Indiana basketball kick starts its 2024-25 campaign on Wednesday night at home by welcoming SIU Edwardsville into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana (0-0, 0-0 in Big Ten play) is looking to start the season on the right foot after falling short of the NCAA Tournament a year ago. SIU Edwardsville (1-0, 0-0 in OVC play) enters Wednesday night's clash having already played a game this season, handily dispatching Westminster in the season opener.
Before Wednesday nights' tipoff in Assembly Hall, preview the matchup between the Hoosiers and the Cougars.
HEAD COACH PROFILE
Head Coach: Brian Barone
Record: 64-91 in sixth season overall, 64-91 in sixth season at SIU Edwardsville
Barone, who took over the SIUE program back in March of 2019, has guided the Cougars to the team's most successful seasons at the Division I level the past two years.
Prior to the 2022-23 season, SIUE had never finished a season at the Division I level with a winning record. That changed after Barone and the Cougars won a Division I program-record 19 games during the 2022-23 campaign. The following year, last season, Barone and the Cougars finished above .500 again, tallying 17 wins on the season.
Basketball runs deep in Barone's family. His dad, Tony Sr., played at Duke before becoming spending time as the head coach at Creighton, Texas A&M and the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA. Barone's brother, Tony Jr., has spent time as an assistant coach at the college level and as a Director of Scouting in the NBA.
Barone's coaching journey has included stops at the JUCO ranks with Butler Community College, Garden City Community College and Central Florida Community College.
His first experience on a Division I staff came as an assistant coach at Illinois State. He spent four seasons with the Redbirds before joining Tom Crean's staff at Marquette as the coordinator of basketball operations and video coordinator. Barone followed his head coach to Indiana when Crean took over the Hoosiers' program in 2008. Barone's final stop prior to SIUE came at Green Bay.
As a player, Barone spent two seasons at Texas A&M, where he played for his father. He then transferred to Marquette to play out the rest of his eligibility.
THIS SEASON
SIUE played an exhibition contest against Missouri Baptist on Sunday, Oct. 27. The Cougars took down the Spartans 87-56 win that clash.
To open the regular season, SIUE hosted Westminster -- no, not the dog show. The Cougars dominated from start to finish, winning 95-42.
As a team, the Cougars shot 47.6% from the floor just 6-of-22 (27.3%) from 3-point range. They started strong from downtown, going 4-for-11 (36.4%) in the first half before shooting 2-for-11 (18.2%) in the final 20 minutes of the game.
Despite playing with with a smaller lineup, and having no true big man, SIUE dominated in the paint against Westminster, out-scoring the Griffin's 60 to 4 in the painted area.
KEY PLAYERS
- Guard Ray'Sean Taylor: The Cougars' lead guard, Ray'Sean Taylor does it all for SIUE. Taylor finished the 2023-24 season third on the team in scoring, averaging 13.6 points per game. Now in his fifth season with the Cougars, Taylor enters the 2024-25 season fifth all-time on SIUE's scoring leaderboard. He's also second all-time in the school's history for 3-pointers made. Taylor, a 6-foot-1 guard is far from just a scorer. He tallied 15 points -- which was tied for a team-high -- in SIUE's season opening win over Westminster, Taylor also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and a team-best six assists in the first game of the season.
- Guard Brian Taylor II: A season ago, Brian Taylor II found himself playing a limited role off the bench for SIUE. Taylor appeared in 30 games for the Cougars last season, but he only averaged 2.8 points per game. This year, Taylor has been inserted into the starting lineup. He played a team-high 20 minutes in SIUE's season opening win over Westminster, scoring 15 points, going 5-of-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range. Standing at 6-foot-4, and given SIUE's guard-heavy lineup, Taylor isn't asked to do much in the ball handling and playmaking department.
- Forward Darrion Baker: After beginning his college career at Akron, redshirt freshman Darrion Baker may garner some serious playing time this year at SIUE. In the first game of the year, 14 different Cougars saw the floor, while 13 of them played more than 12 minutes. Of those that saw the floor against Westminster, Baker earned the most minutes as the team's "big" man. Baker is just 6-foot-8 and 225 pounds, however his 15 minutes in the opener paced all of the Cougars' 6-foot-7-plus players. Baker posted eight points and snared five rebounds in game one, shooting 4-of-6 from the field.
STORYLINES TO MONITOR
Can Indiana improve its 3-point shooting...
3-point shooting has long been a concern for Indiana under Mike Woodson, and that is once again the case heading into the 2024-25 season. Across the Hoosiers' two exhibition contests against Tennessee and Marian, Indiana has gone 12-of-45 (26.7%) from distance. Through those two exhibitions, the Hoosiers have taken more 3-pointers than they did a season ago, yet those shots weren't falling during the preseason for Indiana. Forward Luke Goode was brought over via the transfer portal to help the Hoosiers in the shooting department, but he went just 2-for-12 in Indiana's pair of exhibitions. Goode's percentages should improve, as should Indiana's as a team, but it's still something to keep an eye on in the early going for the Hoosiers.
Will Oumar Ballo/Malik Reneau dominate in the post...
SIUE is undersized, Cougars play with four guards around a singular forward. On paper, SIUE doesn't have anybody that should be able to matchup with Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau down in the painted area. Much has been made about Indiana's desire to push the pace more this season. However, the recipe for success for the Hoosiers against the Cougars on Wednesday may be to force-feed Ballo and Reneau down low.
Is Indiana healthy...
Both Jakai Newton and Trey Galloway have been battling back to full strength this offseason. Both Newton and Galloway played against Marian in the second exhibition for Indiana. Head coach Mike Woodson said after the game that Galloway "passed the test" in terms of how he looked. Woodson noted that Galloway will likely see a bigger workload during Indiana's season opener against SIUE. Meanwhile, Woodson mentioned that Newton was sore following the exhibition versus Marian. Kanaan Carlyle's status for Indiana's season opener against SIUE is also up in the air. Carlyle missed Indiana's final preseason tune-up with bruised ribs. Anthony Leal was also held out of the Hoosiers' final preseason game against the Knights. It's unclear whether Leal will be available for Indiana against SIUE.
QUICK HITTERS
Who: No. 17 Indiana (0-0) vs. SIU Edwardsville (1-0)
Series History: Indiana leads 2-0 (Last Meeting: 83-60 Indiana won on Dec. 2, 2016 in Bloomington)
When: Nov. 6, 2024, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
TV: Big Ten Network: Connor Onion (Play-by-Play), Robbie Hummel (Analyst)
Radio: IU Radio Network: Don Fischer (Play-by-Play), Errek Suhr (Analyst), John Herrick
Vegas: Indiana -26.5, over/under at 148.5
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