Xavier vs. IU Indy:Preview, Keys to the Game, etc.

Hot off the heels of whatever that Texas Southern game was, X is back at it tonight with a chance to notch a win and look good doing it. IU Indy is not good, and they’re not close to good. They are currently ranked 362nd in the nation per KenPom and aren’t expected to get much better. They have already notched a win courtesy of a non-D1 beatdown, so let’s look ahead to what the Muskies are up against.

Usually on our previews, we dig into the numbers and data to get an idea of what the opposition brings to the table. However, IU Indy has played a non-D1 opponent and not generated any numbers on KenPom or Torvik. No biggie, we can look to their roster and see what their players are likely to do. Nope, not that either. The Jaguars returned no one from a six-win team and most of their newcomers are still yet to play against D1 competition.

Since this is a team so bad that there’s no data on them, we’ll look at what they did against an NAIA school to start their season. The Jags stormed out to a 100-44 win over IU Columbus (yes, there’s one in Indiana) behind a 17 point outing from Sean Craig. In a 73 possession game, they got up 81 shots with 31 of them being from beyond the arc. As a team they shot 39% on those threes and an even 50% from two point range. They also, hilariously, pulled in 64 rebounds with 25 of them being offensive. This was obviously against a bad team, but that box score is crazy to look at.

Players

Obviously Craig is the player to watch here, being the guy who played the most minutes, took the most shots, and scored the most points in the opener. He is the tallest starter, but profiles more like Dayvion McKnight or Desmond Claude in terms of shot selection. Brown and Garner cleaned up on the glass against IU Columbus, who also struggled to keep Union College (Ky.)’s bigs quiet, so they may find their task a bit harder tonight.

Off the bench Nathan Dudukovich logged the third most minutes on the roster in the opener and hit 3 of his 6 tries from deep. Fellow guard Alec Millender also got significant minutes and chipped in with 8/1/3 of his own.

Keys to the game

Get the bench going – The bench combined for three points in the season opener, and none of the subs ever looked like they were settled in the game. Jerome Hunter did his thing defensively and made the hustle plays, but could not buy a bucket. Dante Maddox and Trey Green looked like they were pressing when they were on the floor, and John Hugely only logged six minutes and did not do much to inspire confidence. The one game sample size is too small to make any judgements, but this is the game for these guys to get rolling. The perceived depth of this roster is one of its biggest strengths. They just need that depth to bring the quality they’re capable of.

Don’t settle – This roster is loaded with shooting talent. That talent shot 6-23 from three last game. The issue? They settled for a lot of those shots. Sometimes the shots don’t fall and that’ll happen. What we saw on Monday was a lot of pressing from deep and settling for looks that weren’t the cleanest. IU Indy’s tallest starter is 6’7”, so working inside-out will be open all night and X can quickly outmatch Indy’s big men.

Get a big win – I said Texas Southern wasn’t very good, and they weren’t. These guys are really not very good. X can calm a lot of nerves with a big win here, and it’ll be there for the taking. Coach Miller talked about the first game jitters getting in the way of this team’s potential on Monday night. With those jitters out of the way, there’s not reason this team can’t go out and win by 30.