Indiana is set for a matchup against Incarnate Word on Sunday at Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers are one bucket against Alabama A&M away from putting up 100 points in their first three games
of the season, including a bit of a coming out party at the United Center against Marquette. If Darian DeVries’ Indiana is going to do at least one thing, it’s score points, and there should be plenty to be had on Sunday.
Here’s three things to know ahead of the game against the Cardinals:
Last time out: Indiana 101, Milwaukee 70
Indiana took an early lead in this one and never gave it up despite a few fleeting lulls late in the first and early in the second half. Much of that second half ended up being the Hoosiers building on that lead to turn the game into a true blowout that’ll help juice the metrics a bit.
It wasn’t against all that bad of a team either, Milwaukee figures to threaten for the Horizon League title this season. There’s better mid-major leagues, for sure, but you’d rather a good group than some sub-300 bottom dweller.
The Hoosiers have benefited somewhat from going up against pretty soft defenses, which brings us to…
Key stat: Incarnate Word’s defensive eFG% (not good)
Incarnate Word’s defense is Bad. The Cardinals have faced one fellow Division-I opponent so far this season, Colorado State, and lost 98-64. The Rams (coached by Ali Farokhmanesh, by the way) spread the ball around and found success with just about every shot they took.
The Cardinals’ eFG% allowed, 74%, would be dead last if three teams weren’t all allowing 100%. That’s, uh, not great. They looked better in their two games against non-D-I opponents, but, well, yeah.
Given that Indiana is built to score points and has done so, we could be looking at the Hoosiers’ third 100-point outing on the season.
Player to know: Senior G Davion Bailey
There’s a few reasons I’ve picked out Davion Bailey here.
For one, he’s leading the Cardinals in scoring with 19 points per game across his two appearances. He’s adding in six rebounds and three assists per contest while shooting 26.7% from long range, but he’s shot better than that before and it’s reasonable to expect water to find its level a bit.
He’s also from Indianapolis, having attended Pike High School before staying in-state for one season with Ball State before transferring to Incarnate Word ahead of the 2024-25 season. So there’s a nice connection there, he should have a decent presence at Assembly Hall.
