IU vs Notre Dame 12/21 Noon ESPN

[mamasa]

NOTES: IU Heads to Indianapolis to Face Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic

 

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OPENING TIP
Indiana University is in its 120th season of competition in men's basketball and will take on Notre Dame in the 9th Annual Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis. IU is 5-3 in the event, including a 3-1 mark against Notre Dame. Last year, the Hoosiers defeated Butler 71-68 on a Rob Phinisee three-pointer at the buzzer. IU is coming off a 96-90 overtime win at home against Nebraska, while Notre Dame beat UCLA, 75-61 in South Bend. In this stretch of 24 straight games against high-major opponents to finish the season, IU will play 11 games against Top 25 opposition and 22 against Top 100 teams according to KenPom.com. IU is currently 34th in the latest KenPom rankings and 35th in the NCAA's NET rankings.

GAME INFORMATION
Crossroads Classic
Saturday, Dec. 21 • Noon
Bankers Life Fieldhouse (18,345)
TV: ESPN (Jason Benetti and Jimmy Dykes)
Radio: IU Radio Network  (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith)
Series History: Indiana leads 50-22
Last Meeting: IU 80, ND 77 (ot); 12/16/17 - Indianapolis

THE COACHES
Indiana Coach Archie Miller is in his third season of guiding the Cream and Crimson.  He is 184-95 in eight-plus years as a head coach, which includes six years at the University of Dayton.  His Flyer teams made NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his last four seasons, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2014.  He is 45-32 at IU.  Mike Brey is in his 20th year at Notre Dame and is 425-224.
 
NEWS & NOTES
Freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis has won or shared the Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors 3 times this season. He is averaging a team-best 15.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. He has had 5 double-doubles in 10 games this season after his career-best 25-point, 15-board effort against Nebraska. Among freshmen, he ranks 1st in the nation in free throws made (54),2nd in the nation in field goal percentage (64.4%) rebounds (100) and free throw attempts (76),  3rd in blocked shots (22), and 10th in points scored (166).
 
Sophomore Rob Phinisee, who has missed five games with various ailments, returned to the lineup against UConn and had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Against Nebraska, he had 16 points and 4 assists. Junior Justin Smith had 16 points and 10 boards against Nebraska.  He is averaging 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds and leads the team in steals with 17.Junior Aljami Durham had 14 points and 3 assists against Nebraska. He is averaging 12.8 points and is shooting 50.0% from the field and 41.0% from long distance. Senior Devonte Green is averaging 12.5 points and shooting a team-best 42.5% from long distance.  He scored a career-high 30 points and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists in leading the Hoosiers over Florida State.  Redshirt junior forward Joey Brunk had 9 key second half points to  help IU earn the win in the Jimmy V Classic. He will become the second player in this event to play for more than one team. He came to IU from Butler after last season. Austin Etherington began his career at IU in 2011 and transferred to Butler in 2014.
 
ODDS AND TRENDS
IU leads the nation in free throws made per game at 20.7 and free throws attempted at 29.4 per game.  IU has had 10 players score in each game the last two games.

[mamasa]

Can't find the line or O/U. ESPN gives IU 55.7% chance of winning

[mdn82]

Who is all going tomorrow?


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[IUc2016]

I would like to see Joey Brunk moved to the bench for this game. Mooney will eat him alive as an outside threat. 

But I am sure Archie will keep the same starting lineup unless Green isn't healthy. 

[Alford Bailey]

A little worried about this one simply because its the Crossroads. Get the win here then beat Ark at home(which Im more confident in) and it would be sweet to say we took care of biz in the non con.

[Aaron]

1 hour ago, mdn82 said:

Who is all going tomorrow?


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I''ll be there. I have been to all four of the IU Butler games but this is only my third of five Notre Dame games (missed 2011, 2017 while vacationing).  

[Aaron]

8 minutes ago, Alford Bailey said:

A little worried about this one simply because its the Crossroads. Get the win here then beat Ark at home(which Im more confident in) and it would be sweet to say we took care of biz in the non con.

We've won four out of our last five at Crossroads but all have come right to last seconds. Lucky to be playing ND and not Butler. Butler is probably best team in state while ND is probably the worst of the four teams at the event this year.  

[HoosierAloha]

I would like to see Joey Brunk moved to the bench for this game. Mooney will eat him alive as an outside threat. 
But I am sure Archie will keep the same starting lineup unless Green isn't healthy. 

Mooney is a good player but I think Brunk will be okay against him. Mooney is more of a deep threat or a post threat. I haven’t seen him drive too much. (A part of Ruevers game that scared me in that matchup) Brunk will be our best option against him as I think Jackson-David would get in foul trouble on the block against him.

I truly hope Archie doesn’t dig in on the big lineup. Notre Dame “doesn’t foul” and we won’t get any home court advantage in this one. Our bigs, slashers, and drivers need to go at the rim to finish and not to get fouled.

If we can limit turnovers, score at the rim, and not give up an ungodly amount of open threes I like our chances.


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[IUc2016]

3 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:

Mooney is a good player but I think Brunk will be okay against him. Mooney is more of a deep threat or a post threat. I haven’t seen him drive too much. (A part of Ruevers game that scared me in that matchup) Brunk will be our best option against him as I think Jackson-David would get in foul trouble on the block against him.

I truly hope Archie doesn’t dig in on the big lineup. Notre Dame “doesn’t foul” and we won’t get any home court advantage in this one. Our bigs, slashers, and drivers need to go at the rim to finish and not to get fouled.

If we can limit turnovers, score at the rim, and not give up an ungodly amount of open threes I like our chances.


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I hope you are right. I just have a fear anytime Joey gets caught in a ball screen and has to recover either to the post or to the wing for a pick and pop. 

[Aaron]

Devonte good to go.

As an aside we have trailed in the second half of every Crossroads Classic game we have played in besides inaugural (and by double digits in some of the cases) yet we are 4-3 in these games and everyone of them went to wire.

In other words if we are trailing in second half big does not mean game is over:). 

[mamasa]

7 minutes ago, Aaron said:

Devonte good to go.

As an aside we have trailed in the second half of every Crossroads Classic game we have played in besides inaugural (and by double digits in some of the cases)  yet we are 4-3 in the games and everyone of them went to wire.

In other words if we are trailing in second half big does not mean game is over:). 

Do you know who you're talking to?  With some of our posters, if we're down 0-2, the game is over lol!

[HoosierAloha]

Devonte good to go.
As an aside we have trailed in the second half of every Crossroads Classic game we have played in besides inaugural (and by double digits in some of the cases)  yet we are 4-3 in the games and everyone of them went to wire.
In other words if we are trailing in second half big does not mean game is over:). 

I’d be pretty happy with a comfortable 10-15 point lead through most of the second half...

Brey is a good coach and will have a good game plan. I hope they somehow start fouling tomorrow and we wear them down with physicality and fouls. They have a few shooters that scare me though.


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[Stromboli]

28 minutes ago, mamasa said:

Do you know who you're talking to?  With some of our posters, if we're down 0-2, the game is over lol!

Fire Fred Glass!

[HoosierCoop]

4 hours ago, mdn82 said:

Who is all going tomorrow?


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I'll be there and probably will be half in the bag already.

[mdn82]

I'll be there and probably will be half in the bag already.

Ditto [emoji23][emoji106]


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[Brass Cannon]

I will be at the children’s museum with my daughter. But good vibes will be sent and phones will be checked

[hper50]

I'll be there!

[BottomLine]

7 hours ago, mamasa said:

Can't find the line or O/U. ESPN gives IU 55.7% chance of winning

Vegas line usually comes out 24 hours before tip.

[Brass Cannon]

3 minutes ago, BottomLine said:

Vegas line usually comes out 24 hours before tip.

Isn’t the game at noon tomorrow?

[BottomLine]

4 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

Isn’t the game at noon tomorrow?

Sorry, when you are retired the days get mixed up pretty easily.  Checked the newspaper and THIS IS FRIDAY.  Line should be up by now.