Taking sides

On Saturday afternoon, the Hoosiers will face the Kentucky Wildcats for the 50th time in the history of the border states' rivalry. That's 50 games pitting two of college basketball's most storied programs against one another. In the balance of the previous 49 games, the two teams have traveled to neutral sites, competed for heart-wrenching finishes and suffered heart-breaking blowouts.\nGame No. 50 against Kentucky carries a special meaning for the IU players, though. Senior guard Rod Wilmont says it's a pride issue.\n"It's a rivalry game, and as soon as I got here to IU, all the IU fans talked about was Purdue and Kentucky," he said. "So I know what this game means, and we just have to tell the other guys that haven't been here that we need to go out and fight."\nThe Hoosiers (5-2) will take on the Wildcats (5-3) at noon Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Due to a scheduling conflict at Louisville's Freedom Hall, Saturday's game will mark the first time in 16 years that the two teams will meet at a non-neutral site.\nHoosier coaches have historically struggled in the rivalry's history, posting a 22-27 all-time record against the winningest program in college-basketball history. But IU guard Errek Suhr said the Hoosiers' recent 92-40 blowout victory against Western Illinois University will help the team heading into the border battle against the Wildcats.\n"We played well (Wednesday night), but we want to be at our best going into a game like the Kentucky game," he said. "It's a big rivalry game, and we're trying to go into Kentucky to win the game. We're going there to compete to win, and it's good to be playing at our best. We are going to go play as a team. We're pretty excited about it."\nWilmont and Suhr are two of a select few Hoosiers who have experienced the IU-Kentucky rivalry. First-year IU coach Kelvin Sampson has never faced the Wildcats during his career, despite being close friends with Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith. \nSampson inherits a rivalry that has been rather lopsided in recent years -- the Hoosiers lost five straight matches from 1994 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. The last three games between the two squads were decided by an average of 27 points. Last season, the Hoosiers returned to success, defeating the Wildcats 79-53 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Junior guard A.J. Ratliff notched 21 points while then-senior Marco Killingsworth added 23 points and 11 rebounds in the contest.\nThough Sampson hasn't been a part of the rivalry, he recognizes the significance of Saturday's game. In the grand scheme of things, though, it's still just one game in a long season, he said.\n"You like coaching those games, you like playing in those games -- that's what makes this profession so unique," Sampson said. "But when the game's over you look up and you've got 20 games to play ... so you learn to keep it in perspective.\nStill, Sampson said he recognized the games significance for others. \n"But watching from afar -- the Duke-North Carolina rivalry, Purdue-IU, USC-UCLA, Kentucky-IU -- it's up there with all those traditional rivalries," he said. "And if you're a fan of college basketball you pay attention to all of those things"