Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Indiana
Kentucky and Indiana renew their rivalry on Saturday night as the Hoosiers visit Rupp Arena for a border showdown (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The battle between the teams used to be an annual occurrence. However, the Cats and the Hoosiers have not met in nine years, and that game happened in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The last time Indiana played in Rupp Arena was 2011.
UK head coach Mark Pope remembers playing against Indiana (his UK teams beat Indiana twice). He likes that the rivalry is being renewed.
“I love this game. I love all these games,” Pope said. “What they’re doing over there right now is actually awesome because when you guys watch them play, you’re going to feel very much like Bob Knight Indiana, in the sense of they’re playing with unbelievable movement and motion and with high IQ. It just harkens back to a great tenure in Indiana basketball.”
The Hoosiers, under first-year head coach Darian DeVries, won their first seven games of this season before dropping back-to-back games to Minnesota and Louisville. Indiana did bounce back on Tuesday with a 113-72 win over Penn State.
Kentucky is 6-4 this season after beating North Carolina Central on Tuesday. Pope knows that the Cats are not where they want to be, but he likes this team’s chances to get there.
“Last year, we won more games against top 15 ranked opponents than anybody has in the history of college basketball,” Pope said. “And this year, we’re 0-4 against top 15 teams. And we haven’t started out the way we wanted to but I’m telling you guys, we’ve got a lot in the hopper. We just have to figure out how to get it out on the playing court.”
Kentucky and Indiana square off for the first time in nine years on Saturday in the first game in a four-year span. It will be the 58th meeting between the teams, with UK holding a 32-25 edge all time, including a 10-3 advantage in games played in Lexington.
A Rivalry Renewed
Kentucky and Indiana renew their historic rivalry as two of the proudest traditions in college basketball square off inside Rupp Arena on Saturday.
• This marks the first meeting between UK and IU since the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and the first regular-season matchup since 2012
• The two schools played every season from 1970-2012
• UK leads the all time series, 32-25, including 10-3 in Lexington
• The first ever meeting between the teams came in 1925
• Dan Issel has the most points by a Kentucky player in the rivalry with his 32 points in 1969
Last Time Out
Kentucky took down NC Central, 103-67, on Tuesday
• The Wildcats shot 60.9 percent from the field, matching their season-best mark vs. Eastern Illinois
• Kentucky made 12 3-pointers in the game. UK is 20-4 under Coach Pope and 4-1 this season when making at least 10 long balls
• UK tied its season high for assists, registering 27 for the third time this season
• Jasper Johnson scored a career-best 22 points, becoming the eighth different player to lead or co-lead the Cats in scoring in a game this season
• Otega Oweh had a season-high 21 points. He is averaging 17.25 points per game over his last four outings. He also claimed a season-high seven rebounds and had a season-best four steals, his fifth consecutive game with multiple thefts
• Collin Chandler finished with eight assists, the most by a Wildcat this season
• Zach Tow made his first field goal as a Wildcat, sinking a 3-pointer
Happy to Assist
True to the team’s “Make Plays for Teammates” motto, Kentucky has done a nice job sharing the basketball this season.
• The Wildcats are averaging 19.1 assists per game, ranking 19th in the country
• In wins, UK is posting 24.0 assists per game, the most among power conference schools and tied for the eighth most in Division I.
• Just two teams in college basketball have had 27 or more assists in three different games this season: Kentucky and Indiana
• Ten different players are averaging at least 1.0 assist per game
• All 11 scholarship players who have seen action this season have at least one game with three or more assists
