On Monday at 5:30 ET, the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers (3-0) will take on the Georgia Bulldogs (1-2) at the Barclays Center in the Semifinals of the Progressive Legends Classic.

As always, Jerod, Ryan, Zach, and Andy will be here with another episode of The Assembly Call after the game.

IU-Georgia Gameday Info

Date: Monday, November 19th

Time: 5:30 ET, 4:30 CT

TV: ESPNU

Announcers: Dan Shulman and Bob Knight

Point Spread: IU by 20.5

Over-Under: 134.5

KenPom Prediction: Indiana 75-58 with a 93% chance of winning

Peegs: IU Gameday

Inside the Hall

IU-Georgia live tweet coverage: @AssemblyCall

Assembly Call IU Postgame Show: https://assemblycall.com/live

IU-Georgia Preview

Georgia: Three Things to Watch

1. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Georgia’s prolific sophomore guard comes into the game averaging 20.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 steals, and 2.3 assists. In fact, he’s the only Bulldog scoring in double figures and is one of just two players scoring over 5.7 points per game.

Despite those gaudy point totals, Caldwell-Pope is shooting just 35.3 percent from the field, with 30 of his 51 field goal attempts coming from long range. His 42.2 shot percentage is among the highest in the nation, which speaks to the lack of other offensive weapons on the Georgia roster.

Caldwell-Pope has also done a nice job getting to the stripe with 20 free throw attempts so far this season. Look for IU’s defense to focus on limiting his shots with defensive stopper Victor Oladipo likely to get the first crack at Caldwell-Pope.

2. Defending Cody Zeller

Unlike IU’s first three opponents, the Bulldogs do have a number of big guys to throw at Cody Zeller. Of the nine players logging at least 13 minutes per game, five of them stand 6-8 or taller. Even with that size though, Georgia still ranks 210th in two-point defense and 195th in defensive rebounding percentage.

Meanwhile, Zeller is shooting nearly 78 percent inside the arc, posting strong rebounding percentages on both ends of the floor, and drawing 7.1 fouls per 40 minutes, which he has parlayed into a staggering 71.4 free throw rate. There’s no reason to believe Zeller won’t have another strong performance based on what Georgia has shown defensively so far.

3. Turnovers

The good news for Georgia is that they force turnovers at a high rate. The bad news is that they also commit them at a high rate.

Defensively, UGA’s 28.1 turnover percentage ranks in the Top 25 nationally, so it will be imperative for freshman point guard Yogi Ferrell and the rest of the Hoosiers to take care of the basketball. Forcing turnovers and creating easy baskets would go a long way towards helping the Bulldogs hang around in this one.

On the other end of the floor, Georgia has turned the ball over on nearly one out of every four possessions, a mark that is magnified by their shooting struggles both inside and outside the arc.

Caldwell-Pope has an incredibly low turnover rate for someone who plays such a large role offensively, but nearly all of Georgia’s big men have had issues with turnovers, as has point guard Vincent Williams.

Defensively, the Hoosiers have posted a 25.0 turnover rate albeit against lesser competition, but IU’s focus on deflections could pay dividends in this matchup.

Indiana: Three Things to Watch

1. The Starting Lineup

Tom Crean shook things up against Sam Houston State, benching senior forward Christian Watford in favor of Will Sheehey. Both players responded extremely well with Watford tallying 23 points and six rebounds off the bench and Sheehey scoring a season-high 18 points as a starter.

It remains to be seen whether it was a one-game message Crean was trying to send, but as I mentioned on Friday night’s show, I am interested to see if Crean experiments with both players in these roles over the next few games. Either way, the Hoosiers will have plenty of firepower off the bench, and more than anything I want to see how Watford responds to whatever his role will be.

2. Jordan Hulls

On Friday, Hulls became the 44th player in IU history to score 1,000 points in his career, and he did it on a picture perfect three-pointer, which is fitting for the senior sharpshooter. It was one of three made triples for Hulls in the game, and he also chipped in five rebounds and five assists.

Not surprisingly, Hulls has been the picture of consistency over the first three games, scoring between nine and 11 points in all three victories, canning a trio of three-pointers in each contest, and dishing out four or five assists per game.

Much was made of how Hulls could co-exist with Yogi Ferrell in the backcourt, and so far everything has gone as planned. Hulls is actually averaging more assists than he did a season ago, and he’s found himself with more open looks while playing off the ball, thanks in part of Ferrell’s ability to penetrate and draw defenders.

Georgia’s three-point defense has been decent so far this season, but they’ve yet to face a team with a shooter like Hulls.

3. Defense

It’s no secret that the Hoosiers struggled defensively last season, and one of the things fans were most interested in seeing over the season’s first few games was whether they have improved in that regard.

The numbers would certainly suggest that is the case, as IU currently ranks fourth in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Hoosiers rank 36th or better in effective field goal percentage defense, defensive rebounding percentage, and defensive free throw rate, while also posting an impressive steal percentage.

That said, given the level of competition, I don’t think anyone is willing to give the IU defense a clean bill of health. Based on Georgia’s numbers, another strong defensive performance in this game wouldn’t turn any heads either, but at a minimum the Hoosiers will face a prolific scorer in Caldwell-Pope, who will present a unique challenge.

Even so, the Hoosiers need to come out with a high level of defensive intensity from the opening tip. They did just that against Sam Houston State and jumped out to a big lead. Against a Georgia team coming off of losses to Youngstown State and Southern Mississippi, building a lead early would be huge from a mental perspective.

Final Thought

IU will be facing its first major conference foe of the season in this game, but very little suggests this game will be close.

The Hoosiers boast the nation’s most efficient offense, and if they can protect the ball against a Georgia defense that has been adept at forcing turnovers, scoring shouldn’t be an issue. The Bulldogs have a number of options they can throw at Cody Zeller inside, but many of them are foul prone, which is particularly concerning based on Zeller’s ability to draw whistles so far this season.

On the other end of the floor, Caldwell-Pope will likely get his points one way or another, so it will be important for the Hoosiers to take away his supporting cast, particularly forward Nemanja Djurisic, who is second on the team in both scoring and rebounding. He can step out and make perimeter shots and is actually shooting a higher percentage from outside the arc than he is inside of it. Based on how these two teams have looked this season, the improved IU defense should perform well once again.

After getting off to sluggish starts in the first two games, the Hoosiers came out focused against Sam Houston State and took control of the game early. One of the main things I’ll be watching in this matchup is whether Indiana can replicate that early intensity and jump out to a lead against the Bulldogs, who are undoubtedly fragile after back-to-back losses.

The Hoosiers need to avoid looking ahead to a potential matchup on Tuesday with UCLA and the recently cleared Shabazz Muhammad, but this has all the makings of another double-digit IU victory.

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Listen to Andy Monday on The Assembly Call. Follow him on Twitter at @AndyBottoms.