Dejected Hoosiers face in-state foe

Tonight the struggling Indiana basketball team heads north to face that opponent from up-north. It won’t be an easy game. It won’t be an interesting game. In fact, it won’t even be a fun game. IU has lost their last 10 games, and their next win may have to wait until next season.

After tonight, Indiana hosts a quality Northwestern team on Saturday which is senior day. Then its onto Indianapolis next week for the Big Ten Tournament. As of right now, Indiana would be the lowest seed, and be looking to play Northwestern again. But first tonight, they look to derail the Boilers.

Purdue is a top contender that has been playing well. Despite losing their star Robbie Hummel, they competed over the weekend with Michigan State. The loss of Hummel was very evident, most specifically in the area of rebounding. He is their leading rebounder, and in that game, MSU won the board 46-20. Embarrassing.

The thing I admire about the Boilers is their style of play. Hoosier fans remember the infamous days under Bob Knight running the motion offense. Tremendous movement, high-intense, smart basketball. Then go back on defense and take care of business. With Indiana, we have seen instances of both, though very rare. Tonight, watch their ball movement, watch their passes and enjoy their shot selection. Given they have a dominant presence inside of JaJuan Johnson. They’ll work it around the key, inside and out- just how Indiana fans desire.

Indiana certainly must bring their A game to compete. A shocking note that Tom Crean mentioned on his radio show Monday, is that Maurice Creek (out with a broken knee cap) is still the teams 3rd leading scorer despite missing the Big Ten season. That means a lack of depth and nobody has stepped up.

Indiana has done a better job rebounding the basketball but still not great. They lack a quality shooter with the loss of Creek and sophomore Matt Roth. Coming into the season, it had been years since IU hadn’t had a 3-pointer in a game. This year, twice. IU obviously lacks any inside presence. And the guard play has struggled. All things considered, Indiana just does not have the type of talent necessary to get the job done.