Game Day Essentials: Game #30 vs Indiana

Indiana Info

Head Coach: Ryan "Archie" Miller
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Hoosiers
Last time out: Beat Austin Peay
Typical Rotation Depth: 9
Line: Nebraska by 3 

Tempo: Fast paced

Defense: Pack line

Style: Middle assist % / Low 3pa%

Pants not to wear: Striped

Fun Fact: We played Archie Miller's Dayton team last year in California at the Wooden's classic, winning 80-78

Fun Fact: Archie Miller is Sean Miller's much younger brother as they're 10 years apart. Sean recruited his brother as an assistant to NC State

Fun Fact: Archie's nickname comes from him reminding people of Archie Bunker's grouchy personality at an early age. The comparison hasn't aged well.

Conference only

Most Frequent Lineups over the last 5 games

Nebraska

Indiana

With the loss of De'Ron Davis to injury the Hoosiers don't have anyone in their rotation over 6'7". With his lack of 3pt shooting Freddie McSwain operates as an undersized center for this team.

Miles Presser

James Palmer Presser

Generally speaking I think we know what to expect from Indiana but listening to both Miles and Palmer speak to how much they haven't prepped for Indiana doesn't exactly give you a warm feeling inside.

Players to watch:  Juwan Morgan

Morgan has exploded this year to lead the Hoosiers in most statistical categories and will probably make one of the All B1G teams. The 6'7" JR gets to the paint and the FT line a lot. His 3pt shooting is serviceable. If you look at his Sophomore year numbers they look a lot like Isaiah Roby's. Watching Morgan operate tonight should serve as a preview for Roby's impact next year.

HHC Indiana scouting

The Skinny

Archie Miller's Indiana team is good...not great, not bad, but quite consistently good and it's no big fluke that they're tied with Penn St for 6th in the conference. They're currently on a 4 game winning streak including a pair of road victories though it's been against the bottom 4 teams in the conference. For the most part they've won the games you'd expect to win. Will the added confidence of winning boost them to win a game on the road where they won't be favored?

Glynn Watson firing up a three towards the end of the Illinois game was the lightning rod on Sunday to talk about very publicly once again that he's shooting even worse than he did as a freshman were you were at least confident he could make that long two. Against a team like Indiana he's going to be the key as the Hoosier will turn you over and Miller's offense is very point guard dependent. With a lot of talent scorers on this team Watson's disruption of the offense and protection of the rock are a great compliment. 

With the lack of big men for Indiana, we'll see how much Jordy and Duby are used tonight though they do match up well vs undersized PF Freddie McSwain. Defensively I think you could see that 2-3 zone again. Indiana is capable of hitting outside shots but they haven't done so consistently throughout the year and tend to make their hay at the rim and you could certainly drop your center into this defense. The 1-3-1 probably won't fluster Miller as he's faced it many times playing against Xavier.

Offensively the Huskers have to get back to the rim and it's going to be a bit more challenging vs this pack line defense than Illinois pressure. Expect the Huskers to have some more urgency trying to penetrate to the rim.  The looks from 3 will be there all game but what about checking into the post tonight? Jordy is shooting 77% over his last 6 games (17/22). If Nebraska can get him on the court without Indiana exploiting it by running out 5 shooters, it could be that untapped scoring punch to complement Palmer and Copeland current two man show.

Here is the real big thing with Indiana tonight: they will be us if we don't play about as well as we did vs Maryland.  Against a team that hasn't exactly lit it up on the road, the crowd needs to be about that loud too.

Prediction: Nebraska 69 Indiana 64