PORTLAND, Ore. — Indiana already has an NCAA Tournament win under its belt after beating Wyoming on Tuesday, and now they try to keep the momentum going with a first-round game against Saint Mary’s on Thursday night.
Saint Mary’s is 25-7, and ranked No. 18 in the country in the final Associated Press poll. Indiana beat another 25-win team on Tuesday, knocking off Wyoming 66-58 in the First Four.
Here’s how to watch Thursday’s game, with gametimes and TV, lineups, bios and newsy nuggets.
*** UPDATE: Our LIVE BLOG is up and running. Follow the game in real time. CLICK HERE
How to watch Indiana vs. Saint Mary’s
- Quien: Indiana Hoosiers (21-13) vs. Saint Mary’s Gaels (25-7)
- Que: NCAA Tournament first-round game
- Seeds: Indiana is the No. 12 seed in the East Regional; Saint Mary’s is seeded No. 5.
- when: 7:20 p.m. ET, Thursday, March 17
- Where: Cenger Fashion, Portland, Ore. (capacity 19,393)
- TV: TBS
- Stream: fubo.tv CLICK HERE
- Announcers: Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Steve Lappas (color commentary) and Andy Katz (sideline)
- Radio: Indiana Radio Network, Sirius XM 204
- Announcers: Don Fischer, Errek Suhr and Joe Smith
- Latest Line: Indiana opened as a 2.5-point underdog over Saint Mary’s, according to the FanDuel.com website opening line as of Thursday morning. The over/under is 1.5. Here’s the link to the story on the point spread, and each team’s history vs. the number this season. CLICK HERE
- Poll rankings: Saint Mary’s is ranked No. 18 in the final Associated Press poll, and has been ranked for five straight weeks. Indiana is not ranked, but they have received votes through much of the season. The last time Indiana was ranked in the Associated Press poll was Jan. 14, 2019.
- Kenpom.com rankings: Indiana is No. 33 in the Kenpom.com rankings, up 10 spots in the past week. Saint Mary’s is No. 17. Iowa (13), Purdue (14) and Illinois (16) are the only Big Ten. teams ranked higher.
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Indiana-Saint Mary’s history
- Indiana vs. Saint Mary’s series history: Indiana leads 1-0.
- Indiana vs. Saint Mary’s last meeting: Indiana beat Saint Mary’s 79-66 on Dec. 19, 1957 in Bloomington. That Indiana team was coached by Branch McCracken, who won the Hoosiers’ first two national titles (1940, 1953) and Archie Dees was the Hoosiers’ best player. He was in the news last week when Trayce Jackson-Davis passed him on the all-time scoring list.
Indiana-Saint Mary’s most recent games
- Indiana’s last game: Indiana won its first NCAA Tournament game in six years on Tuesday, beating Wyoming 66-58 in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Trayce Jackson-Davis led the way with 29 points and Jordan Geronimo scored 15 off the bench. Here is the link to the game story. CLICK HERE
- Saint Mary’s last game: Saint Mary’s lost to No. 1-ranked Gonzaga in the finals of the West Coast Conference tournament, falling 82-69 on March 8. Gonzaga scored 21 points more than Saint Mary’s has allowed on the season.
Meet the coaches
- Meet Indiana coach Mike Woodson: Mike Woodson is in his first year as a college head coach after four-plus decades as a player and coach in the NBA. Woodson played at Indiana from 1976-80 and left as the school’s No. 2 all-time leading scorer while playing for Bob Knight. Woodson was a head coach in the NBA for nine years, six with the Atlanta Hawks and three with the New York Knicks. Woodson is an Indianapolis native. His college coaching record of him is now 21-13. I have played in two tournaments at Indiana as a player, in 1978 and 1980.
- Meet Saint Mary’s Coach Randy Bennett: Randy Bennett has been the head coach at Saint Mary’s for 21 years, winning 479 games at the school. He has led the Gaels to seven NCAA Tournaments and has had 20 straight winning seasons. His career record for him is 479-199, at a .706 winning percentage. He has won three conference titles and three conference tournament titles and has more wins over Gonzaga in the past 20 years than anyone.
projected starters
- PROJECTED INDIANA STARTERS:
- Trayce Jackson-Davis6-foot-9 junior forward: 18.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.4 blocks
- race thompson6-8 redshirt senior forward: 11.5 points, 7.6 rebounds
- MillerCopp, 6-7 senior forward: 6.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 36.8 3-point%
- Parker Stewart6-5 senior guard: 6.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 39.7 3-point%
- Xavier Johnson6-3 senior guard: 12.3 points, 5.0 assists, 3.8 rebounds
- PROJECTED SAINT MARY’S STARTERS:
- Matthias Tass, 6-foot-10 senior center: 12.6 points, 6.0 rebounds
- Tommy Kushe, 6-2 senior guard: 12.0 points, 3.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds
- Logan Johnson6-2 senior guard: 11.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists
- alex doucas6-7 junior forward: 10.2 points, 3.7 rebounds
- Kyle Bowens6-8 junior forward: 5.9 points, 5.8 rebounds
nuggets to know
- Nuggets to know, Part 1: Saint Mary’s hasn’t played a game in nine days. During that time, Indiana has played four times, winning three games and building a lot of momentum. Let’s see how much the rest vs. rust argument comes into play on Thursday.
- Nuggets to know, Part 2: Don’t sleep on Saint Mary’s just because they’re in a small town in California and play in the West Coast Conference. They are a veteran team that’s been ranked in the top-25 for a month now. Wisconsin played them early this year, and Badgers guard Brad Davison had a lot of great things to say about them in our preview. Here’s the link to Tom Brew’s column with Davison, breaking down the Gaels. CLICK HERE
- Nuggets to know, Part 3: Trayce Jackson Davis had 29 points against Wyoming on Tuesday and is now No. 15 in Indiana’s all-time scoring list. I have passed Randy Wittman in the game. Wittman, a former teammate of Indiana coach Mike Woodson, is on the trip with the team, and he caught some ribbing about Jackson-Davis passing him. Jackson-Davis now has 1,576 points. Next up is For the complete list of 1,000-point scorers, CLICK HERE
- Nuggets to know, Part 4: Indiana is the top-rated defense in the Big Ten according to KenPom (18th, nationally). IU is first in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense (39.1%) and first in conference games only (41.3%). They are second in blocked shots (4.97). In the Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers held Illinois to 35.7% shooting and won its first game in nine tries when it trailed with 5:00 minutes to go (57-54). The Illini did not make a field goal in the final five minutes. Against Michigan, from the 12:52 mark until 1:42 remaining, the Wolverines did not make a field goal. In that time, Indiana went on a 28-6 run.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism