Indiana
Expectations for Indiana men’s basketball are high, but that doesn’t mean the team is thinking about them
Indiana males’s basketball’s media day on Thursday was nearly what everybody anticipated it could be. Mike Woodson answered questions on this season’s schedule, Trayce Jackson-Davis’ legacy, Xavier Johnson and extra.
One of many issues that caught out? Woodson’s strategy to the excessive expectations for this yr’s crew — expectations Woodson himself has positioned on his gamers and people from a nationwide perspective.
“This system is constructed that manner, and it needs to be that manner,” Woodson mentioned. “I’m not going to run from it, and I’m not going to let my gamers run from it. There’s a number of huge issues that’s bought to occur this yr for our ballclub, and I’m going to attempt to coach them up and push them in that path.”
Indiana is presently the very best ranked Large Ten crew on Bart Torvik’s preseason rankings, at eleventh. On ESPN’s Approach too Early High 25 Rankings from August 23, Indiana sits at fifteenth, sandwiched between Villanova and Arizona — two groups who superior to the Candy 16 and Ultimate 4 final yr.
It’s secure to say all eyes are on the Hoosiers. However when the gamers look within the mirror, are they considering the identical as everybody else?
The reply, for essentially the most half, is not any.
“You undoubtedly can’t ignore the truth that we’re going to be a kind of high-level groups, as a result of it’s out on social media on a regular basis,” freshman ahead Malik Reneau mentioned. “Positively understanding what it takes to be a kind of prime groups and know that you simply’re not the underdog anymore, and also you’re going to be those being hunted, is a giant key for us.”
As a freshman, Reneau joins an Indiana basketball crew with gamers who haven’t been ranked of their school profession. It might be silly to count on the gamers to utterly ignore the optimistic consideration after seeing the flip facet in earlier years.
“Simply coming in right here my freshman yr and never having actually any expectations, even sophomore yr, after which junior yr simply having a brand new crew, lastly coming in right here to this historic program and having an expectation to do one thing huge is big,” senior ahead Trayce Jackson-Davis mentioned.
For the Hoosiers, there additionally appears to be a distinction between recognizing their potential as a crew, backed up by the present projections, and utilizing these numbers as a driving drive.
Slightly than being solely motivated by the numbers and hype, Indiana is motivated by one another and the previous. Making it to the NCAA event final yr gave the crew a style of what the Large Dance was.
They’re hungrier now.
Trayce Jackson-Davis desires to cement his legacy with banners and titles. Mike Woodson desires the identical. That’s no secret, and each mentioned as a lot.
“I’m not going to push the crew in another path,” Woodson mentioned. “In the event that they’re frightened of that problem, they shouldn’t be right here.”
There’s little question the crew is motivated by expectations, and that’s not one thing to shrink back from. Nonetheless, the mindset of transferring previous the numbers and the projections and specializing in simply enjoying the sport could be very prevalent.
“Rankings are what they’re,” Woodson mentioned. “You’ve nonetheless bought to play the sport, my man. That’s what’s vital, what occurs between these two strains.”
Woodson emphasised the necessity to put together his gamers to play on the degree that enables them to win each sport they play, it doesn’t matter what. After all, he has targets for Large Ten and nationwide titles down the road. However to get there, the crew has to truly play properly persistently.
“We’ve bought to exit and do it on the ground and present that we are able to win a Large Ten title and a nationwide title,” Woodson mentioned. “That’s all I’m involved about proper now. The one manner to try this is to get higher each day in apply, and after we step on the ground, we’re enjoying at a excessive degree.”
The gamers additionally know the rankings aren’t every part, and so they can’t dangle their hats on any numbers, particularly within the preseason.
“We’re attempting to not fear about that an excessive amount of, attempting to disregard it as a result of, I imply, it means nothing,” sophomore middle Logan Duncomb mentioned. “Final yr, Michigan was primary preseason within the Large Ten, and so they form of struggled.”
Michigan completed eighth within the Large Ten final season — one spot above Indiana.
The bottom line is to acknowledge the majority of the projections for what they’re: phrases and numbers with nothing to again them up.
“It’s simply type of like maintain doing what we’re doing, heads down,” Duncomb mentioned. “We’re nothing till we show it.”
Filed to:
PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – Indiana and Providence have one last chance to salvage a win Friday in the Battle 4 Atlantis seventh-place game. The loser will head home as the member of the eight-team tournament to go winless in the three-game stretch.
Indiana entered the tournament with a 4-0 record and ranked No. 14 in the nation, but it suffered an 89-61 loss to Louisville Wednesday and an 89-73 loss to Gonzaga Thursday. Providence had a 5-0 record before losing 79-77 to Oklahoma and 69-58 to Davidson.
*** LIVE BLOG:Once the game starts, CLICK HERE to read our live blog written by Jack Ankony, including live updates, highlights and thoughts on the game.
Bart Torvik rankings
Projected score: Indiana 72, Providence 67. Torvik gives the Hoosiers a 68% chance of victory.
Indiana Hoosiers
Providence Friars
Meet the coaches
How does a team shake off its first loss of the season while facing a top-15 program that also has a lot to prove following its first defeat?
Ask Gonzaga men’s basketball head coach Mark Few — he and his coaching staff appeared to have all the answers to guide the Bulldogs to an 89-73 victory over No. 14 Indiana on Thursday to advance to the Battle 4 Atlantis fifth-place game.
The Zags (5-1) didn’t waste any time putting their overtime defeat to West Virginia behind them, as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the Hoosiers (4-2) in the first couple of minutes before taking a double-digit lead into halftime. Oumar Ballo kept Indiana in the fight early on to make it a 1-point game nearing the 9-minute mark in the first half, yet despite the former Zag’s efforts, Gonzaga capitalized on second-chance opportunities and transition points to go on a 21-2 scoring run, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Khalif Battle. The sixth-year guard led his team with 16 points and grabbed five rebounds, while five of his teammates scored in double figures, thanks in large part to Ryan Nembhard’s 13 assists.
With the win, Gonzaga will play the winner of Providence/Davidson in the fifth place on Friday at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST.
Here are three takeaways from the victory.
BULLDOGS IMPOSE THEIR WILL DOWN LOW
Braden Huff noted the Bulldogs didn’t have much of a presence in the paint in their loss to the Mountaineers. The Zags went a season-worst 19-of-44 (43.2%) from inside the arc and never established themselves on the low block, instead settling for 3-pointers when their first action didn’t lead to a score from 5 feet out.
Ballo and 6-foot-9 forward Mackenzie Mgbako posed a different kind of challenge, though, despite a hot start from Ballo, who scored 17 of his team’s first 31 points, Gonzaga’s bigs controlled the interior and the boards in totality. The Zags outrebounded the Hoosiers, 42-27, and outscored their opposition, 23-4, in second-chance points.
“Our bigs did a good job,” Few said after the game. “That’s the first team we played that’s kind of like us — likes to throw the ball inside a lot, really ducks in and really puts a lot of foul pressure on you. We were in massive foul trouble in the first half. Got in even more trouble in the second half. But they kept playing. They kept repeating and moving them in and out of there, and they were able to stay in the game.”
Ballo gave the Hoosiers a much-needed spark after they fell into an 8-0 hole. The 7-foot-tall, 237-pound redshirt senior nailed a few right-handed hook shots to put his team in position to compete with the No. 3-ranked team in the country. Ballo led all scorers with 25 points.
“Clearly he’s gotten a lot better,” Few said of Ballo. “I mean that was what six years ago [when Ballo arrived to Gonzaga as a freshman]? He’s older, he’s gotten in great shape. I’m happy for him. That right-handed hook was going tonight but we were OK with that. We just didn’t want him to get a whole lot of stuff between us and the basket.”
Michael Ajayi had his best game as a Zag, recording 15 points and nine rebounds on 5-of-9 from the field, while Ike finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Ben Gregg added 13 points off the bench and held down the center spot while Ike and Huff had to sit on the bench due to foul trouble in the second half.
AN EMPHATIC RESPONSE
Gonzaga’s players looked ready to flush away the dramatic loss to WVU the moment they stepped off the floor Wednesday. Having a short memory is somewhat necessary when playing three games in as many days, regardless of the final score. Safe to say the Bulldogs embraced that mentality heading into Thursday’s consolation game.
“There’s a lot you say in a 24-hour period like that,” Few said in regard to how he addressed his team in wake of their loss to WVU. “We talked about how in a game like the other night, comes down to one or two possessions, we’ve got to be able to execute, especially on defense. I didn’t feel like we played very good ‘D’ last night.”
The Zags flipped the script on that end of the floor against the Hoosiers. While Ballo was rolling down low, his teammates weren’t creating much on offense from the perimeter. Indiana’s starting backcourt of Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle combined for 12 points on 4-of-14 from the field. Malik Reneau, who led the way with 21 points against the Cardinals, put up a goose egg in the first half before ending the night with a quiet six points in 24 minutes of action.
ONTO PROVIDENCE/DAVIDSON
The Zags can enjoy the rest of their Thanksgiving holiday while they await their opponent for tomorrow’s fifth-place game at 5:30 p.m. PST. Gonzaga will face the winner of Providence (5-1) vs. Davidson (4-1) to conclude its trip in The Bahamas.
The Friars nearly completed a wild comeback against Oklahoma in the final minutes of their quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday. The Sooners led by nine points with 44 seconds left but missed free throws and a traveling violation made it a 2-point game in the final seconds. Wesley Cardet Jr. had 17 points, Jayden Pierre and Bensley Joseph 16 each and Corey Floyd Jr. put up 13 for Providence.
The Wildcats got blown out, 104-71, by No. 24 Arizona on Wednesday. Connor Kochera tallied 20 points and Bobby Durbin nailed five 3s for Davidson, which went 38% from the field.
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Indiana
How to watch Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Indiana Hoosiers: TV channel, live stream for Battle 4 Atlantis game
A pair of AP Top 25 teams look to bounce back from their first letdowns of the season on Thursday when No. 3 Gonzaga takes on No. 14 Indiana in the Battle 4 Atlantis event from The Bahamas.
The Bulldogs (5-1) were less than 30 seconds away from advancing to the semifinal round before West Virginia mounted a swift comeback in the final seconds behind Tucker DeVries, who sunk two free throws in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime. The Mountaineers held the Zags to 2-of-10 from the field in the extra period to come away victorious, 84-78, over the No. 3-ranked program in the country. Gonzaga also led by eight points at halftime and by double-digits at the 18:35 mark in the second half.
Braden Huff’s 19 points led his team, followed by Khalif Battle with 16 points. Javon Small scored a season-high 31 points for West Virginia, which went 14-of-28 (50.0%) from the field in the second half.
The Hoosiers (4-1) are looking to rebound from Wednesday’s 89-61 loss to Louisville in their Battle 4 Atlantis opener on Wednesday. Malik Reneau led Indiana with 21 points while former Zag Oumar Ballo recorded 11 points and six rebounds.
The Bulldogs and Hoosiers have met four times before, all at neutral sites, with the series split at 2-2. The two last met in the 2008 Hartford Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the Zags came out on top, 70-54.
The winner of Thursday’s game plays at noon PST on Friday in the third-place game. Loser plays at 8 a.m. PST in the seventh-place game.
HOW TO WATCH GONZAGA VS. INDIANA
Who: Gonzaga and Indiana meet in the consolation bracket of the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis
When: 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. EST | Thursday, Nov. 28
Where: Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort | Nassau, Bahamas
TV: ESPN2
2024 Battle 4 Atlantis Schedule:
Nov. 28 – Semifinals
Noon ET – Louisville vs. West Virginia
2:30 p.m. ET – Gonzaga vs. Indiana
5 p.m. ET – Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner
7:30 p.m. ET – Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser (consolation bracket)
Nov. 29 – Championship
11 a.m. ET – Seventh-Place Game
3 p.m. ET – Third-Place Game
5:30 p.m. ET – Championship Game
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