BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana basketball is back in action on Sunday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall when the Hoosiers (1-0, 0-0) welcome in the Army Black Knights (0-2, 0-0) to Bloomington.
Indiana is five days removed from a season-opening escape over Florida Gulf Coast, a game in which it needed a 27-15 run over the final 10-plus minutes of the contest to emerge victorious by a six-point margin. The Hoosiers, for most parts of the night, still looked like a team trying to establish their sense of identity and understand how they jell with one another on the floor together, but Indiana ultimately came out of the evening with the result it was desiring.
Army, on the other hand, has opened the season on the wrong foot. Consecutive losses to Marist at home and Stonehill on the road have the Black Knights winless heading into Sunday's contest, which serves as the nightcap of a loaded day for Indiana's athletic department as a whole.
Before the ball is tipped at 7 p.m. eastern this evening, preview game two of the Indiana season with everything you need to know about the contest.
Opponent Profile
Head Coach: Kevin Kuwik
1st Season as Head Coach
Career Record: 0-2, same at Army
Kuwik is a college basketball coaching stalwart in the midwest, having occupied multiple different assistant and off-court roles since 1998. Now, Kuwik has his first head coaching gig as the leader of the Black Knight program.
A Distinguished Military Graduate in Notre Dame's Army ROTC program, Kuwik was able to serve 10 years in the military as he began his coaching career. While coaching at Ohio University in 2004, he took an 18-month leave of absence to serve with the 113th Engineer Battalion of the Indiana National Guard in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He earned a Bronze Star for meritorious service while serving in Iraq, and was granted an honorable discharge from the armed forces in 2006.
Upon his return to the Bobcat bench in 2005, he assisted in propelling Ohio to a 2005 MAC Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Before assuming the West Point job in late March of this calendar year, Kuwik was an assistant under Thad Matta at Butler. His career stops also include Davidson, Dayton, Ohio State, Saint Michael's College and Christian Brothers, in addition to his tenures at Butler and Ohio.
Last Season
The Black Knights finished the 2022-23 campaign with a 17-16 mark, including a 10-8 mark in Patriot League play. Army would finish the season with a second round loss to Colgate in the conference tournament.
KenPom rated the Black Knights as the No. 248 team in the country last season following it's conclusion, with metrically average-to-below-average play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. However, it's effective field goal percentage mark of 53.8 percent as a team last season was 34th-best among all Division I teams last season, and the 54.7 percent shooting mark on two-point baskets was 26th-best.
Contrarily, while the efficiency of aspects of the Army offense were among the nation's best, the Black Knights' inability to force turnovers from opponents ranked among the worst in the sport last season – forcing turnovers on just 15.6 percent of opponent possessions. That number was only good enough for 324th-best in the country.
Unfortunately, though, these numbers are not representative of the attack the Black Knight's sport this season.
This Season
Army's roster is completely turned over this season after losing all four of it's top scorers from a season ago. Guard Jalen Rucker, a three-year starter and the leading scorer (16.6 ppg) from the previous campaign, entered the transfer portal at the end of May after a First Team All-Patriot League appearance. The next two leading scorers from last year's team, Patriot League Rookie of the Year Ethan Roberts and fellow freshman Coleton Benson, also found new homes out of the transfer portal this past offseason – Roberts at Drake, Benson at Texas State. Then, the Black Knights lost Chris Mann to graduation.
Through Saturday's games, Army's on-court struggles have shown it – KenPom's 338th-ranked team in the country heading into the contest. The Black Knights tote an adjusted offensive efficiency of just 89.6, which ranks 359th out of 362 teams in college basketball. Having taken the floor twice this season, the Knights have yet to find a double-digit per game point scorer. The Black Knights play at one of the nation's slowest paces, and have an analytically below-average defense that doesn't do it's woeful offense any favors, either.
Army turns the ball over on just shy of a quarter of their possessions, and it's effective field goal percentage, turnover percentage, two-point percentage, free throw percentage, and non-steal turnover percentage all rank sub-300 on KenPom.
– Senior guard Jared Cross didn't start in either of the first two contests for Army, but he's the leading scorer and has played the most minutes for the Black Knights so far. He's made 5-of-11 three-point attempts this season, but is averaging just 9.5 points per game thus far.
– The one returning starter from last year's team is senior forward and Indianapolis native Charlie Peterson, formerly of North Central High School. Peterson is averaging 5.0 points and 7.0 rebounds through the initial two contests of the season, but has seen the floor for just 17.5 minutes per thus far. Five other Black Knight players have seen more minutes so far this season.
Storylines to monitor…
Will Indiana assert themselves earlier, if at all?
Florida Gulf Coast was no slouch by any stretch of the imagination, but Indiana was still a more talented team on paper. That will be the case for most of these early season non-conference bouts at home, tune-ups used to discern where a team stands and what needs to be adjusted going forward. Indiana would've like to have had a more comfortable start to the season last Tuesday, but the Hoosiers should be more apt to do so on Sunday evening.
The Black Knights are reeling, still looking to get their feet under them with a new head coach and a completely overhauled roster that lost the primary producers from a season ago. Indiana should find themselves excelling in multiple facets of Sunday's contest.
Can Indiana begin to see more production from CJ Gunn, Kaleb Banks and Mackenzie Mgbako?
When Indiana closed the final quarter of play against Florida Gulf Coast, it was as much about the three-guard lineup Indiana had suddenly found success with as it was about the ineffective contributions the Hoosiers were getting from Mgbako, Banks and Gunn.
"My concern is CJ and Kaleb and Mackenzie," Mike Woodson said after Tuesday's game. "All three of those guys are capable of scoring too, so when they're in the game I got to get them comfortable number one, and they got to figure out what the hell we're doing from a defensive standpoint. A lot of that was missed cues on their part.
"I got a lot of work to do, put it that way."
Given the respective gap between the two teams, Indiana should likely find themselves with more leeway to make mistakes and earn valuable on-court reps against the visiting Black Knights. The trio are a group that Indiana will rely upon to be able to elevate their efforts on both sides of the floor, but as Woodson alluded to, Indiana hasn't got what it wanted from them so far.
Quick Hitters
Who?: Indiana (1-0, 0-0 in Big Ten play) vs. Army (0-2, 0-0 in the Patriot League play)
Series History: No prior meetings.
When?: Sunday, November 12, 7:00 p.m. ET
Where?: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
TV: Big Ten Network: Matt Shumacker (play-by-play), Robbie Hummel (color analyst)
Radio: IU Radio Network, Don Fischer (play-by-play), Errek Suhr (analyst), John Herrick
Vegas: Indiana -26.5, o/u 133.5
KenPom: Indiana 77-54, 98% chance of victory
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