BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana men’s basketball entered the season with hope and expectation that a return to the NCAA Tournament was imminent and that the Hoosiers might find their way among the national powers again.

Indiana entered Battle 4 Atlantis with the No. 14 ranking in the polls. A preseason victory at Tennessee seemed to justify those hopes.

However, Battle 4 Atlantis proved to be a humbling experience for the Hoosiers. An 89-61 loss to Louisville in the opening game was a shocker that sent much of the Indiana fanbase into immediate angst. Indiana got a chance to make amends with a quality win over Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs rolled 89-73 in another heavy defeat for the Hoosiers.

Indiana avoided an 0-3 Battle 4 Atlantis performance with an 89-73 win over Providence, but the damage was already done. Indiana did not get the quality wins it needed in the Bahamas and Monday’s NCAA NET rankings put Indiana in 71st – well off the pace needed to be considered a NCAA Tournament team.

Indiana (5-2) can make up for none of this in its nonconference matchup with Sam Houston at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, but the Hoosiers need to demonstrate – if not to themselves, then to the fans – that they are proceeding down a path that can lead them out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves.

One thing is certain – Indiana has removed any room for slip-ups. Without any quality nonconference wins in the Bahamas, the Hoosiers have to run the table against their mid-major nonconference foes. If they lose even one of those games, even a couple of quality wins in the Big Ten play won’t necessarily make up for it.

Here are three things to watch for from the Hoosiers when they face off against the Bearkats:

1. Can Indiana Win By A Large Margin?

It’s sad, to me at least, that margin of victory has become such an important part of how metrics are used by various rankings systems and how it’s baked into the NCAA’s NET rankings.

The NCAA claims it doesn’t use margin of victory data, but it does use offensive and defensive efficiencies, which are absolutely influenced by margin of victory, which in turn, is influenced by strength of schedule.

“This thing’s become a complete numbers game,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said in a Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch story in February. “Unfortunately, I think it takes away from the sportsmanship. … You’ve got to try and beat the heck out of people just to improve your NET.”

Unfortunately, that’s the way the criteria works in 2024-25 too, so scores shall be run up.

The expected victory margin over Sam Houston is 14 points. The Hoosiers need to exceed that and push the margin as high as they can. Should it be that way? Not in any kind of sporting way it shouldn’t, but the Hoosiers have to play the game, especially given that they lack quality wins elsewhere.

2. Will Indiana Take More 3-Point Shots?

In the 2023-24 season, Indiana endured a lot of criticism for not taking 3-point shots. Indiana ranked 273rd in 3-point shooting percentage in 2024 at 32.4%.

While the construction of the roster could be, and was, criticized for not having enough shooters, once the season started, it didn’t make much sense for Indiana to foist threes it couldn’t consistently make, especially when it had high-percentage producers like Kel’El Ware and Malik Reneau near the rim.

So far in the 2024-25 season, Indiana has been similarly dependent on 2-point shots. Unlike last season, the Hoosiers don’t need to be.

This was mentioned in the How To Watch story, but it bears repeating. Of the 58.9 shots per game Indiana takes, 41.3 of them are from 2-point range. Indiana ranks 305th and 340th nationally in 3-point shots made (6.3) and 3-point shots attempted (17.6).

With last year’s roster? This stood to reason, but not with this one.

The Hoosiers rank 105th nationally in 3-point percentage at 35.8%. That puts the Hoosiers in the top third of Division I in 3-point shooting.

One understands the temptation to throw the ball into the paint to Oumar Ballo and Reneau – both can be very difficult to stop in the paint. However, Indiana needs to take better advantage of what appears to be a good shooting team.

3. Can Indiana Run Sam Houston Off The 3-point Line?

Sam Houston (4-4) will not hesitate to fire away from long range – and for good reason. The Bearkats rank 17th nationally in 3-point percentage at 40.3%. Lamar Wilkerson, Dorian Finister and Cameron Huefner all convert at better than 40% from long range.

Indiana has done a good job in 3-point percentage defense (29.9%, ranked 95th nationally), but a bad job in preventing 3-point attempts to begin with. Indiana opponents have averaged 26.3 attempts per game, which puts the Hoosiers in the bottom quarter of Division I.

Indiana has done a poor job of preventing opponents’ shots of any kind (Indiana is giving up almost 64 field goal attempts per game, a bottom 30 Division I ranking), but against the dead-eye Bearkats? The 3-point defense has to be on-point.