Indiana men’s basketball passed its first test against a power conference opponent this season when it dominated Marquette University on Nov. 9.
Over the Hoosiers’ last two contests, their offense hasn’t kept pace with the 99.7 points it averaged across the first three games of the season. Still, the Cream and Crimson are 5-0 and ranked No. 25 in The Associated Press’ poll released Monday.
Now, Indiana is set for its lone nonconference game against a Power Four team inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, as it’ll face Kansas State University at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The Hoosiers and Wildcats have met 31 times with the former holding a 19-12 advantage. From 1950 to 1970, the two squads met each December, alternating between Bloomington and Manhattan, Kansas.
The series then paused until 1980, running for another six years. The most recent matchup came in November 1998, when Indiana defeated Kansas State in the first round of the Maui Invitational in Maui, Hawaii.
Kansas State’s fast-paced, high-scoring offense
Kansas State sits at 5-1 so far this season under fourth-year head coach Jerome Tang, who led the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in his first season at the helm. Tang’s squad underwhelmed the last two seasons without a March Madness appearance.
Tang added preseason All-American P.J. Haggerty to his squad over the offseason, and the move has paid dividends. The junior guard leads the country in scoring with 28 points per game. He’s shooting 56% from the field and 40.9% from beyond the arc thus far.
As of Monday, the Wildcats’ 61% effective field goal percentage ranks 11th nationally, while their 43.3% from 3-point range is eighth.
“Wow,” Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said during his press conference Monday. “That's what I say about the way they're playing offense right now. They are getting out, and they're getting out fast, and they're in transition, and they put a lot of pressure on your defense to get organized and get put together in a hurry. They have a lot of guys that can shoot it.”
Alongside Haggerty, the Wildcats have four other players scoring in double figures: junior guard Abdi Bashir Jr., senior guard Nate Johnson, sophomore guard David Castillo and senior forward Khamari McGriff.
Kansas State is scoring 92.8 points per contest — 32nd in the country. It has scored at least 84 points in all six of its contests thus far, with its lone loss coming to Nebraska on Nov. 21 by 1 point.
“It will be a great test for us in not only transition but our half-court defense to do a good job there,” DeVries said.
Indiana’s rebounding woes
Since DeVries constructed a brand-new Hoosiers roster after arriving in Bloomington, the lack of a true big man has been well documented.
And through five games, the Hoosiers were outrebounded by Marquette and Lindenwood University — the latter hauling in 15 offensive rebounds. DeVries said Indiana can, and will, become a better rebounding team.
“We're just not there yet,” DeVries said. “There's some habit things we've got to continue to get better at.”
DeVries also explained his squad must improve its mindset toward rebounding. If the Hoosiers want to be a “good team,” DeVries said they’ll have to be good at defensive rebounding. It’s something he feels is going to be “huge” throughout the season.
“On a nightly basis, that's going to determine in a lot of our outcomes,” DeVries said. “... can we be physical, tough enough, and have the right mindset to go get those balls?”
Lamar Wilkerson’s back-to-back poor shooting performances
When DeVries landed Lamar Wilkerson out of the transfer portal in April, the fifth-year senior guard arrived as a heralded 3-point shooter. Through the first three games, he showed his prowess from beyond the arc, shooting 57.7%.
But over the last two contests, Wilkerson went a combined 1 for 10. Still, nothing changes for the Ashdown, Arkansas, native. DeVries wants Wilkerson to “keep letting it rip.”
“The percentages always work themselves out,” DeVries said. “That's just what they are. Good shooters are good shooters. They don't just forget how to shoot. He's going to keep letting them go. We're going to keep telling him to let them go. We're going to run all the stuff that we always run for him.”
While Wilkerson has gone cold, so too have the rest of his counterparts. The Hoosiers knocked down double digit 3-pointers in each of the first three games and shot at least 41.7% from beyond the arc.
In the two games since, Indiana went 20.8% and 31.1%, respectively. So far this season, the Cream and Crimson’s 3-point offense goes as Wilkerson does. And DeVries thinks his recent performances are outliers
“At the end of the year, my guess is those numbers are going to look like they have always looked for him,” DeVries said.
What are the injured Hoosiers’ statuses?
Although Indiana has begun its season with five consecutive wins, it’s done so at less than full-strength.
Junior guard Nick Dorn has played the last three games after he returned from an offseason surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his foot. DeVries said he’s getting increasingly comfortable in a new offensive and defensive system.
“Again, I like what I'm seeing from him in practice,” DeVries said. “I think he's continuing to get better and better there. We're looking forward to seeing where that could ultimately grow into.”
However, junior guard Jason Drake, sophomore forward Josh Harris and freshman guard Aleksa Ristic have yet to take the floor this season due to injuries.
Drake suffered a lower-body injury over the offseason and didn’t travel to Puerto Rico in August. Both Ristic and Harris went down with lower-body injuries during September practices, as the latter has since sported a boot on his right foot.
“They're getting better. That's the main thing,” DeVries said. “They're all progressing, starting to do more things within practice, so that's a good sign. We'll be excited, again, to have those guys back and get them started working back into some minutes into the lineup and things.”
The game
Tuesday’s contest between the Hoosiers and Wildcats will tipoff at 8 p.m. inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Play-by-play announcer Connor Onion and color commentator Steve Smith will be on the call for FS1.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
