Three Things To Watch For In Indiana Basketball Game Against Eastern Illinois

No. 17 Indiana tries to improve to 2-0 against Marty Simmons-coached Eastern Illinois.

Indiana's Myles Rice (1) directs the offense during the Indiana versus Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Early season non-conference games are scheduled to be and usually are blowouts for the home team.

Indiana hosts Eastern Illinois in one of these games at noon Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Indiana (1-0) did not put Eastern Illinois (1-1) on its schedule to get a challenge from the visiting Panthers. It schedules games like this to serve as organized scrimmages, to play against a certain style perhaps, to help their NET ranking, but most of all, to get a relatively stress-free win.

However, Eastern Illinois is the poster child for what can go wrong for the favored team in these games once in a blue moon.

In December 2022, the Panthers trekked to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on Iowa in one of these contests. They’re referred to as “buy games” by mid-major and low-major teams since they are cut a check – nowhere near what a football buy game pays, but not insubstantial – for serving as cannon fodder.

Only this time, the Panthers had more than just a paycheck in mind. Eastern Illinois scored a barely believable 55 points in the second half to stun the Hawkeyes in a 92-83 victory for the upstart Panthers.

Only one Eastern Illinois player from that team, Rodolfo Rufino Bolis, is still with Eastern Illinois. He didn’t play against Iowa, but Simmons was on the sideline for the upset. I’m sure Simmons would like nothing more than to have a repeat performance against his one-time school.

It’s not as if Indiana hasn’t opened itself up to a possible upset before. Florida Gulf Coast, Army, Wright State and Morehead State all nearly pulled it off at Assembly Hall in 2023-24. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville hung in there for quite a while in Wednesday’s opener.

These games are set up to be almost guaranteed success stories for the Hoosiers, but you never know when the supposed weak sister is going to fight back.

Here are three things to watch for from the Hoosiers:

1. Will The Offense Demonstrate More Diversity?

Indiana's Oumar Ballo (11) shoots during the the Indiana versus Marian men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One thing in the news lately in Bloomington are ground-based booms that have shaken the foundation of homes and businesses throughout the city over the last two weeks.

Contrary to what one might think, those booms aren’t the collective sound Indiana basketball-related social media complaints make. They’re coming from NSA Crane.

It took all of a nanosecond for Indiana fans to grouse about the Hoosiers’ performance against SIU-Edwardsville on Wednesday. It is predictable, almost certainly premature, but some truth floats in there amid the complaining.

Indiana’s offense was not very dynamic. Post feeds to Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau were frequent with varying success. Of the Hoosiers’ first 12 shots, 11 were two-point jumpers or layups. Indiana’s 16 3-point attempts isn’t a terribly low number, but there was a vibe of constraint from Indiana’s shooters, especially early in the game.

Outside shots are dependent on the defense being played by the opponent, but it would be nice to see Indiana run some offense for its guards in the half-court. I know the idea is to create scoring for them off transition, but Indiana is going to be easy to defend if the arc isn’t part of their half-court attack.

2. Will Kanaan Carlyle Continue His Good Defensive Start?

Indiana's Kanaan Carlyle (9) defends SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor (3) during the Indiana versus Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New Hoosier Kanaan Carlyle didn’t score on Wednesday against SIU-Edwardsville, but that doesn’t mean he was ineffective.

In 17 minutes, Carlyle had six rebounds and three assists, not a bad haul for that amount of time on the floor. He also had an assist and a steal.

His analytical stats demonstrated how good Carlyle was on the defensive end. He had a defensive rating of 77.9. Defensive rating approximates points allowed by a player over 100 possessions, the lower the number the better. Carlyle was 10 points lower than any other Hoosier.

His stop percentage, an estimation of defensive possessions where the opponent didn’t score, was 79.2%, also best among Indiana’s players. All of the above is one reason why Carlyle got a plus-17 plus-minus rating in just 17 minutes of action, an impressive rate.

If Carlyle can continue to defend as he did Wednesday, he won’t have to score many points. He’ll be preventing them at the other end and doing the Hoosiers a world of good.

3. Will Indiana Blow Out A Low-Major Team?

Illinois Fighting Illini forward Morez Johnson Jr. (21) guards Eastern Illinois Panthers guard Nakyel Shelton (3) with the ball during the second half at State Farm Center. / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

This story might run the risk of abusing good cop-bad cop. In the introduction, we delivered the cautionary tale of what can happen against supposedly lesser foes.

However, the truth is that in most of these games the home team blasts the opposition for an easy win.

Eastern Illinois may be the poster child of what can go wrong if you look past an opponent, but since that win for the Panthers at Iowa in December 2022? Eastern Illinois has lost by 28 at Illinois, 24 at Loyola, 18 at Kansas, 32 at Iowa State and then by 44 in another trip to Illinois on Monday. That’s to say nothing of additional losses to other mid-major and low-major schools.

The harsh truth is that Eastern Illinois plays in the Ohio Valley Conference, which hasn’t finished in the top 20 of Division I in the conference rankings since 2018 and not since 2013 before that. That makes the OVC low-major – teams from leagues that regularly finish in the bottom 11 conferences in Division I.

With the NET ranking putting value on margin of victory, it behooves the Hoosiers to put a big number on the Panthers. It’s not very sporting, and one might disagree whether margin of victory should play a part in those rankings. But until the system is changed, Indiana needs to play the NET game, put a good performance together against Eastern Illinois, and get what they’re supposed to get out of scheduling this game in the first place.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• MEET THE OPPONENT: Indiana hosts Eastern Illinois Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Panthers are 1-1 at the start of their fourth season under former Indiana Hoosier Marty Simmons. CLICK HERE

• BARONE, THOMAS GLAD TO BE AT ASSEMBLY HALL: Southern Illinois-Edwardsville coach Brian Barone was part of former Indiana coach Tom Crean’s staff from 2008-10. One of his players, Kyle Thomas, is the son of Daryl Thomas, who played on Indiana’s 1987 national championship team. CLICK HERE

• MGBAKO PUSHES INDIANA PAST SIU-E: Mackenzie Mgbako had a career night as No. 17 Indiana defeated Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Wednesday in the Hoosiers' season-opener. CLICK HERE.

• TODD'S TAKE: Best first impression for Indiana was made by its returning players. CLICK HERE.

• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Here's everything Mike Woodson said after Indiana's win over SIU-Edwardsville. CLICK HERE.

• HOW TO WATCH: How to watch Indiana's game against Eastern Illinois on Sunday. CLICK HERE.