For the first time this season, the Kansas men’s basketball team is going on the road.
That seems like a strange statement to make given that KU has already played four neutral-site games and even took on Illinois in Champaign for a charity exhibition prior to the season. But it’s true: Saturday’s clash with Indiana in Bloomington, 11:30 a.m. Central Time in Assembly Hall, will be the Jayhawks’ first true road matchup of the year. It’s time for them, as Kevin McCullar Jr. put it Thursday, to “stay tight, stay (in) tight huddles, stay on the same page, and just be a unit.”
“There’s nothing like going in there with your brothers, 15 guys going against 16,000 in there,” McCullar said.
The initial road game comes somewhat later than in the last couple years, as KU played the Border Showdown in Columbia on Dec. 10 last season and at St. John’s on Dec. 3 in 2021-22. The difference this season is that the Jayhawks got a taste of a road environment in Champaign, which they normally wouldn’t in the preseason.
But for KU coach Bill Self, who coached at Indiana during his tenure at Illinois, there’s no road experience quite like Bloomington. On his “Hawk Talk” radio show Wednesday, he said, “I have never been in a place that I thought was a better home court when we were on the road.”
“I think it’s probably designed to maintain the sound,” he added Thursday. “It’s loud … I played there before and we couldn’t communicate, it was so loud. It’s a lot like Allen when it’s turned up, and I’m sure it’ll be turned up Saturday.”
KU just wrapped a lengthy post-Thanksgiving homestand with a 73-64 win over Missouri last Saturday. Indiana played its last game a week ago too, but the difference is that the Hoosiers have played just one game at Assembly Hall since Nov. 16.
Since then, after starting the year 3-0, they lost by 20 to UConn at Madison Square Garden, beat Louisville there the next day, took down Harvard in Indianapolis, dipped into their conference schedule with victories over Maryland and Michigan and then got shellacked by Auburn at Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta, 104-76, last Saturday.
IU will be hoping for redemption in a long-awaited return to campus, as well as revenge for last year’s 84-62 defeat at Allen Fieldhouse.
As usual, the Hoosiers have plenty of talent. The biggest name is sophomore center Kel’el Ware, a 7-footer and Oregon transfer who is averaging 16.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him and Hunter Dickinson cancel each other out, as Dickinson and Donovan Clingan did when the Jayhawks faced UConn.
“Playing to his quick-twitch explosiveness, I think, will be a big key,” Self said. “Hunter isn’t really a power player, but he can get deep post touches and score down there, and we need to do a better job of getting him involved in those situations.”
Fellow sophomore Malik Reneau, a forward who Self said is “as hard as anybody to guard” on Indiana, is scoring well inside with 14.8 points per game. The frontcourt also features another familiar name in freshman Mackenzie Mgbako, a onetime KU target who started the year slow but has scored in double digits in each of the last four games.
The backcourt looks a little shakier as of now with sixth-year senior point guard Xavier Johnson, who suffered a season-ending injury at KU last year, hurt once again and his status uncertain. Freshman Gabe Cupps has been starting alongside senior Trey Galloway.
The Hoosiers have not forced turnovers well defensively, at about 11.6 per game (a very similar number to KU’s) and just three in the blowout loss to Auburn. They also have been unremarkable on the glass outside of Ware, which presents a challenge against the nation’s current leading rebounder in Dickinson.
Indiana Hoosiers (7-2, 2-0 Big Ten Conference) vs. No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks (9-1, 0-0 Big 12 Conference)
• Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana, 11:30 a.m. Central Time
• Broadcast: CBS
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)
Keep an eye out
In their sights: It was already pretty clear throughout the Border Showdown that Missouri was going after KU’s bench players defensively every time they came in the game, and Tigers guard Sean East II made it explicit postgame when he said, “Going into the game, we knew that Timberlake and (Furphy), they wasn’t as good defenders as other people on the floor, so we was trying to get the iso or matchup and just exploit it.” Self acknowledged this, noting that going at those players with ball screens to force switches is “something that people will do until we do get better” and something that happened to Jalen Wilson in 2021-22 and Gradey Dick in 2022-23.
Back in the Big Ten: Saturday’s game should have a familiar feel for Dickinson, who was 2-1 at Assembly Hall during his tenure at Michigan, most recently losing 75-73 in overtime last March. Dickinson averaged 20.7 points and 10 rebounds in those previous games. As during his trip back to Illinois for the charity exhibition in October, and even at the Champions Classic in Chicago, he should expect plenty of vociferous booing on what is a “stripe out” night for the Indiana fans (sections will be colored in alternating red and white). Of course, he has said that negative attention from the crowd makes games that much more fun for him. The Jayhawks will need everything he’s got as he takes on Ware.
Shooter: KJ Adams, not known for his shooting outside of extremely close range, started draining floaters against Missouri when the Tigers put his man play incredibly far back in order to make it more difficult for Dickinson to receive passes in the lane. As Adams said afterward, “I guess I just have to start hitting those shots until they guard me.” Will Indiana guard him, or will they be willing to give up the same shots Missouri did in exchange for making life more difficult for KU’s other starters? (Self also said Thursday that Adams missed practice as he was under the weather, but was hopeful he would return Friday.)
Off-kilter observation
McCullar played and won an NCAA Tournament game at Assembly Hall when he helped lift Texas Tech over Utah State during the 2020-21 season.
