Two days after beating its 16th ranked opponent in the last four seasons, IU will take on one of the worst teams in college basketball at Assembly Hall.
The Lamar Cardinals come to Assembly Hall ranked No. 348 out of 351 teams by advanced basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy. Mississippi Valley State, who IU routed in a 116-65 victory on opening night, is ranked No. 350.
In Pomeroy’s system, Lamar ranks in the bottom 20 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency and adjusted defensive efficiency. Those statistics measure points scored and points allowed per 100 possessions, adjusted for the difficulty and pace of a team’s opponents.
By contrast, IU ranks No. 19 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 53 defensively. Pomeroy gives IU a 99 percent chance of victory tonight.
Despite the advantage on paper, IU Coach Tom Crean won’t let his team coast tonight. Every minute of game time is an opportunity to improve, he said.
“Even the other night against Texas Southern when we were up, I didn’t sub because we wanted to work on running some clock without them really knowing we were running clock, our own team,” Crean said. “Because you don’t want a team to start playing not to lose.”
Lamar is led by a pair of seniors who happen to be the only two Cardinals in double-digit scoring this season.
Forward Tyran de Lattibeaudiere has averaged 15.3 points and eight rebounds in Lamar’s three games this season. A transfer from Vincennes (Ind.) in his first season with Lamar, the 6-foot-6 forward recorded a double-double in the Cardinals’ only win this season.
In the backcourt, Anthony Holliday has tallied 14.5 points per game as Lamar’s starting point guard. He has only two assists on the season.
No other Cardinal averages more than 7.3 points or three rebounds per game.
The Hoosiers will take the floor as heavy favorites, especially if they can keep up their scorching start from 3-point range.
Through three games, IU has made 33 3-pointers, shooting 46.5 percent from behind the arc. Just over 36 percent of its points have come via the 3-point shot.
Crean, who added a handful of shooters in the offseason to fix his team’s long-distance problems from last season, said he is comfortable with relying on the 3-pointer as long as his players take good shots.
“I don’t know how many we’re going to make,” he said. “I don’t care how many we take, as long as they’re in rhythm. As long as they’re not forced and challenged, and as long as that was the best shot we could get.”
Freshman guard James Blackmon, Jr., has led IU in scoring in two of its first three games and is second among all Big Ten players in made 3-pointers. He leads all freshman nationally with 24 points per game.
“I think he’s really smart,” Crean said of his star freshman. “James really wants to be better at everything. He’s not going to walk around thinking, ‘I’m just a shooter.’’
Crean added he’d like to see Blackmon become more aggressive in looking for his own shot, and the freshman responded with 10 attempted 3-pointers against SMU.
Tonight’s game is the third of four in the Hoosiers Showcase tournament. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
