What to Expect: IU basketball hosts Washington

Washington big man Hannes Steinbach.

After a nearly two-week layoff, IU basketball returns to Big Ten play on Sunday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

The Hoosiers, 10-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play, host Washington at 8 p.m. ET on BTN. The Huskies are 9-4 and 1-1 in Big Ten games.

With the eyes of Hoosier Nation rightfully focused on IU football’s remarkable Rose Bowl win and upcoming CFP semifinal game against Oregon on Friday in Atlanta, IU basketball is flying under the radar.

It’s been an up-and-down start to the Darian DeVries era in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have improved their metrics over the first two months of the season, but now need quality wins in conference play.

Those opportunities will come quickly with 13 projected Quad 1 opportunities and three projected Quad 2 games in the coming months.

The start of January is important for Indiana as the Hoosiers are KenPom favorites in four of their next five contests. A strong start to the month could provide the headwinds needed to make a push towards earning a bid for the 2026 NCAA tournament. A slow start, however, could quickly dash hopes of the program’s first March Madness bid since 2023.

MEET THE HUSKIES

Like many teams in the transfer portal era, Washington’s roster transformed in the offseason. Danny Sprinkle, now in his second season at the helm in Seattle, struggled to a 13-18 campaign in his first Big Ten season last winter and retooled the roster last spring.

Injuries have derailed the Huskies through their first 13 games and second-leading scorer Wesley Yates is out indefinitely following wrist surgery.

That leaves the trio of freshman Hannes Steinbach, senior Desmond Claude and sophomore Zoom Diallo to carry the load for Washington as it restarts league play with games in Bloomington and West Lafayette.

The 6-foot-10 Steinbach, a native of Wurzburg, Germany, is one of the nation’s top frontcourt players. He’s averaging a double-double – 18.1 points and 12 rebounds – in 32.4 minutes per game. Steinbach shoots 60.2 percent on 2s, is the second-best offensive rebounder in the country (per KenPom.com), and the seventh-best defensive rebounder.

He already has four games with seven or more offensive rebounds this season and has four games with 14 or more rebounds. On an IU roster that has been susceptible to giving up second-chance points, finding a way to keep Steinbach off the boards is a top priority on the game plan.

With Yates sidelined, the Huskies will go with a three-guard set that includes Claude, Diallo and Quimari Peterson.

Claude, who played last season at USC, can facilitate and score. His 14.9 points per game are second on the roster, and he’s most effective in the midrange or at the rim.

Desmond Claude shot chart.

(Shot charts via UMHoops.com)

Washington is a low 3-point volume team and the 6-foot-6 Claude, along with Diallo, likes to operate in the mid-range. He’s been turnover-prone at times, with four in losses at Seattle and UCLA at home earlier this season.

Diallo, a highly touted recruit in the 2024 class, is one of the few holdovers from last season in the rotation. The 6-foot-4 guard has above-average speed and athleticism and can get to the rim. He’s taken 52 free throws in 13 games and is connecting at an 88.5 percent clip from the stripe. Diallo’s 14.5 points per game are fourth on the team.

Zoom Diallo shot chart.

Peterson, a 6-foot-1 guard from Gary, Indiana, began his career at Indiana State in 2021-22, sat out the 2022-23 season and played the last two seasons at East Tennessee State before transferring to Washington. A career 35.8 percent 3-point shooter, Peterson connected on 87 triples last season at East Tennessee State and is 26-for-77 (33.8 percent) this season from deep. Peterson enters the game 2-for-13 from distance in the previous three games.

Franck Kepnang starts at the five alongside Steinbach, giving the Huskies two legitimate bigs in their opening lineup.

A 6-foot-11 native of Cameroon, Kepnang is in his sixth season of college basketball in what has been an injury-riddled career. He’s played more than 17 games just once in his first five seasons. Kepnang averages 5.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and has a team-high 33 blocked shots. His block percentage of 12.5 is 12th nationally.

The Huskies played a short bench in their last game, a 74-65 win against Utah at Alaska Airlines Arena on December 29. Backup big man Lathan Sommerville, a transfer from Rutgers, recently suffered a knee injury and is expected to be out for at least a couple of weeks.

Freshman guard JJ Mandaquit saw backup guard minutes with former IU wing Bryson Tucker logging seven minutes.

The 6-foot-1 Mandaquit has dished out a team-high 46 assists in 13 games with five starts. Mandaquit averages 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per game.

Tucker has been limited to just seven games due to an ankle injury and is shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 27.8 percent on 3s. He averages 6.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 18.6 minutes and has just five assists in 130 minutes of game action.

TEMPO-FREE PREVIEW

(All national rankings in parentheses through Friday’s games.)

Tempo-free stats preview Washington.

Washington is a solid defensive team with an offense that relies on offensive rebounding, getting to the line and finishing at the rim.

In terms of point distribution, the Huskies get 53.5 percent of their points on 2s (65th nationally), 22.7 percent of their points from the line (66th) and 23.8 percent of their points on 3s (336th). A strength of Indiana’s defense has been forcing opponents into tough, contested 2s, as Joe Jackson of Feed the Post noted recently. IU opponents are taking 18.4 percent of their shots from mid-range, the second-highest rate in the country.

Defensive rebounding is a clear key for IU in Sunday’s matchup. The Huskies rank 35th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and have two of the nation’s best offensive rebounders in Steinbach and Kepnang. Whether IU can close out defensive possessions looms large.

Offensively, Indiana has to make 3s at a solid clip, take care of the ball and continue getting to the free-throw line. Opportunities to score in the paint will be limited and finding in-rhythm, clean looks from distance will be pivotal. IU’s turnovers have also been creeping up in recent weeks, a trend that needs to be reversed in the new year. The Hoosiers have had a turnover percentage of 18.9 or higher in their last three games.

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO

The KenPom projection is Indiana by six with a 72 percent chance of a Hoosier victory and Bart Torvik’s ratings like IU by 10 with an 84 percent chance of a win for the Hoosiers.

How Indiana defends the post against Steinbach will be crucial. A projected first-round pick in next June’s NBA draft, he’s an elite post presence and rebounder and the Hoosiers are going to have to send post help.

Washington, however, also has to guard IU on the other end with one of its bigs needing to account for Tucker DeVries, who moves without the ball as well as anyone on the roster. The Hoosiers need to maintain consistent offensive movement and force Washington’s bigs into uncomfortable defensive positions.

For the IU to maintain its perfect home record, it must be connected as a unit on the defensive glass, limit turnovers and avoid a cold night from the perimeter.

(Photo credit: Washington Athletics)

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