After struggling to put away scrappy Big South opponent Winthrop, the Indiana Hoosiers pick up conference play against the 8-5 Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Thursday evening. Both teams will be hoping to kick off the bulk of Big Ten conference play with a win after inconsistent starts to the season. Rutgers is off to an 8-5 start overall and is 1-1 in Big Ten play, while the Hoosiers are 10-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play, despite a highly-touted 2024 recruiting class that boasts five-star recruits Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Harper and Bailey currently lead the Scarlet Knights in scoring with 22.8 and 18.6 points per game, respectively.
Indiana leading scorer Malik Reneau (15.0 ppg) will square off against a Rutgers defense that has allowed 74.3 points per game this season, the worst total in the Big Ten.
Oumar Ballo Status
A question for the Hoosiers on Thursday will be the status of starting center Oumar Ballo. Ballo, a 7’0” senior who leads the Hoosiers in rebounding, missed Indiana’s most recent game against the Winthrop Eagles on December 29. Head coach Mike Woodson, following the Hoosiers’ 77-68 victory, provided a cryptic response when asked by reporters about Ballo’s absence:
“I’m not going to address that. But didn’t have a lot of lead time. But that doesn’t matter. You know, guys that are in uniform have got to play, and he didn’t play tonight, and you know, we’ll sit down tomorrow and address his situation and get ready for Rutgers.”
Ballo is in his first season with Indiana after spending his first two collegiate seasons with the Arizona Wildcats. Last season he averaged a double-double and helped the Wildcats reach the Sweet Sixteen.
Indiana Hoosiers’ Shooting Woes
Three-point shooting is one of the biggest issues plaguing the Hoosiers this season. Indiana has shot a paltry 30.6% from beyond the arc to start this season, the third-worst mark in the Big Ten and 309th in Division I. Only two of their major rotation players are shooting over 32% from three-point range, senior guard Trey Galloway and sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako. Following his team’s 77-68 win over Winthrop, where the Hoosiers made only 1 of their 20 attempted three-pointers, head coach Mike Woodson said the following:
“You’re always concerned about them. We’re shooting them. And again, if they were bad threes, then I would really sit here and complain. But they were good threes, and I feel good about the guys that are shooting them. So again, eventually, they are going to make them.”
Indiana will be lining up against a Rutgers defense that has struggled to defend the three-point line this season. The Scarlet Knights have allowed opponents to hit three-pointers at a Big Ten-worst 34.1% clip.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights’ Late-Game Struggles
Falling short in tight contests has been the name of the game for the Scarlet Knights to start the season. Four of Rutgers’s five losses have come by five points or less, including two close losses to ranked opponents. A common theme in all four has been their inability to close out their opponents.
Against #20 Texas A&M on November 30, Rutgers took a 77-76 lead with three minutes left to play before missing their final three shots and turning the ball over twice, ultimately falling to the Aggies 81-77. In a November 27 matchup with #9 Alabama, the Scarlet Knights pulled within three points with seven minutes to play, but a sloppy sequence of events that saw Rutgers commit two fouls within one minute of game time helped the Crimson Tide grow their lead to seven, and Rutgers never fully recovered.
Speaking to the media after another heartbreaking loss, this time to Princeton on a go-ahead layup with five seconds left, head coach Steve Pikiell spoke had the following comment:
“It’s a long season.. we got to get better. That’s the most important thing. And we will.”
Pikiell, in his ninth season as head coach for Rutgers, is 140-128 in his tenure with two NCAA tournament appearances.
The Hoosiers and Scarlet Knights tip off on Thursday, January 2 at 8:00 PM EST on Peacock.
