Keys to the Game

Indiana vs. Oklahoma

At Georgia Dome in Atlanta

3 p.m., channel 2

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STYLE OF PLAY: Oklahoma thrives on rattling opponents with its physical, suffocating defense while talking the most trash of any team in the Final Four. The stingy Sooners are giving up only 64.4 points while getting 9.1 steals a game. Indiana, which began the tournament averaging 70.2 points, prefers to slow things down in the half-court and dump the ball low to silky forward Jared Jeffries. And when he’s being double-teamed, Jeffries gladly kicks the ball out to Hoosier perimeter shooters, who are knocking down 50.9% of their three-point shots in the tournament. Against Kent State, Indiana made 15 of 19 three-pointers.

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MATCHUP TO WATCH: Quannas White vs. Tom Coverdale. The point guards are hobbling. White, a junior college transfer, hurt his ankle in practice this week but said he should be fine, come tipoff. Coverdale, a junior second-year starter, has severely injured his left ankle twice in the tournament and there is speculation that he might not play at all today. If Coverdale can’t play, the Hoosiers will go with freshman Donald Perry, who’s averaging 14.8 minutes in the tournament.

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INTANGIBLES: Sporting Cinderella’s slipper, Indiana is just happy to be here. But the Hoosiers are hurt a bit by former coach Bob Knight’s silence on their success and stung by Knight loyalists’ support of Big 12 member Oklahoma, a conference mate of Knight’s new team, Texas Tech. The Hoosiers will try to take out their frustration on the Sooners. Oklahoma, meanwhile, is inspired by the recovery of Coach Kelvin Sampson’s father from brain surgery last week.

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MAGIC NUMBERS: Oklahoma, a No. 2 seed in the West Regional, is riding a 12-game winning streak and the Sooners have won 16 of 17. Indiana, the No. 5 seed in the South Regional, is 16-1 this season, 22-4 all-time, when Jeffries makes a three-pointer.

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FINAL ANALYSIS: Oklahoma is too strong, too deep and too athletic for Indiana. Still, the same was said about top-ranked Duke, which was toppled by the Hoosiers in the Sweet 16. The Hoosiers’ only chance for advancing to Monday night’s title game is to duplicate the success they enjoyed from behind the three-point line against Kent State.

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Paul Gutierrez