December 20, 200322 yr peegs.com Playing the number one team in the land in front of 40,000 people at the RCA Dome? It might feel like a Final Four atmosphere Saturday (noon tip-off), but it?s only December. Nevertheless, this game carries tons of importance for any IU fan. The Wildcats have beaten the Hoosiers three straight years and eight of the last 10, including a 66-52 meeting two years ago at the Dome. ?This is my last year and I haven?t beaten them once so you know I am coming for them,? said senior A.J. Moye. ?Gerald Fitch is my good friend from back in Georgia and Cliff Hawkins, I have known him since I was 12. ?I have been playing with these guys since I was 10 or 11 so I just want to beat them one time because every time I see them in the summer they rub it in.? Stopping Fitch and Hawkins will be critical for the Hoosiers. Coach Mike Davis calls Hawkins the best defensive point guard in the nation as the senior is averaging almost 3 steals per game with his relentless on the ball pressure. On the interior, junior Chuck Hayes is a rebounding machine. IU has only one player that can match his intensity and aggressiveness and that is Moye. But Moye gives up three inches and 30 pounds to Hayes, so it will be a battle. Moye says he is ready for the challenge that Hayes will present. Recently, this game has been not by what the players did on the court, but by Davis? actions. Two years ago he questioned whether he was the right coach for the Hoosiers and last December he drew two technical fouls in the waning minutes, perhaps costing the Hoosiers a win. This week Davis has chosen not to discuss what has happened, only saying he has not watched the second half of last year?s game. Instead, he is focused on what his team needs to do on Saturday to succeed. ?[We need to]just come out and play with energy and emotion and really concentrate on playing well,? Davis said following Thursday?s practice. ?We can?t get caught up in those three and four minute lulls where we kind of coast sometimes; [we] just have to stay in tune to what?s going on.? Kentucky has climbed to the top spot in the coaches' poll by virtue of clutch victories over UCLA and Michigan State, the latter coming in front of a world-record crowd of 78,129 at Detroit?s Ford Field. They have five athletic players in their starting lineup that will pressure the Hoosiers for forty minutes. ?Defensively, they are probably like Wake Forest,? Davis said. ?They have good guards.? Wake applied full-court pressure several times in their blowout win over IU, something the Hoosiers have taken steps to remedy. Kentucky is better than Wake, but the Hoosiers are a much-improved team from the one that was on display in Winston-Salem. Junior Bracey Wright summed up the annual rivalry game best. ?It?s going to be a fight,? he said. ?I don?t think this is going to be a game where we get hot and start winning by twenty because they are too good of a team for that. ?It?s going to be a fight and it is going to come down to the last couple of minutes and how the team is executing offensively and defensively.? The game can be seen on CBS and heard on the IU radio network. The Hoosiers return to Assembly Hall Tuesday, Dec. 23, to take on Morehead State. this would be a nice gift..... UPSET CITY BABY come on Ewing Jr and Bracey......
December 20, 200322 yr Indiana could definitely pull the upset. Kentucky looked terrible against UCLA.
December 20, 200322 yr Author after our collapse vs #4 Mizzou, this would be awesome it could happen.... just as long as Mike Davis stays on the f***ing court
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