3 Thoughts on Indiana Hoosiers vs. Louisville Cardinals

MVP: Montrezl Harrell looked like an absolute monster out there. No one on the Hoosier roster was in the same ballpark down low as Harrell. He finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but nearly all of those 20 points came on authoritative dunks with no one at the rim to deter him. 2nd place definitely goes to Terry Rozier, who finished with a career-high 26 points and five three-pointers.

Stat of the Night: Quite easily, the rebounding battle was heavily, heavily in favor of Louisville and easily the stat of the night.

1. Louisville is legitimately a top four team in America

The Cardinals moved into the top four after Wisconsin’s loss against Duke. While it may have seemed a move up by default, Louisville proved they are a legitimate top team this year. Aside from Harrell’s domination down low, the backcourt of Rozier and Chris Jones combined for 50 points. If they can continue to get that type of production, they go from a very good team to a great team.

Looking forward, the Cardinals have their eyes focused on the December 27th match-up with the #1 Kentucky Wildcats. Harrell vs. that Kentucky front court will be must watch TV. Anyone who is a fan of defense will love this contest. Few teams will be as battle-tested as the Cardinals will be by tournament time.

2. The Indiana Hoosiers are a NCAA tournament team

The final score line is flattering to Louisville. For the large majority of the night, this was no a 20-point game. Between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, the Hoosiers had a 19-2 run to go from trailing 44-31 to leading 50-46. While it went downhill from that point, it showed the Hoosiers could hang with the big boys.

Credit to Hanner Mosquera-Perea, who shot out of the gate with 8 of IU’s first 13 points, quickly surpassing his season average of just over 7 points a game. Freshman James Blackmon Jr. certainly didn’t look afraid of the big stage, providing the highlight of the night.

Aside from the dunk, the freshman clearly wasn’t afraid of the big stage, leading the Hoosiers with 18 points on the night. Yogi Ferrell was second with 13 points with 7 rebounds and 5 assists and was clearly the Hoosiers’ leader. Without him, IU looked lost.

This is a much-improved Hoosier squad from last year. They have match-ups with Butler and Georgetown remaining before Big Ten conference season, giving them four games against ranked opponents in non-conference play. While this team lacks a consistent inside presence, they make up for it with their three-point shooting and excellent spacing in the offense. They’ll be playing games in March.

3. IU-Louisville need to play annually

Right now, to the best of my knowledge (and Google searching abilities), this was a one-time thing between Tom Crean and Rick Pitino. However, this was a fun, intense contest and the two sides need to make this an annual match-up.

Maybe it was the mystique of Madison Square Garden, but tonight’s contest felt like a tournament game for most of the night. There was a high intensity between both sides and big runs from both sides. The big threes from Indiana were matched by bigger dunks from Harrell.

Interestingly, it sounded like Pitino is open to the idea as well.

That sounds like a great idea to me, Rick. Let’s make it happen, since Kentucky and Indiana won’t work things out.