Less than 24 hours before the IU men’s basketball season begins against Chicago State, IU Coach Archie Miller made a return to his weekly radio show “Inside IU Basketball with Archie Miller.”
Here are three notable moments from the hour-long show featuring Miller, IU radio announcer Don Fischer and redshirt junior guard Johnny Jager, the player guest of the week.
1. Miller has lofty goals for freshman guard Rob Phinisee.
Injuries to some of IU’s backcourt players have meant increased playing time for freshman guard Rob Phinisee to start his college career, and so far he’s acquainted himself well.
Phinisee had eight points in a closed-door scrimmage against Loyola University Chicago, before playing 28 minutes in IU’s exhibition win against the University of Southern Indiana last week. In those 28 minutes, Phinisee had 13 points and four assists, with no turnovers against the Screaming Eagles.
When asked about Phinisee’s early-season performance, Miller said Phinisee’s goal this season should be to have the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Big Ten Conference and in the country. Miller also said Phinisee will see lots of playing time with junior guard Devonte Green, who was injured during IU’s preseason exhibitions but is expected to play Tuesday night against Chicago State after being a “full go” in practice Monday.
2. The Hoosiers are starting to slowly recover from injuries.
In addition to Green’s recovery, IU is also expecting more minutes to be played by junior forward De’Ron Davis. After playing sporadically against Loyola, Davis played six minutes and scored six points against Southern Indiana.
On Monday night, Miller said Davis was the best he’s been so far in his progression from the torn achilles that Davis suffered earlier this year. Miller also confirmed Davis will play against Chicago State, although he said earlier Monday sophomore guard Al Durham and freshman forward Race Thompson won’t be able to play due to lingering injuries.
3. IU is expecting Chicago State and Montana State to frequently change their defenses.
Like any season-opening game, there are unknowns for IU about its opponent. But in particular, the Cougars will be a mystery for the Hoosiers since they have changed their coaching staff as well as about half of their roster from last season.
Earlier Monday at media availability, Miller said the Hoosiers wouldn’t watch a ton of film to study the Cougars, but rather focus on executing what they can control. On his radio show, though, Miller said IU is expecting a lot of changing defenses from Chicago State, in particular a lot of zone defense.
IU is also anticipating a similar defensive approach from Montana State, which plays a matchup zone style of defense, similar to Oregon.
Miller said a key for IU in both games will be how quickly the team can adjust to the different defensive alignments it faces on the court.
