November 20, 2009

Mike Pegram
Peegs.com & Inside Indiana Staff Writer

The Indiana Hoosiers have less than 24 hours to prepare for tonight's Puerto Rico Tip-Off opponent, the Boston University Terriers of the America East Conference. BU is expected by some to win that conference so it should come as no surprise the team gave Kansas State a good battle last night in San Juan, leading must of the first half before eventually succumbing, 80-70.

John Holland was his usual steady self for Boston last night with 20 points. That is right at the 6-foot-5 wing's 20.3 ppg average through the first three games. Last year as a sophomore Holland joined teammate Corey Lowe on the first-team all-conference squad. The 6-foot-3 Lowe is back for his senior season and had five assists but also five turnovers last night against the Wildcats. Lowe uncharacteristically struggled from the field, missing all seven of his field goals and finished with four points, all from the charity stripe. He had been averaging 18.5 ppg coming into this tournament.

The Terriers feature a pretty good Hoosier themselves in 6-foot-2 senior Tyler Morris. The former Indianapolis Lawrence North player is off to a fast start in his final season, second on the squad with a 15.3 ppg average after his game high 21 last night against Kansas State.

This is a fairly small team so it should be a much different type of challenge than Ole Miss presented last night to Indiana. Holland is the second tallest starter at 6-foot-5 as new coach Patrick Chambers has been throwing 6-foot-3 senior Carlos Strong (9.3 ppg) out there with Morris, Lowe, Holland and 6-foot-8 sophomore Jake O'Brien (7.3 ppg). Strong plays big though as evidenced by his team leading 9.3 rebounds per game.

Chambers was hired by Boston University after working the past five years for Jay Wright at Villanova. Boston University has proven to be a good spot to jump start a coaching career as it was the breeding ground for Rick Pitino, Mike Jarvis and current Detroit Pistons head coach John Kuester. But it didn't springboard things for Dennis Wolff, who was fired by the BU administration last March despite a 17-13 overall record and 11-5 performance in the America East. Wolff had coached the Terriers for 15 seasons.

Villanova is known for its dribble drive offense and that is what Chambers is expected to bring to this team. Holland is a tough matchup for any school as he is athletic and can be equally effective inside or out. It has been a struggle thus far for the new coach as Boston U. fell at Iona in its opener, 82-73 and lost at home on Tuesday night to George Washington, 69-59. Surprising to see the Terriers play a game when many teams were already in Puerto Rico preparing for their Thursday first round opponent.

Boston University is experienced but foul trouble and lack of depth caught up with them last night in San Juan against the Wildcats.

"We knew coming in that they didn't have a very deep bench," said KSU guard Jacob Pullen said. "We knew that we had to attack and be aggressive. We wanted to get them in foul trouble. When we did that, it really solidified the game."

Hoosier fans should note that this 6 p.m. ET game is not being shown on television. Peegs.com will be there and will once again open our live chat room to provide in-game updates and allow you fans to discuss the game as it ensues.

Teams here in Puerto Rico have tomorrow off before finishing up the four day event on Sunday. The other losers bracket game will pit a ranked Georgia Tech team against a George Mason team that led #5 Villanova throughout but fell at the end, 69-68. Isaiah Armwood's first career basket, a three pointer with 17 seconds remaining, gave Villanova that final margin.

If Indiana beats Boston University its Sunday game against Georgia Tech or George Mason would tip-off at 12:30 p.m. ET. A loss means an early 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning match-up. The good news is ESPNU will broadcast both of those Sunday loser bracket games.