There's no doubting the fact that the Indiana Hoosiers are talented enough to make a huge run throughout the Spring. However, they haven't played well against the best teams on their docket yet this season, and they haven't historically lived up to their lofty expectations. They've got another shot to claim a huge scalp this Saturday against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
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SCHEDULING
Neither one of these teams really have an issue here from a scheduling standpoint. Notre Dame will have five straight days off between games against Loyola-Illinois and the Hoosiers, and a game on Monday against Youngstown State isn't going to be devastating or looked ahead to. Indiana is in a similar spot having a full week between games against McNeese State and the Irish and two days off to get ready for a duel with Kennesaw State on the front end.
This game is going to be played at a neutral site in Indianapolis at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, so there really shouldn't be an edge for either team in terms of natural crowd momentum.
KEY MATCHUP
Troy Williams is an undersized forward at just 6-foot-9, but he has the stats and the style of play of a 7-footer. He can stretch the floor a bit, but more often than not, he's going to be used in the paint with his back to the basket.
Williams is the best rebounder which the Hoosiers have at 6.9 boards per game, and he's also the club's leader in blocked shots and steals.
There aren't many teams in the land who have a bona fide center nowadays, but Notre Dame is one of them. Zach Auguste though, isn't a lumbering big man. He's extremely quick for a man who goes 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, and he's a matchup nightmare here for Williams and the Hoosiers.
Auguste averages 14.4 points and 10.4 boards per game, and it's not like he's just beating up on bad teams. He's clearly improved his rebounding heading into his senior year, and we know that he could end up being an even better scorer. He shot 61.9 percent from the field last year and is only at 53.5 percent thus far in 2015.
We would expect that Auguste is going to dominate this game. Live bettors need to make sure of that, though. It's obvious that if Auguste has his inside game working, Indiana is going to have to give help to Williams in the post, and that's when Demetrius Jackson and Steve Vasturia can really get loose out on the perimeter to make some big shots.
KEY STAT
Indiana shot over 50 percent from the field last year as a team, and it has the best shooting percentage in America this year at 53.9 percent.
However, live bettors need to remember what happened when the Hoosiers took on Duke earlier this season. IU did a nice job in the first 10 minutes of the game or so, leading 21-15 at the under 12:00 timeout. At that point, the Hoosiers were shooting over 70 percent from the floor. Once things started going south though, they went south in a hurry. Duke went from down six to up 14 10 minutes later, and in that stretch, Indiana went terribly cold.
The Notre Dame defense isn't the best, especially when it comes to defending against the perimeter though, so keep this in mind on Saturday afternoon. Yogi Ferrell is one of the many shooters for the Hoosiers who can step back and knock down the three ball. It'll be streaky for sure for live bettors, but if you hit that right streak, you can get some great value on Indiana, especially if it's coming from behind.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The showdown between the Indiana Hoosiers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish will start at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 19, 2015, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN2.
