTLOOK
All jokes aside, I do think that Tom Crean is a good coach and is the right person for the Indiana job. And the early good record should make Hoosier fans happy for the holidays, but this edition of the Hoosiers do not appear to have the talent to hang with the Wildcats. It’s unfortunate for the Hoosiers as they are not able to take advantage of Kentucky’s Achilles heel as the Hoosiers are pretty thin in the fromtcourt as well. Watford is a solid player. The real key once again here is not letting Pritchard get Harrellson into foul trouble, but even if that happens, this is no UNC or even Notre Dame front court. Josh Harrellson could be in a for a good game.
In the front court, Kentucky has an advantage as well. Hulls should be over matched no matter who he is paired with and Indiana has a bit small so Kentucky’s length and defensive pressure should be a tremendous advantage for UK. In addition, this is still a pretty young Indiana team and most players have not experienced a rabid Rupp Arena. The Hoosiers have been on the road just once, at Boston College and that game was a loss. Not trying to be cruel, but Indiana is still a year or two away from being able to make this a game as Kentucky should roll convincingly Kentucky 85 Indiana 67
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