NCCU at No. 23/24 Indiana Game Notes (PDF)
THE GAME
North Carolina Central University is in the midst of a season-ending five-game road swing as the maroon and gray take its first ranked opponent of the season in the No. 23/23 Hoosiers of Indiana University. This is the final non-conference game of the season before the Eagles end the 2011-12 campaign with three straight league affairs. NCCU has won five out of its last six contests to creep into the MEAC’s top five at 8-5.
THE SERIES
NCCU and Indiana have met the last two seasons with the Hoosiers take both meetings, the first took place on Dec. 19, 2009 where the crimson and cream won 81-58, and last season on Nov. 23, 2010, IU outlasted the maroon and gray 72-56. NCCU is currently 0-2 against the Hoosiers, and 0-6 against the Big Ten Conference all-time since making the move to the NCAA’s Division I level.
NCCU SPORTS NETWORK
Eagle Gameday built by Dayeco Construction Co. begins at 6:45 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, Feb. 22nd and can be heard only online at www.NCCUEaglePride.com. Fans can also follow the action from Assembly Hall via Twitter by following @NCCUAthletics and @NCCUradio and by using the hashtag #NCCUIU
NO. 23/24 INDIANA UNIVERSITY "HOOSIERS"
The Hoosiers of Indiana University enter the week with a 20-7 overall record and sit in fifth place in the Big Ten Conference at 8-7 in league action two games behind fourth place Wisconsin. The Hoosiers are the first ranked opponent NCCU has faced this season as IU is No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25, No. 24 in the ESPN\USA Today Top 25. The Hoosiers are led by fourth year head coach Tom Crean who is 48-73 during his tenure in Bloomington, 238-169 in 13 years as a collegiate head coach. Crean has the Hoosier program headed in the right direction grabbing the national spotlight this season with four wins against teams that are currently ranked (No. 1/1 Kentucky, No. 8/9 Ohio State, No. 11/13 Michigan, and No. 20/18 Notre Dame). The Hoosiers beat No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 Ohio State in December to become the first team in the Big Ten Conference to beat the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked team in a season since 1952-53. In its 112th season of college basketball, the Hoosiers are coming off a 78-66 loss at Iowa on Sunday, Feb. 19, where IU was held to 37.7 percent shooting going 20-of-53 from the field that included a 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) effort from behind-the-arc. Indiana enters the week as the top scoring team in the Big Ten at 78.0 points per contest. The Hoosiers are also No. 1 in the league in free-throw percentage at 75.2 percent, tops in field goal percentage shooting at a stellar 49.1 percent. Crean’s squad is ranked No. 4 in the nation in three-point percentage at 42.5 percent. The team’s leading scorer is ranked no. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage as Cody Zeller is shooting 64.4 percent from the field. He also sits sixth in the Big Ten in scoring 15.6 points per game. At 19th (Christian Watford-11.9 points per game), at 20th (Jordan Hulls-11.4 pts per game), and at 22nd (Victor Oladipo- 11.0 points per game). Zeller is currently sixth averaging 6.6 rebounds per game. Watford is 12th in the league at 5.4 boards a game while his teammate Oladipo is 14th at 5.3 rebounds as well.
UP NEXT
The Eagles continue their season-ending road swing as the maroon and gray get back into conference action with a rematch with the league’s top team, Savannah State on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 4:00 p.m. from Tiger Arena in Savannah, Ga. After that contest the Eagles will head back into the Palmetto State to look for the season sweep over the Bulldogs of South Carolina State University at 7:00 p.m. from the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center in Orangeburg, S.C. on Monday, Feb. 27. NCCU beat SC State 71-56 on Monday Feb. 13 in Durham, N.C.
GO FOR THE SWEEP
With the NCCU’s 71-66 victory over NC A&T on Feb. 18, 2012, the Eagles earned their first series sweep over the Aggies since the 1988-89 season when the maroon and gray beat A&T 66-54 on Nov. 30, 1988 and 75-40 on Jan. 18, 1989. During that season, NCCU went 28-4 and won the NCAA Division II National Championship under the tutelage of head coach Michael Bernard. In the Dec. 3 meeting that the Eagles won 65-46, the 19-point win for NCCU was the largest margin of victory in the series since a 76-57 Aggie win over the Eagles on Dec. 15, 1984.
