What to Expect: Indiana vs. Eastern Illinois

  • Nov 9, 2024 8:31 am in

Indiana is back in action Sunday afternoon when it hosts Eastern Illinois at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Panthers are 1-1 with a 112-67 loss at Illinois and a win at home against Division III Earlham College.

Sunday’s game tips at noon ET on B1G+:

Indiana’s favorable early non-conference continues this weekend in Bloomington. For the second straight game, the Hoosiers will face an opponent outside the top 300 in KenPom.

After an up-and-down performance in Wednesday’s season-opener against SIU Edwardsville, Indiana needs to show progress in its final tuneup ahead of the South Carolina game next weekend.

MEET THE PANTHERS

Sunday’s meeting between Indiana and Eastern Illinois will be the third all-time between the programs. The Hoosiers beat Eastern Illinois 94-55 in the 1992 NCAA tournament in Boise, Idaho and 88-49 in Bloomington in November 2015.

Marty Simmons coaches the Panthers. Simmons played two seasons at Indiana from 1983 through 1985 before completing his career at Evansville. The Lawrenceville, Illinois native has won over 300 games as a head coach, with the bulk of his career coming at Evansville.

Eastern Illinois was picked to finish sixth in the preseason OVC poll.

The Panthers have started three guards in their first two games with Naykel Shelton, Artese Stapleton and Zion Fruster. The 6-foot-3 Shelton was one of the team’s leading scorers a season ago when he averaged 11 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27 minutes. Shelton made a team-high 38 triples last season and shot 33.9 percent on 3s.

Stapleton, a 6-foot-3 graduate student from Chicago, previously played at Lewis University, Radford and UMKC. He scored 11 points and was 5-for-13 from the field in the loss to Illinois to open the season.

Fruster, a Division II transfer, averaged 18 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists last season in 17 games at Virginia Wise. He also hit double figures in the loss at Illinois (10 points) and logged 34 minutes.

Silver Creek product Kooper Jacobi is back in the frontcourt for the Panthers for his senior season. The 6-foot-7 forward started his career at Toledo and averaged 10.5 points and 7.7 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes last season. In a recent win against Earlham College, Jacobi had 16 points and 11 rebounds in 23 minutes.

Rodolfo Rufino Bolis has taken on a more significant role in the Eastern Illinois frontcourt in his senior season. He played just 11.4 minutes per game last season but is now a starter. The 6-foot-8 Rufino Bolis had four points and five rebounds before fouling out in 17 minutes against Illinois.

A key reserve name to know is Obadiah Curtis, a 6-foot-5 junior from Fresno, California. He came off the bench against Illinois and scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in 18 minutes. He followed that up with 13 points against Earlham.

6-foot guard Isaiah Griffin will also figure into the rotation. He had four points in 11 minutes at Illinois and then had 10 points in 14 minutes against Earlham.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Take care of the ball: Indiana was sloppy with the ball against SIU Edwardsville. The Hoosiers committed 16 turnovers for a turnover percentage of 21.9. In particular, IU needs a better performance from Myles Rice, who was outstanding in the exhibition win at Tennessee but struggled against SIU Edwardsville. Rice committed five turnovers in the season-opener but has a chance to put that poor performance in the rearview against Eastern Illinois.

• Clean up the defensive glass: Defensive rebounding was also an issue in the season opener, and Mike Woodson was not pleased in his postgame comments following the win. Against a team the size of Eastern Illinois, the Hoosiers should limit possessions to one shot and push the pace in transition after missed shots. Rebounding was a problem last season for IU and against SIU Edwardsville and needs to be corrected quickly.

• Take advantage of the size discrepancy: The Panthers start a 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8 forward, which gives the Hoosiers a clear advantage in the post. Once Indiana can establish dominance in the frontcourt, it should open things up on the perimeter for in-rhythm looks.

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO

The KenPom projection is Indiana by 25 with a 99 percent chance of victory. The projection against SIU Edwardsville was similar, but the Hoosiers only won by 19.

This is Indiana’s last game against an opponent currently ranked outside the top 175 in KenPom, so the tests will become more challenging from here. If Indiana corrects some of the basic mistakes it made in the opener, it should cruise to a 2-0 record ahead of next weekend’s matchup against South Carolina.

Filed to: