Thoughts on an 87-71 win against the Gamecocks:

Three games in the books for the Hoosiers. Three double-digit victories recorded.

Yet, it’s clear this team has a lot of room to grow. The consistency from possession to possession isn’t there yet, and the unfamiliarity of all the new faces despite the talent bump shows. The defense turns up in spurts. So does the offense. You waited for Indiana to go up 20-plus in this game and its bench to get playing time to close it out. But the Hoosiers couldn’t throw the knockout blow. The Gamecocks hung around and pulled within single digits at nine with 5:32 to go, their first time that close since the 2:39 mark of the first half.

But Indiana never let them get any closer. As South Carolina fouled — sometimes intentionally, sometimes not — Indiana was masterful at the line to shut the door. The Hoosiers went 14-of-14 on free throws over the final 5:18 of the contest. That included four makes from Oumar Ballo, a career 56.5 percent free-throw shooter entering today’s game. In a foul-heavy contest, Indiana hit 27-of-33 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe.

Despite 87 points (a scoring output it bested just twice all of last season) and a double-digit victory, Mike Woodson voiced plenty of displeasure after the game.

On his offense: “We scored 87 points and I don’t know how we got there because I just didn’t think we played good offense tonight even though we made shots from the 3-point line.”

Woodson offered this when pressed to go deeper on his assessment: “Just better movement offensively. We did it in spurts and when we did it in spurts it looked pretty good, the ball movement from side to side, getting easy looks. But then we got stagnant. We went up 15 points. From that point on we didn’t play very well from an offensive standpoint.”

On his defense against the drive: “I said this in the locker room after the game. We got to get better at defending off the bounce.”

On his defense against the 3-point shot: “When guys are making 3s you can sit and shake your head. My thing is you’re not close enough if [the opponent is] able to just catch and shoot the basketball. We gotta get better in that area.”

Still, there was plenty to like in this one. Myles Rice played more in control and added a scoring punch. The Washington State transfer made South Carolina pay for its drop coverage against him in high ball-screen action in the first half, as he dropped in jumpers with the Gamecocks’ big sagging. Rice also got hot from deep, hitting 3-of-4 in the first 20 minutes. He had 17 at half and 23 for the game, leading all scorers. His backcourt mate, Kanaan Carlyle, had his best offensive outing as a Hoosier and continues to show doggedness on defense. Carlyle went 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from deep for 12 points.

The Stanford transfer threw down an impressive alley-oop from Rice in transition and had an unconventional 3-pointer from halfcourt that was intended as a lob to Mackenzie Mgbako. Mgbako continues to fill it up (17 points, 5-of-8 from the field, 1-of-2 from 3-point range, 6-of-7 from the line). Ballo pulled down 13 boards, including three on the offensive end to help keep possessions alive. Trey Galloway again provided a spark off the bench (11 points, two assists). The Hoosiers also shot 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from deep and completely neutralized Collin Murray-Boyles (two points, fouled out), who had been on a tear to start the season.

The fact that there’s this much to pick apart in a 16-point victory against a solid high-major opponent ranked No. 60 on KenPom entering the game shows just how high Indiana’s ceiling is this season.

And with the Battle 4 Atlantis on deck, the Hoosiers could get a shot at showing what they can do against even better competition.

Filed to: South Carolina Gamecocks

If there’s anything to take away from their three SEC wins, you should never count out the Missouri Tigers.

When Vanderbilt forced the game into overtime, they found a way.

When starting quarterback Brady Cook was in the hospital as the offense struggled against Auburn, they found a way.

When Oklahoma scored a go-ahead touchdown with two minutes left on a recovered fumble, the Tigers found a way.

“They’ve all been uniquely different,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a press conference this week. “They’ve all had a little bit different flavor to it. So, I think it’s just all three phases of the game and needing to work together to find ways to win.”

Missouri enters their Week 12 as 14-point underdogs. Cook was listed as doubtful on Friday night.

Missouri has been undefeated at home, but its roadtrips have gone about as good as David Spade and Chris Farley’s in “Tommy Boy.” The Tigers ran into College Station, Tx, undefeated and left maimed as a team and in public perception, dropping 12 spots in the rankings. A trip to Alabama in Week 9 ended with Cook suffering a second injury as Missouri fell 34-0.

Both of those games were decided by the second quarter, if not earlier. Texas A&M took a 17-0 lead 33 seconds into the second quarter and Alabama took Drew Pyne’s first pass attempt for a interception near the end of the first half.

Though Cook is doubtful and starting wide receiver Mookie Cooper is already listed as out, the Missouri offense have made one step toward full health this week: leading rusher Nate Noel is progessing toward full health. Noel’s availability could be cruical to Missouri’s chances against the Gamecocks.

Noel returned to action for the Tigers in Week 11 against Oklahoma after missing Week 9 against Alabama with a foot injury he suffered in Week 8 against Auburn. But in the win over the Sooners, Noel only took 10 of Missouri’s 46 carries.

“It was feeling pretty good on Saturday,” Noel said of playing with the injury against Oklahoma. “I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to 100%. I’ve been working with my trainers and strength staff and I feel like I’m getting very close to that mark.”

Without Noel in the lineup, Missouri’s run game has relied on the powerful Marcus Carroll and the shifty Jamal Roberts. Against Oklahoma, Roberts rushed for 54 yards on 13 carries and Carroll for 25 yards on 13 carries.

On 46 total carries, Missouri rushed for 135 total yards, with 70 coming in the second half. Establishing the run game in the final two quarters to take the pressure off backup quarterback Drew Pyne, filling in for an injured Brady Cook.

“I thought we did a nice job of finding tough yards,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said of the performance against Oklahoma. “We didn’t run for a ton of yards against [Oklahoma], but we did outrush them in the game, and I thought that was the separator for us.”

Although Missouri’s first two touchdown drives ended with passes from Pyne, the play selection tells the story on how the Tigers made it down to the end zone. On the two drives, Missouri ran 13 runs compared to just five passes. The runs went for 49 yards and the passes for 36.

“We knew we needed to establish the run to take some pressure off of him [Pyne],” Drinkwitz said. “I thought he delivered. I thought he did a really nice job stepping up in the pocket.”

Success from Noel, Carroll or Roberts not only takes pressure off Pyne and yards off his plate, but also forces the defense to be wary of the threat of both the run and pass game. Especially with Missouri’s outside zone blocking scheme that can seamlessly open up the play action pass.

“It opens up so much more in their passing game because of what they’re able to do in the run game,” South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer said on a conference call Wednesday.

Whether it is Pyne at quarterback or Cook is able to make his return against South Carolina, the Missouri run game will be crucial to the Tigers upsetting South Carolina. With Cook dealing with an ankle and hand injury, he’ll likely be limited in some fashion.

Additionally, the Missouri offensive line will doing with an adjustment as Drake Heismeyer fills in for Connor Tollison. The three-year starter suffered a season-ending leg injury in the third quarter against Oklahoma.

Redshirt senior Drake Heismeyer will fill in for Tollison after allowing zero pressures on 14 snaps against Oklahoma. He’s played on special teams each of the last four seasons and has appeared in eight games along the offensive line through his career.

“He’s played quite a bit of football,” Drinkwitz said of Heismeyer. “He just hasn’t played in the role that we’re going to ask him to play now. He’s a very smart young man. … It’s really just going to be about stepping into that moment and owning the moment. We have a lot of confidence in him.”

With uncertainty at center and quarterback, Saturday’s game feels like another for Missouri that will reveal its direction early on. How quickly the Tigers can establish the run game will be a significant part of the direction it heads in.

Against Alabama and Texas A&M, Missouri rushed for a combined 25 yards in the first quarter before everything piled up against the Tigers.

Establishing the run game and early for Missouri will not only open a struggling and hampered pass offense, but also keep the pace of the game in check. Against Texas A&M, Missouri’s average first quarter drive lasted 3.7 plays and just 1:42. Against Alabama, 4.3 plays and 2:50. It wasn’t until the third quarter when Missouri was able to convert a third down without the help of a penalty on Alabama.

A consistent run game to find any sort of rhythm and more first downs early on could be the solution for road games that have quickly gotten out of hand for the Tigers.

No matter who is in at quarterback for Missouri, a consistent, effective rushing attack will be crucial to its offensive attack. A disciplined offensive attack might not have as much fireworks as the thrilling fashion the Tigers have secured victories in so far this season, but its possibly the best half against a dangerous South Carolina team.

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South Carolina, like it has in past weeks, will prepare its defense for the possibility of two different quarterbacks taking the field when it faces Missouri on Saturday.

Brady Cook, who has been the Tigers’ starter for much of the 2024 campaign, is listed as doubtful for this weekend’s game, per the team’s latest injury report. Drew Pyne will play in Cook’s stead should he be unable to suit up.

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But head coach Shane Beamer said the Gamecocks must also be prepared for Missouri’s wide receivers, regardless of who is under center.

“They have arguably the best receiving corps in this conference when you talk about Luther Burden, who will be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, and Theo Wease, who took over that game last week against Oklahoma in the fourth quarter,” Beamer said.

Burden has been a dangerous threat to opposing defenses long before this season began. He was among the SEC’s top wideouts in 2023, finishing third in receiving yards behind only Malik Nabers and Xavier Legette. Over the course of 13 games, Burden caught a team-high 86 passes for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns. That strong play led to him earning All-SEC First Team honors, in addition to being named a Second Team All-American by the Associated Press and CBS Sports.

The start of the 2024 campaign has been less productive for Burden, though. He has been limited to just 505 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 45 receptions in his first nine contests. Burden has yet to record 100-plus yards in a game this season, something he did six times last year.

Despite Burden’s downtick in yardage, he remains a key part of Missouri’s offense. And Beamer said the Tigers have found creative ways to keep him involved on that side of the football.

“They get the ball to Burden in a lot of different ways, whether it be handing the ball off to him on a fourth-and-one the other night against Oklahoma on a jet sweep. Or, they get in an unbalanced formation, and he’s off the ball to the field, and they motion him in, motion him out, and he runs an out-and-up for a 50-yard touchdown,” Beamer said. “They just find different ways to get the ball in his hands.”

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While Burden is a familiar face for Beamer, Wease was on the same sideline as Beamer at one point. Wease spent the first four years of his college football career at Oklahoma. For two of those seasons, Beamer served as the Sooners’ assistant head coach and tight ends coach.

Wease caught 49 passes for 682 yards and six scores during his first season with the Tigers in 2023. And he is well on his way to surpassing those totals this year. He has recorded 552 yards and three touchdowns across 41 total catches.

Wease’s physical attributes make him a difficult player to defend, Beamer said.

“Wease is a really big receiver, also. He’ll catch a ball, and then he does a really good job of getting vertical,” Beamer said. “He’s a hard guy to bring down. He’s a twitchy, shifty, tall, big, athletic guy.”

Beamer understands that holding either Burden or Wease to zero catches will be a tall task. But keeping them from turning routine plays into big gains will be a key to success for South Carolina’s defense.

“They’re going to get their catches. It’d be great if I looked at the stat sheet after the game Saturday night, and they didn’t have any catches. Is that realistic? Probably not. What we’ve got to do is do a really good job tackling. “It’s really impressive watching those two guys, what they do once they catch the ball,” Beamer said.

“Let’s limit their catches. But when they do catch the ball, make sure we’re limiting what they do (with) yards after the catch and after contact.”