The "second season" is about to get underway with the start of Big Ten play beginning for the Indiana Hoosiers as they will travel to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Indiana had a non-conference schedule that got off to a bit of a shaky start with two loses in Maui followed by a loss at Duke, but then they righted the ship and got a win against Notre Dame along with having a perfect record at Assembly Hall.
The start of Big Ten play could be a welcome sight for the Hoosiers as they are favored in their first nine conference games by KenPom and begin with one of the worst Big Ten teams in Rutgers on Wednesday afternoon.
Scouting Report: Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights are coached by Eddie Jordan who is in his third year at the helm of the program and there has been little encouragement by their results as of yet. This season they are just 6-7 and are battling injuries to freshman big man Ibrahima Diallo and sophomore Shaquille Dorson. In addition, Rutgers has a sizable talent gap with other teams in the Big Ten that will make for quite the challenge this season.
If there is one man for Rutgers that can get it done, it is last week's Big Ten freshman of the week and top 100 recruit Corey Sanders. Sanders averages a team high 14 points along with 3.6 assists per game along with hitting 38 percent of his three pointers. If Rutgers is going to have success against Indiana or this season in general, Sanders is the man that will lead them.
Senior Omari Greer and sophomore Mike Williams also are in the back court with Sanders. Greer is a great three point shooter hitting over 57 percent of his threes while Williams has scored in double figures in five of his last six games. Greg Lewis is the man in the front court for Rutgers and leads the team in blocked shots.
Indiana's Keys For Victory
Indiana shouldn't have too much trouble with Rutgers as the last time they played them they won by 30 points, but Indiana hasn't fared too well away from home this season. It has been well publicized that Indiana has struggled on defense and that is a big part of playing road basketball especially in the conference.
Turning the ball over and not playing good defense will make it tough to be for Indiana to be successful, but if they can clean both of those things up, they should coast behind their big scorers in senior guard Yogi Ferrell and sophomore James Blackmon Jr. The Hoosiers just have too many weapons for Rutgers to deal with.
Indiana is favored anywhere from 12 to 14 points and it wouldn't be a surprise if the Hoosiers really take it to the Scarlet Knights and open Big Ten play with a bang.