It will be a homecoming of sorts.
Texas Southern Coach Mike Davis, IU coach from 2000-2006, is pretty familiar with Assembly Hall.
It’ll be very interesting to see what kind of reception Davis will get as he returns to Bloomington.
He led IU to its most recent Final Four appearance, which was in 2002. But he was also just 34-30 in the Big Ten during his final four seasons, failing to get IU back to elite status in the world of college basketball.
As far as basketball goes, IU should win this one pretty handily.
In its first game of the season, Texas Southern lost by 24 points against Eastern Washington, who the Hoosiers will play Nov. 24.
Last season, Texas Southern went on a nine-game winning streak to end their season, before being beaten by Cal Poly in the NCAA Tournament.
They were a good offensive team last year, but a pretty horrid defensive team. Out of 351 teams, kenpom.com had them ranked No. 133 in offense and No. 327 on defense.
With any game, there will be a few things to look out for.
The biggest thing is if IU can keep looking like an offensive juggernaut.
In IU’s first game against Mississippi Valley State, IU looked unstoppable on offense, scoring 116 points and pushing the tempo to the max.
The game featured 81 possessions. For some context, in 32 games last season, IU broke the 80-possession barrier only three times.
Against Mississippi Valley State, they played fast, they shot efficiently and they turned the ball over.
It’s hard to tell how this will translate against upper-echelon teams in the Big Ten. But they looked great. Expect more of the same tonight.
Texas Southern is a bad defensive team, and IU is showing that it can be an excellent offensive unit.
This is also the final game sophomores Stan Robinson and Troy Williams and freshman Emmitt Holt will serve their suspensions.
That means there will be some players who we’ll see much, much less of during the next few weeks.
Freshman Max Hoetzel comes to mind immediately. The 6-foot-8 forward had a good game against Mississippi Valley State, scoring 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
He has a good shooting stroke and is good attacking the basket. He’s not hesitant at shooting either. He’s very confident and, at least against the Delta Devils, he had no trouble taking a lot of shots.
Hoetzel had a usage rate of 38.9 when he was on the floor, which means he was used in 38.9 percent of the possessions when he was in the game.
That’s amazing. Incredible. That’s a huge figure. Obviously, it will go down. But as of right now, Hoetzel has the No. 11 highest usage rate in the country.
Here’s some context. During Kevin Durant’s MVP season in the NBA, he had a usage rate of 33 percent.
Kevin-freaking-Durant wasn’t used in the offense last season as Max Hoetzel was against Mississippi Valley State.
Will he be buried on the depth chart when three players who will figure heavily into the rotation come back?
That could be dependant on this game. How Hoetzel performs tonight might determine how much playing time he gets when Big Ten play comes around.
Nevertheless, IU will spoil Mike Davis’ homecoming.
Prediction: IU 85, Texas Southern 59
Evan Hoopfer is 1-0 in predictions this season.
ehoopfer@indiana.edu
