Oklahoma-Indiana Postgame Notes

March 30, 2002

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Postgame Notes

Oklahoma lost its first ever NCAA Tournament game in Atlanta with the Semifinal loss to Indiana. The Sooners are now 2-1 in Atlanta NCAA Tournament games. They defeated Tennessee-Chattanooga 94-66 and Auburn 107-87 in the Southeast Regional in 1988.
Oklahoma falls to 0-3 against Indiana all-time in NCAA Tournament games. The Sooners lost 63-49 to the Hoosiers in 1983 and 94-87 to the Hoosiers in 1998. Oklahoma's loss to Indiana Saturday snapped the Sooners' 12-game winning streak. Their last loss prior to tonight's game was a 79-72 overtime defeat at Oklahoma State on Feb. 13.
Oklahoma shot .364 percent from the field in tonight's loss to Indiana marking the Sooners' lowest field goal percentage of their five-game NCAA Tournament run.
Oklahoma committed 12 turnovers against Indiana, the highest total for the Sooners in their five NCAA Tournament games.
Oklahoma led Indiana 34-30 at halftime and has led at the break in 15 of the last 17 games this season. Tonight's game was only the second game the Sooners have lost in that span other than a 79-72 overtime loss at Oklahoma State on Feb. 13.
Oklahoma's Aaron McGhee tallied his 29th double-digit scoring game in 36 games this year. He extended his current streak to five games with 14 first-half points and 22 total points before fouling out with 4:41 left in the game.
Oklahoma's Ebi Ere also recorded his 29th double-digit scoring game. He picked up 11 points in the first half and 15 for the game.
Oklahoma's leading scorer for the season, Hollis Price, was 0-for-4 from the field in the first half, 0-2 from three-point range and 1-for-2 from the free throw line for one first-half point. He finished with six points making just 1-of-11 field goal tries, 1-for-7 three-pointers and was 3-of-4 from the free throw line. It marked only the seventh time in 35 games this season in which he failed to score in double figures.

Indiana is only the second No. 5 seed in NCAA Tournament history to advance to the National Finals. Florida in 2000 is the only other No. 5 seed to play for the National title. The Gators lost to top-seeded Michigan State 89-76.
Today's date, March 30, is the exact date in which Indiana has won three of its five National Championships. The Hoosiers defeated Kansas 60-42 for the National title on March 30, 1940, beat North Carolina 63-50 on March 30, 1981 and defeated Syracuse 74-73 on March 30, 1987.
Indiana is making its fifth appearance in the National Championship Game and is 5-0 in such games. The Hoosiers' last trip to the National title game was in 1987 in New Orleans. As a No. 1 seed, Indiana edged No. 2 seed Syracuse 74-73.
Indiana, ranked sixth in NCAA history in all-time NCAA Tournament victories, improves its total to 56 Tournament wins. Kansas is ranked fourth with 65 NCAA Tournament wins. Kentucky is the all-time leader with 89 Tournament victories.
Indiana improves to 2-1 in NCAA Tournament games played in Atlanta. Prior to the Hoosiers' win over Oklahoma tonight, Indiana played two Tournament games in the East Regional in Atlanta in 1984. Indiana defeated North Carolina 72-68 but was eliminated by Virginia 50-48.
Indiana improves its record in Final Four games to 11-2. The Hoosiers' only losses came in the 1973 National Semifinals in St. Louis, a 70-59 loss to eventual National Champion UCLA and in the 1992 National Semifinals in Minneapolis, an 81-78 loss to eventual National Champion Duke. Indiana has never lost a National title game in five opportunities.
Indiana was not ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll entering the 2002 NCAA Tournament. Only four teams who entered the Tournament unranked have gone on to win the National Championship - City College of New York in 1950, California in 1959, Villanova in 1985 and Kansas in 1988.
If Indiana wins the 2002 National Championship Monday, it will become just the fourth time in NCAA history that a school has claimed the National title with double-digit losses.

All-Time National Champions with 10 or more losses
1983North Carolina State26-10
1985Villanova25-10
1988Kansas27-11

Indiana's head coach Mike Davis is the first head coach to take his team to the National Championship Game within his first two years as head coach since Steve Fisher guided Michigan to the NCAA title game in 1989. Fisher and the Wolverines edged Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime to win the National title. It should be noted that Fisher replaced Bill Frieder at the start of the NCAA Tournament. There has been three NCAA Division I head coaches who have won National Championships within their first two years as a Division I head coach - Doggie Julian of Holy Cross in 1947 in his second season, Fred Taylor of Ohio State in 1960 in his second year and Ed Jucker of Cincinnati, who won National Championships in both 1961 and 1962, his first and second years as head coach of the Bearcats. Indiana tied a school NCAA Tournament record with eight blocked shots against Oklahoma. The Hoosiers also blocked eight shots in a 1992 victory over Eastern Illinois.
Indiana won its 25th game of the season to improve its record to 25-11. It marks the first 25-win season since 1993 when the Hoosiers posted a 31-4 record.
Indiana's Jeff Newton, an Atlanta native, scored a career-high 19 points on 7-of-10 field goal shooting and 5-of-8 free throws. His previous career best was 17 points in a win at Michigan on Feb. 17, 2002.
Newton tied four other Hoosier players for blocked shots in an NCAA Tournament game with four against Oklahoma. Alan Henderson also had four rejections in 1992 against UCLA, Dean Garrett recorded four blocks against Richmond in 1988 and Ray Tolbert also had four against Maryland in 1981.
Indiana, which hit its first eight three-point attempts in the Regional Final win over Kent State, did not take its first three-point try until Dane Fife missed a triple at 10:04 of the first half and did not make its first three-pointer until Kyle Hornsby canned one at 7:48 of the first half.
The Hoosiers canned all six of their three-point attempts in the second half and finished the game connecting on 8-of-13 three-point tries. For the Tournament, Indiana has made 37-of-70 triples for .529 percent in the five games.
Indiana trailed Oklahoma 34-30 at halftime and entered the game winning only twice all season when being behind at the intermission. The Hoosiers trailed Duke 42-29 at the break in the Regional Semifinal Game before winning 74-73 and trailed Penn State 30-26 on Jan. 5 before pulling out a 61-54 victory.
Indiana's Jared Odle registered his 15th double-digit scoring game of the season. He had 11 points at halftime and failed to score in the second half to finish with 11.
Indiana's Tom Coverdale, who injured his left ankle in the Regional Final victory over Kent State, made his 31st start of the season Saturday. He was replaced for the first time in the game by A.J. Moye at 13:02 of the first half. He played 15 minutes in the first half and 29 minutes for the game.
Indiana's Jared Jeffries totaled eight points in the semifinal win over Oklahoma and enters Monday National title game with 991 career points. He is nine points shy of becoming the 36th player in Indiana history to score 1,000 career points and just the fifth Hoosier sophomore to do so.
Indiana's Jared Jeffries was held to three points in the first half and finished with eight points for the game. During the five NCAA Tournament games, Jeffries has totaled 22 first-half points but has responded with 54 in the second half.

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