An old rivalry will be renewed when Louisville makes its return to MSG for the Jimmy V Classic. The Cards and Hoosiers will do battle for the first time since playing a game on February 1st 2003. It was the Cards that came out victorious in that game 95-76. This game will mark the 17th meeting between the two schools in history with IU holding a 10-6 advantage. The teams have met three times since 1990 with IU holding a 3-1 edge in those games. The game is not part of an ongoing series but is instead a one-game contract between the two schools. Coach Pitino has been working hard to get a home and home series with the Hoosiers but that hasn’t came about yet. Let’s all hope that the game on Tuesday night will spark up the old feud enough to make this a annual meeting. This will be assistant coach Kenny Johnson’s first time meeting his former team since leaving the Hoosiers for the Cardinals.

This will be the 19th meeting against Louisville for head coach Tom Crean, who has eight wins against the Cardinals. The Hoosiers will bring one of the nations best offensive teams to the floor on Tuesday night. They are averaging 88.4 points on 52.4 percent shooting from the field, shooting 74.7 percent from the line and 43.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Hoosiers have won three straight and looking for their second win over a ranked team. They beat then ranked #22 SMU back on November 20th. They have also beaten fellow ACC member Pittsburgh on December 2nd 81-69.

Leading the way for the Hoosiers is a very talented group of players. James Blackmon Jr. leads Indiana with 19.5 points and 5.1 rebounds while Yogi Ferrell is averaging 17.3 points and 5.8 rebounds. Troy Williams is averaging 12.2 points while shooting 61.2 percent from the field and 5.3 rebounds. Robert Johnson is averaging 11.1 points, 3.9 assists per game, and 4.5 rebounds a game. Their bench is averaging 29.9 points a game.

Since 2011-12, Indiana leads all major conference teams in field goal percentage (47.9), three-point field goal percentage (39.8) and free throw percentage (74.6). IU also is fourth nationally in scoring (77.1), and second in free throws made (2,051). The Hoosiers 38.6% 3-point field goal percentage since the start of the 2010-11 season is the highest among major college conference schools in that time frame. They leads the Big Ten in scoring, field goal percentage and three-pointers made per game (9.7). IU is second in the league in three point field goal percentage and fourth in free throw percentage.

For all of the good things they do on the offensive end of the floor Indiana’s defense could use some work. They are forcing just 13.5 turnovers per contest and have allowed 70-plus points in three of their last five games. They are allowing 69.2 points on 43.7 percent shooting from the field, and 32.7% from the 3-pt line wile giving up 6.5 makes from there a game.

2014-15 OVERALL RANKINGS
Offense
-POINTS PER GAME
88.4
4th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
37.4
98th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
16.5
27th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.524
9th
OVERALL

2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #50
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-99.1 ranks 156th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-110.9 ranks 12th
-Per Kenpom game prediction he has the Cardinals winning the game 78-68 based on his indexes.

Our Cardinals will look to remain undefeated on Tuesday night and will have to rely heavily on a defense that is forcing 19 turnovers per game and holding teams to 22.8 percent shooting from deep. Louisville is also the second-best rebounding team in the country with 46.3 boards per game. They must win the battle of the boards against the Hoosiers and not allow their great offensive guys to get second or third opportunities. They will also need to speed the Hoosiers up and make them take quick shots with a hand in their face.

Montrezl Harrell leads the Cardinals with 16.1 points and 9.4 rebounds while Terry Rozier is averaging 13 points and 5.7 rebounds. Chris Jones is averaging 3.3 assists and Wayne Blackshear is shooting 39.4 percent from the field. These guys have been leading the way all season and will have to step up big again on Tuesday night. Montrezl and Wayne are the only guys on the current roster that have ever played at the Garden, so nerves could play a roll early on for Terry and Chris. We will need Nanu to have a big game and hopefully Anton Gill’s hot shooting streak from last Friday night will carry over in this game. Coach Pitino was very concerned about his teams ability to find the open man and the passing game. He said that was something they were going to work on in preparation for this one.

This will be another great chance at another quality non-conference win on a neutral court, and will take the best defensive and offensive effort of the season to get it. This should be a great game in a great venue and it is a very special event. This one makes me nervous and it is going to be gut check time. Cards will squeak out a close one.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 80 Indiana 77