The four factors: Evansville
For those unfamiliar, here’s some background on the four factors to winning: Established by Dean Oliver, the four factors are building blocks for Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency formula. It’s important to mention, as noted by Stat Sheet, that the factors are not weighted equally. Research shows the best way to weight the numbers is as follows: shooting (40 percent), taking care of the ball (25 percent), offensive rebounding (20 percent), and getting to the line (15 percent).
Here’s a recap of the four factors in Sunday’s 67-54 win over Evansville:
Free throw rate (Free throws attempted divided by field goals attempted): Best performance of the season thus far (62.2 percent) for the Hoosiers here, but they shot themselves in the foot a bit by leaving 13 points at the line (15 of 28). In a close game against a better opponent down the road, those misses could be the difference in a win or loss. But this stat isn’t about makes or misses, it’s about the fact that getting to the line more than your opponent increases your chances to win.
Turnover percentage (Turnovers divided by possessions): Indiana entered the game with a 28.4 turnover percentage, which was 329th out of 344 Division I teams. Not good. Nonetheless, for the second straight game, the Hoosiers turned in a respectable, but not great, performance (23.8 percent). Also of note is the 28.6 percent for Evansville, which was by far the worst performance in three games by the Purple Aces.
Effective field goal percentage (FGM + 0.5*3PM)/FGA): This has been IU’s best of the four factors season-to-date. It’s also the most important of the four factors and today’s performance (57.8 percent) was slightly above the average through three games (56.4 percent). Also worth a mention is the 43.3 percent by Evansville, which was the highest number the Hoosiers haven given up. That’s not a particularly notable performance by the Purple Aces, but I bring it up just to point out how well IU is defending early on coming off last season, where they allowed opponents to shoot a 49.7 eFG percentage. This team, through four games, is much improved defensively.
Offensive rebounding percentage (Offensive rebounds divided by (OR + DR): Not much to derive from this number (35.7 percent) because it’s a pretty typical performance for the Hoosiers. What is of note, however, is Evansville’s performance which helped lead the Purple Aces to a 15-12 advantage in second-chance points.
Filed to: Evansville Purple Aces