UK plays some good D, Stemler launches a tough three. It's nowhere near on target. UK ball and probably the game.
IU fouls. UK hits both free throws.
Another heartbreaker of a loss on the road for IU.
59-54 UK is your final.
We'll have complete coverage of today's game in Monday's IDS.
Thanks for stopping by.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UK misses a three. IU ball.
This is THE possession for IU.
IU calls a timeout. It's the Hoosiers last of the game.
28.7 to play. 57-54 UK.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure who is bleeding from up here, but there's a ton of blood on the floor. I'm sure CBS has altered those at home to that.
Rod misses a three with the shot clock winding down. UK gets the board.
45.3 seconds left. UK timeout.
This is what they call 'intense.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------
55-50 UK. D.J. on the line for two shots.
Makes the first. 55-51 UK.
Makes the second. 55-52 UK.
IU plays great perimeter defense on UK. Perry has to take a long two with the shot clock winding down. He hits nothing but the bottom of the net.
IU's played great D all game, but UK has willed a few shots into the bucket.
Shaw gets a steal on an inbounds and hits a layup for IU. 57-54 UK.
Then Calloway gets a steal. Drives down and gets blocked. Still IU's ball. Full time out by IU.
57-54 UK. 1:37 to go.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calloway penetrates and gets fouled going up. He hits one of two free throws. He misses the second one, but D.J. White tips it in for two.
With IU missing a lot of its outside shots tonight, it would probably behoove the Hoosiers in the final four minutes to penetrate and try and get some fouls called against UK. D.J. can be there to clean up on the boards.
52-50 UK. 3:50 to go.
Morris will shoot two free throws after the timeout.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Randolph Morris is double-teamed by D.J. and Stemler. Hits a 15-footer and is fouled. He makes the free-throw attempt. It's only D.J.'s second foul.
D.J. is logging some serious minutes this game. Without Ben Allen, who is presumably still nursing a fever, IU is thin on the front line.
IU continues to out-rebound UK.
50-47 Kentucky.
------------------------------------------------------------------- IU finally drains a three courtesy of Rod Wilmont.
47-44 UK.
Rod is at it again. He hits another trifecta.
47-47. 6:12 to go.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D.J. hits a jumper on a nice penetration feed from Calloway.
D.J. has a nice block on Perry, but it's all for naught as UK gets the loose ball and scores.
IU continues to miss threes. Its percentage is probably just as bad as a Rex Grossman QB rating.
47-41 UK.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm sure you just saw that fast-break dunk for UK. This place is on fire. IU misses ANOTHER three. Then ANOTHER. Both by Stemler.
42-39 UK. Make that 44-39 UK. Crawford just hit a layup and was fouled.
Timeout on the floor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calloway slashes in for a bucket. Then on the inbounds he gets a steal. Lines up for a three and misses. Ratliff has his back, though. He tips it in for two.
39-36 IU with 12:38 to go.
D.J. hasn't gotten a touch in a few minutes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UFC star Rich Franklin is introduced to the crowd on the TV screens. I've never seen a guy not want to be recognized more than this dude. He gives a quick wave to the camera in disgust.
Oh hey, this is an excellent basketball game we have on our hands here.
IU continues to miss from behind the arc. Suhr just missed one.
36-35 UK with 14:19 to go.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This game is starting to get pretty physical. There was some unnecessary contact on a tie-up down on the UK end and it appeared as if Suhr got in a bit of a scuffle down on the IU end.
Earlier in the game, the refs appeared to warn the IU bench not to run way out onto the court at timeouts.
Adam Ahlfeld seems to be defying their rule. Brave little fellow.
34-30 UK. 15:56 to go.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tubby Smith must have stressed the containment of D.J. White at half, because he is getting double-teamed and triple-teamed here early on.
Even still, he hits a jumper over two UK defenders.
34-28 Kentucky.
------------------------------------------------------------
Kentucky comes out firing in the second half.
32-26 UK. Timeout IU.
18:59 to go.
HALFTIME PART DEUX:
One more stat to throw at you. IU is 1-of-10 on its 3-point attempts this afternoon. If D.J. hadn't had the stellar half he did, IU could be down huge right now.
The Hoosiers also only shot 32.4 percent from the floor in the first half. Kentucky on the other hand is shooting 45.8 percent.
HALFTIME:
Nice feed from D.J. to Wilmont for a layup. Down on the defensive end, Suhr plays some great D with D.J. and they get a steal.
For as impressive as Stemler's been on the boards and on defense, he's struggled where he's been so good this year - scoring. He didn't hit a shot this half.
After a three, UK gets another bucket. This place is LOUD. Off a Rod Wilmont missed three, Suhr finds D.J. White for a dunk right before the half is over.
Great feed from Suhr. He has played well so far this afternoon.
At halftime we have Kentucky with a 28-26 lead. Real good half of basketball.
D.J. White is 7-of-11 with 15 points and five boards. IU has seven offensive rebounds and 20 for the game.
The UK football team is out on the floor for some halftime Music City Bowl fun. Man, how exciting. The Music City Bowl!!!!!
Big Blue Nation seems excited for it, nonetheless.
And for some nostalgia, here's a Patrick Ewing Jr. dunk from Hoosier Hysteria a few years back.
See you in the second half.
------------------------------------------------------------------
D.J. White is playing like the D.J. we all remember from his freshman season. He just hit his trademark baby jumper. On the next possession, he went into two Kentucky defenders for a layup.
Good thing for IU. Because unlike its last couple games, they haven't been hitting the outside shots this game.
We got the Kentucky men's golf team out on the court here during a timeout. They look like nice young fellows.
23-22 Kentucky. 2:20 to go in the half.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D.J. gets a nice tip-in dunk off a Calloway miss with the shot clock winding down.
Ratliff shoots an air ball but IU tracks down the board. Ratliff misses a jumper.
Calloway passes it to Ratliff who had his foot on the out-of-bounds line. Kentucky ball.
18-17 IU 5:30 to go.
Stevenson gets a monster dunk for Kentucky. And the Wildcats have the lead for the first time in awhile.
Suhr gets back in the game for Calloway.
19-18 Kentucky.
---------------------------------------------------------
IU just threw the ball away. Kentucky is putting on a bit of a run here.
16-15 IU with 7:54 to go.
My fellow IDSers sitting next to me are telling me D.J. White is showing some real emotion this game. Getting into some IU players grills and being real vocal.
Maybe he's finally 'busted open them bar doors.'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, I'm pretty damn near convinced we're at an NBA game. As if the introductions weren't enough, if the Wildcats score over 90 points, fans gets hooked up with some free chips and salsa courtesy of Qdoba.
And if they score over 100? A free taco from Qdoba.
Mike White is at the line. He misses the first one. D'oh. He's had a rough time at the line this year. Makes the second.
11-7 IU.
This game is horrendously low scoring. It's 14-9 (after a great D.J. White 3-point play) with 10 minutes to go in the half.
The PA announcer here is struuugling. He's messed up a few times. If anyone cares.
D.J. continues to play well. He hits another jumper. Morris slams home a dunk and this crowd is back in it. It appears to have rattled Stemler a bit, as he travels on an up-and-down.
Jasper gets a dunk for Kentucky on a fast break. Timeout IU.
16-13 Hoosiers. 8:33 to play.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stemler is doing an excellent job of doubling-down on Kentucky big man Randolph Morris. He's stripped the ball from him twice.
Joey Shaw and A.J. Ratliff just checked in. Rod Wilmont and Armon Bassett head to the bench.
It's 8-6 IU.
Randolph Morris just had a huge block on Suhr. According to some commenters, there hasn't been an Ashley Judd sighting yet on TV.
Blame CBS for that, everybody. Can't say I've seen her here in the stadium yet either. If she's not here, I won't consider this trip a success.
Stemler continues to play some great D and is grabbing rebounds left and right.
10-6 IU.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IU is getting the ball into D.J. a lot early on here. This isn't something the Hoosiers have done with much success so far this season. They've had a hard time working it into him most games.
Suhr hits a three. Wilmont hits a two. It's 7-6 IU. Rod get steal and gets fouled on a runaway layup. He'll shoot two after the timeout.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introductions just started. It's amazing how much Kentucky treats its basketball program like a professional squad. After some quick IU introductions, the lights dimmed and we were treated to some a nice video montage. The spotlights were going all over the place and there were even some fireworks.
Mr. Errek Suhr is starting tonight in favor of Earl Calloway. We'll see how that one works out very soon.
Kentucky wins the tip. Inside to Randolph Morris and he misses the layup. Suhr went right into D.J. with a pass and he missed an inside bucket. UK hits an open shot. Then a layup. It's 4-0 Kentucky.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello again, everyone. According to the front page of yesterday's IDS, I'm supposed to be doing another one of these live blogs.
We really had no idea if Rupp had wireless internet out in the stadium or not. The IDS could have lied to you. But here I am, coming to you live and direct from my courtside seats. And by courtside seats, I mean the first row of the upper level.
From the outside, Rupp Arena looks like some sort of warehouse/factory hybrid. Nothing too exciting.
But inside is a whole other story. For a college basketball stadium, this place is rather large. It seats 23,000. Rupp doesn't have a scoreboard hanging down in the middle of the court. Apparently, that is to preserve an old-school vibe in here.
The fans in the lower level have been treated to some free t-shirts. Half the lower level got blue shirts that say 'BLUE' with today's date and 'Indiana vs. Kentucky' on the front. The other half got ones that said 'WHITE' with today's date and 'Indiana vs. Kentucky' on the front.
They are currently chanting 'Blue' and 'White' at each other. Man, that was intense.
OK, that's enough pre-gammage for me. I'll be back at tip-off.
I have no clue if anyone will actually be reading this because it wasn't quite hyped as much as the Duke game live blog. So if you're out there leave me some comments and let's get some discussion going. If it's anything like the Duke game, we should have a good time.
See you soon.
(As I was about to hit publish on this post, some guy behind me just yelled 'Let's whoop them candy-stripers!' Ha. The crowd should be interesting this afternoon.)
