What to Expect: Indiana vs. Kennesaw State
Indiana will conclude non-conference play against Kennesaw State for the second straight season. The Owls are 9-4 and most recently fell 79-70 at UNC Asheville on Dec. 23.
Friday’s game will tip at 6 p.m. ET on B1G+.
Indiana is 9-3, 2-0 in the Big Ten and has plenty of room for growth. But some closer-than-expected wins and blowout losses have IU’s computer numbers out of the range that is to be expected for an NCAA tournament team.
As of Thursday morning, the Hoosiers are 101st in the NCAA NET rankings with just one win inside Quad 1 or 2. There will be ample opportunities to improve the resume in Big Ten play, but Indiana has to keep taking care of business in its guarantee games. To its credit, the Hoosiers have avoided a bad loss and are 6-0 against mid and low-major opponents.
Indiana will wrap up non-conference play against another opponent from a one-bid NCAA tournament league in Kennesaw State from the ASUN.
MEET THE OWLS
The Owls pushed Xavier to the brink in the NCAA tournament last season and finished 26-7 under Amir Abdur-Rahim. The success at Kennesaw State helped Abdur-Rahim land the South Florida job. That opened the door in Kennesaw for long-time Alabama assistant coach Antoine Pettway to land his first head coaching job.
Led by unanimous preseason All-ASUN selection Terrell Burden, the Owls were picked to finish second in the conference in the preseason behind Eastern Kentucky. Kennesaw State is 9-4, with its best win against Northeastern on a neutral court on Nov. 20.
The Owls play the fastest tempo of any team in the country, according to KenPom, with a focus on taking a lot of 3-pointers, drawing fouls, forcing turnovers while also taking care of the ball. Kennesaw State has taken 100 more 3-pointers than its opponents through 13 games and has a turnover differential of 45 (3.5 more turnovers forced than committed per game).
Kennesaw State has four players averaging double figures, with 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Simeon Cottle leading the way at 16.5 per game. Cottle is making 2.4 3-pointers per game and is shooting 33 percent from distance. He’s also an 80.4 percent free-throw shooter.
Burden, a fifth-year senior who is 5-foot-10, isn’t far behind at 13.5 points per game to go along with a team-best 6.2 assists. He’s struggled with his shooting, connecting at just a 25.6 percent clip from distance and 59.3 percent from the free throw line.
Fifth-year big man Demond Robinson is the team’s third-leading scorer at 12.5 points per game and leads the Owls with 8.1 rebounds per contest. He’s pulling down more than three offensive rebounds per game on average, and at 6-foot-9, he can step out to the perimeter and knock down the occasional 3-pointer.
Quincy Ademokoya, who is in his second season with the Owls after transferring from Temple, brings size (he’s 6-foot-6) on the wing. He’s the team’s best 3-point shooter at 38.4 percent and has knocked down 31 triples in 13 games.
Rongie Gordon, a transfer from UAB, has started the last six games at the four. At 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds, he’s a low-usage offensive player who has scored in double figures just once in 13 games.
The key reserves to know for the Owls are Jamel King, Jusaun Holt and RJ Johnson.
King is a 6-foot-7 transfer from West Virginia who averages 9.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in 24.1 minutes per game.
Holt began his career at Alabama, transferred to Georgia and is now at Kennesaw State, his third school in three seasons. Holt has only played in two games as he recently became eligible, but is averaging 7.5 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes per game.
Johnson is a 6-foot-4 freshman from Huntsville, Alabama, who started off the year hot but has struggled recently. Johnson scored in double figures in four of the first five games, but played just nine minutes and went scoreless in last week’s nine-point loss at UNC Asheville.
TEMPO-FREE PREVIEW
All stats are via KenPom.com and are updated through Wednesday’s games.
Kennesaw State ranks first in the country in adjusted tempo and second in average possession length, according to KenPom. The Owls will relentlessly push the pace and attempt to get looks before the defense is set.
Pettway’s team also likes to utilize defensive pressure and it works as its opponents turn the ball over on 20.5 percent of possessions.
But there are two key areas where Kennesaw State figures to struggle against the Hoosiers. Kennesaw State is a poor defensive rebounding team. Owl opponents are grabbing 34.1 percent of their missed shots.
Kennesaw State is also foul prone as it has allowed an opponent free throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 46.2 percent. That plays right into one of Indiana’s biggest strengths, which is getting to the line. The Hoosiers rank 15th in the country in free throw rate at 44.6 percent.
WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO
The KenPom projection is Indiana by 13 with an 88 percent chance of a Hoosier victory. Kennesaw State is 2-4 in true road games and in its toughest test so far this season, fell 94-67 at Florida State back on Nov. 10.
The Hoosiers were much better in their most recent game, a 17-point win against North Alabama on Dec. 21, but have struggled to put away inferior opponents like Florida Gulf Coast, Army, Wright State and Morehead State.
Indiana must take care of the ball, avoid defenses lapses early in the shot clock and take advantage of its talent in the post to emerge with a comfortable win on Friday.
Filed to: Kennesaw State Owls