Big Ten Basketball: Illinois rises, Iowa falls in latest power rankings
10-2 (1-1). . Hoosiers . 7. team. 482.
This is a team that despite the record, has looked very inconsistent at times. It certainly isn’t star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis’ fault, averaging a team-leading 19.3 ppg and 8.5 rpg through 12 games and looks every bit of a Big Ten Basketball Player of the Year contender. Forward Race Thompson (10.9 ppg and 7.8 rpg), has also been as good as you can hope so far this season.
The reason for the inconsistencies with the Hoosiers has been due to the guard play, led by Pittsburgh transfer Xavier Johnson. He’s third on the team with 10.1 ppg and leads them with 4.3 apg but has several games of 5+ turnovers, including at the most inopportune times.
There also hasn’t been much scoring from the backcourt outside of starter Parker Stewart (7.8 ppg). Miller Kopp is shooting around 40% from three-point range and freshman Tamar Bates is averaging around 6.0 ppg in 20 mpg played off the bench.
This is a team that plays around 10 guys a night but they’ve been looking for more from guys such as Rob Phiniese and Anthony Leal, particularly when the frontcourt isn’t carrying the load. Of all the teams in the Big Ten, Indiana is the one (along with Penn State and Purdue for different reasons) that hasn’t under or overachieved at this point. We’ll see if more league games will change how the Hoosiers are viewed.