After a road win over the Boilermakers on Saturday night in Mackey Arena, the Hoosiers return home to Assembly Hall for a Thursday night meeting with Illinois. The Fighting Illini have dropped four of five and are 1-3 on the road in Big Ten play.
The game will be shown on the Big Ten Network (Gus Johnson and Jimmy Jackson) and broadcast on the IU radio network (Sirius 94/XM 192):
With the meat of their Big Ten schedule out of the way, the Hoosiers will now have the luxury of finishing the conference slate with four of their six remaining games at Assembly Hall. Their two road single plays (Nebraska, Wisconsin) produced a pair of losses and now the Hoosiers will get their home single plays (Illinois, Northwestern) in back-to-back games.
The Fighting Illini have been the victim of some tough luck in recent weeks as their four losses since Jan. 19 have come by a combined total of 15 points. Bruce Weber’s club looks to be solidly in the NCAA Tournament field as of today, but with trips to Bloomington, Ann Arbor, Columbus and Madison still remaining, that could change.
Illinois is the Big Ten’s third worst offensive team in conference play at just .98 points per possession, but they’ve made up for it by giving up just .99 points per possession (4th in the conference). Their defense is anchored by the post presence of Meyers Leonard, a 7-foot-1 sophomore who is projected to go in the first half of next June’s NBA Draft. Leonard is a big reason why Illinois is the third-best shot blocking team in conference and the Illini are giving up a 2-point field goal percentage of 46.8.
Offensively, the story is much more grim for Illinois. They’re turning it over at a high rate in league play (22.2 TO%) and are shooting just 32.2 percent from 3-point range. The Illini have been effective inside the 3-point line (51.3% on 2s), but their offense has been mostly predicated on Brandon Paul hunting looks when he’s on the court. Paul is just one of three players in the conference using more than 28% of his team’s possessions.

The Hoosiers will look to avoid a five-game road losing streak on Saturday night in West Lafayette in a meeting with the Purdue Boilermakers. Indiana’s last win over Purdue came on Feb. 19, 2008 at Assembly Hall. 
Following a 57-50 road loss to No. 25 Wisconsin, the Hoosiers look to get back to .500 in Big Ten play when they host Iowa on Sunday night in Assembly Hall. Indiana last defeated the Hawkeyes on February 4, 2009 for Tom Crean’s first conference win.
Last year, Jordan Taylor was a Hoosier killer.