Dec. 30, 2012

No. 5/5 Indiana (12-1) at Iowa (11-2)
Date	Monday, Dec. 31, 2012
Time	4 p.m. ET
Location	Iowa City, Iowa - Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,400)
Television	ESPN2 (Jim Barbar and Dan Dakich)
Radio	IU Radio Network (Affiliates); Sirius 123/XM 190
Game Notes	Indiana | Iowa
Statistics	Indiana | Iowa
Social Media	@IndianaMBB | @IUShanaDan for in-game updates

THE OPENING TIP
Indiana is in its 113th season of college basketball and will visit Iowa for its Big Ten opener for the third time in six years (2008, 2009). The Hoosiers are currently ranked No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and by the Associated Press, the 22nd straight week they have been nationally ranked, the longest since they were ranked for 71 straight weeks from 1989-94. This was the first time since the 1979-80 preseason and the third time in school history (1975-76), that IU started the season as the top ranked team in the country. Indiana was also picked by the Big Ten media to win the conference championship.

The Hoosiers, who have won 20 Big Ten titles, including 11 outright, have the best winning percentage in league game history winning 59.5 percent of its conference tilts (819-558). The Hoosiers will return to action on Jan. 7 when they visit Penn State.

THE COACHES
Indiana named Tom Crean as its 28th men's basketball coach on April 2, 2008, and he is in his fifth year with the Hoosiers. In just five years, he has taken over a program that returned 36 career points among two walk-ons and built a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country this preseason. He is 257-172 all-time as a head coach and has seven wins over nationally ranked foes in the last two-plus seasons. Crean was named National Coach of the Year by ESPN's Jason King, and Big Ten Coach of the Year by the Sporting News last season.

Fran McCaffery is in his third year at Iowa and has a 40-39 record with the Hawkeyes. Overall, it is his 17th season as a head coach and his overall record is 291-216 with stops at Lehigh, Siena and UNC Greensboro.

THE STARTING FIVE
The Hoosiers have the top offense in the country and the 10th-best defense in the nation according to kenpom.com.

The Hoosiers are 11-9 away from Assembly Hall since the start of the 2011-12 season with four of the team's five true road wins coming by 10 points or more (Evansville, NC State, Purdue, Minnesota).

Indiana leads the nation in scoring (89.4), scoring differential (30.2), free throws made per game (20.9) and free throws attempted per game (27.6).

The Hoosiers are the only team in the country with five players averaging 11 points or better per game (Zeller, 16.4; Oladipo, 13.5; Watford, 12.6; Sheehey, 12.4; Hulls, 11.8).

The biggest statistical improvement for the Hoosiers has been their rebounding. Last year at this time, they were outrebounding their opponents 36.7 to 32.2, while this year they lead the Big Ten in rebounding margin with 42.1 boards to 29.1 (+13.2, 4th in the country).

ZELLER'S IMPACT
It's doubtful that you could find a player who has had more of an impact on a college basketball program over the last two seasons than sophomore Preseason National Player of the Year Cody Zeller of Indiana. Since he put on the Cream and Crimson, Indiana is 39-10 for a 79.2 winning percentage and the Hoosiers lead all Big Six Conference school's in field goal percentage (50.0 percent), 3-point field goal percentage (42.8 percent) and free throw percentage (76.2 percent).

Five times this season he has not played in the final six minutes of a game, including the final 6:20 against North Carolina. Individually, he has scored 40 points in his last 41 minutes of action and leads the conference in rebounds (7.9), free throws made per game (5.3) and attempted (7.5). The Hoosiers 39 Division I wins is second most in the Big Ten since last year behind Ohio State (40-10).