What to watch for in Indiana’s exhibition on Sunday at Tennessee

The new look 2024-25 Indiana Hoosiers take the floor for the first time Sunday afternoon against Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.

The charity exhibition will tip at 3 p.m. ET on SECN+. Details on how to watch the game are available here.

The Vols are ranked No. 12 in the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll and are No. 13 in KenPom’s preseason ratings. Last season, Tennessee won the SEC regular season title and advanced to the Elite Eight.

While the game doesn’t count, it will be played with the intensity of a regular season game and should be an early measuring stick for an IU team with significant expectations.

Here’s what to watch for in Sunday’s exhibition:

The debut of IU’s revamped backcourt

Indiana’s transfer portal haul included the addition of Washington State’s Myles Rice and Stanford’s Kanaan Carlyle.

The Hoosiers were underwhelming in the backcourt last season, but they hope guard play will be a strength in Mike Woodson’s fourth season.

Sunday will be our first extended look at Rice and Carlyle. It will come against one of the nation’s best backcourts. The Vols return SEC defensive player of the year Zakai Zeigler. The 5-foot-9 guard also led the SEC in assists the last two seasons.

Tennessee also added North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 19.7 points and shot 44 percent on 3s last season. Lanier also made 3.4 3s per game and is expected to be one of the top incoming transfers in the SEC.

Rice and Carlyle have already proven themselves at the highest level of college basketball. Still, we’ll learn more on Sunday about how they navigate a challenging road situation against two relentless competitors: Zeigler and Lanier.

How will Indiana handle Tennessee’s defense?

The Vols have built one of the nation’s best defenses under Rick Barnes.

According to KenPom, Tennessee has finished in the top five nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency over the last five seasons.

The players on the roster change, but Tennessee’s defense stays elite season after season. Tennessee lost four starters from last season, but has restocked from the portal with the expectation of competing for an SEC title. The Vols are deep, athletic and play with an intensity few teams can match.

Every college basketball team is a work in progress this time of year. The Vols, however, have played in a high-level exhibition the previous three seasons and will be looking to make a statement on Sunday. Indiana must match their intensity to compete, particularly on the road in a tough environment.

As much as Indiana has been criticized for its non-conference schedule this season, this exhibition was smart scheduling. The Hoosiers get an opportunity to play an elite opponent on their home floor, providing the staff with plenty of film to identify areas of improvement ahead of the regular season’s start in less than two weeks.

Will there be signs of a more perimeter-oriented offense?

One of the biggest questions surrounding Indiana this season: will the offense change to be more perimeter-oriented?

Woodson has stated in the preseason it will and he believes Indiana has the shooting it needs to attempt and make more 3-pointers.

But Indiana isn’t going to abandon its stellar post play. The Hoosiers return Malik Reneau, one of the best post-scorers in the Big Ten. The program also added All-Pac-12 first-team performer Oumar Ballo, a double-double machine last season at Arizona.

Woodson and the coaching staff will have to find a balance. Sunday will be our first glimpse at how this could play out.

After a season where it often put players on the floor regularly that couldn’t score, that won’t be the case this winter. That in itself is progress. But the Hoosiers also have to emphasize creating quality looks from the perimeter and knocking them down consistently.

Testing the defense against an elite opponent

Indiana’s defense has taken a step back in the last two seasons.

The Hoosiers had a top 25 defense nationally in Woodson’s first season, slid to No. 45 in year two and fell again to No. 84 last season.

This season, Indiana will have to reverse the trend to compete for a Big Ten title.

Will the Hoosiers contain the Vols off the dribble and in ball screens? Will Indiana clean up the defensive glass? And can the Hoosiers defend better without fouling?

While Sunday is just an exhibition, it’ll provide our first glimpse of this Indiana team against a legitimate opponent.

How deep will the rotation go?

Sunday’s game is expected to be intense, like a regular-season contest. Both teams will play to win, but the outcome will not affect their win-loss record.

Rotations will likely be tighter than in a typical exhibition game, so this game should provide a glimpse of whom the coaching staff intends to play when the meat of the non-conference schedule begins.

Indiana could be limited in terms of guards available depending on the status of Trey Galloway and Jakai Newton. Both players were held out of Hoosier Hysteria.

Sunday will provide our first look at Indiana’s starting lineup for the season. At Hysteria, the first team featured Rice, Carlyle, Mackenzie Mgbako, Reneau and Ballo.

Beyond that, we’ll learn who the first few players are off the bench, which will also tell us who has earned that opportunity based on their performance in practice thus far.

Category: Commentary

Filed to: Tennessee Volunteers