Indiana men’s basketball is set to take on one of the highest scoring offenses in college basketball’s early season when Kansas State comes to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats rank
in at 37th nationally in offensive efficiency, take 41.1% of their shots from 3-point range and convert on 43.3% of those attempts, all according to KenPom. Their adjusted tempo ranks in at 27th nationally and they usually only take half of the shot clock on their offensive possessions.
Hoosiers head coach Darian DeVries knows all of this and spoke to it during a press conference on Monday. He noted that the Wildcats will test Indiana’s defense in transition and in the halfcourt.
“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,” DeVries said. “They have a lot of guys that can shoot it.”
DeVries elaborated further when asked about P.J. Haggerty, Kansas State’s leading scorer with 28 points per game, which also leads the nation.
“He creates a lot for others too, it’s not just him scoring,” DeVries said. “He’s a really good player, talented player. Again, like everything, it’s going to take a collective effort to do a good job on him, but also not focus so much attention on him that now you’re allowing those guys the catch and shoot set they’re looking for too.”
