Miami vs Indiana Preview and Prediction
With tonight’s 8:40 p.m. ET matchup on TBS between the Miami Hurricanes and Indiana Hoosiers, there are many areas to consider for picking the final score and winner.
Looking back at Miami defeating Drake, consider how poorly the Hurricanes shot the basketball, and yet, the Canes found a way to use their full-court press to jumpstart the offense and finish the game on a 16-1 run.
As for Indiana, that team operates through the multi-talented Trayce Jackson-Davis. Whether rebounding, scoring, shot blocking or passing the basketball, he’s one of the nation’s most unique players.
Truly, the broad lens that this game can be examined from presented many challenges. Ultimately, three categories were chosen as the most vital.
1) Will Miami be able to stay out of foul trouble against Indiana’s size?
With power forward Norchad Omier being the only natural and proven low post defender that Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga can rely on, if he’s out of the game for any extended stretch of time because of foul trouble, it will be hard for the Canes to win.
The Hurricanes defensive assignments would be jumbled, as forward Anthony Walker would need to come into the game at that point. On a consistent basis, he’s probably not going to physically be able to handle Davis in the post.
The same can be said for Jordan Miller. He’s a tremendous all-around defender and will go against Indiana’s power forward Race Thompson, all 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds of him.
Miller has shown to be crafty enough to overcome the girth of bigger post players while going against ACC competition. Like Omier, there’s not a backup that could spell Miller and likely be any place nearly as successful, unfortunately.
If Omier and Miller stay out of foul trouble, they will give Indiana issues when Miami has the ball. Miami has a tremendously athletic lineup and those two will open up the court for jump shots by Nijel Pack (from Indianapolis, by the way, so this game means a lot), Isaiah Wong, and Wooga Poplar.
2) Which squad wins the battle of the boards?
Again, Indiana’s size matters. That being the case, Miami out rebounded Duke by a 38-31 margin earlier this season. Duke had not one but two 7-foot players in the lineup in Kyle Filipowski and Dereck Lively II.
The Hurricanes possess more speed than the Hoosiers, so getting long rebounds and out hustling the competition will be key.
Additionally, when the ball comes off the rim and stays close by, how well Miami attempts to muscle-up and bang with Indiana must be watched closely. This game could come down to grit and pure determination from one missed shot.
3) Which team has more big-shot makers?
Each of these teams has shot really well, and really poorly, during multiple games this season. “Uncle Mo” often rides with the team that scores the basketball. To that point, two players for each team will be critical.
Miller and Wong, two Miami players that went a combined 3 of 17 versus Drake, need to be consistent offensive options so that Indiana has to defend the width of the court and not be able to double Omier in the post.
When Miami moves the basketball and plays unselfishly on the offensive end, the Canes have proven to be one of college basketball’s best offensive units.
Indiana has seen similar positives and problems, at times, this season.
Thompson has girth, but he also has shown range. At least at times he did. Thompson dropped 20 points on Kent State Friday night. If he’s on for the Hoosiers that would be trouble for the Canes.
On March 10 against Maryland, however, he scored just 4 points. Which Thompson will show up for IU tonight?
Thompson has averaged just 8.3 points per contest, but he’s also battled back from an injury.
Now that Thompson has looked healthy, his game took a step up. Getting away from Miller will be much harder than getting away from any one player from Kent State, however.
The other wildcard for Indiana would be Jalen Hood-Schifino. How the true freshman point guard handles the bright lights will be interesting. The 6-foot-6 point guard has a major size advantage over Pack, but the quickness and speed of Miami’s point guard will help to offset the size disadvantage he will go against.
If Pack can keep Hood-Schifino from driving the lane to score and pass, Miami’s defense will be in much better shape.
Final Score Prediction
This will be a back-and-forth contest. Look for Miami to play (and shoot) much better than it did versus Drake. Indiana has more weapons – and far more size – than Drake, however. That’s going to be the deciding factor.
Indiana wins with offensive rebounding and put backs to move on to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.
Indiana 75 Miami 71
Note: All Hurricanes will be running a live blog for tonight's game, so check back to the site and follow along.
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Fan Nation High school football recruiting analyst covering the state of Florida, as well as across the Southeastern United States and the state of Texas.