Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Prepares for Season-Opener Against Nicholls State
11/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2005
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind - The No. 22/23 (Coaches/AP) Indiana men's basketball team opens the 2005-06 regular season against the Nicholls State Colonels on Friday on Nov. 18. The contest is set to tip off at 6 p.m. at Branch McCracken Court at Assembly Hall and will be televised by ESPN Plus. IU is coming off two victories over Division II opponents in the preseason. The Hoosiers defeated Saint Joseph's (Ind.), 93-65, on Nov. 4, and Indianapolis, 96-49, on Nov. 10. Senior transfer Marco Killingsworth led the charge, averaging 19.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest, including hitting 16-of-20 shots from the floor (.800).
Nicholls State won its only exhibtion game, defeating NAIA opponent Mobile College, 61-54, on Nov. 12. Michael Czepil led the way for the Colonels with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
The Indiana/Nicholls State game will be televised on ESPN Plus, with Tom Hamilton (play-by-play) and John Laskowski (color commentary) on the call. Additionally, all of Indiana's games can be heard live on the IU Radio Network. WHCC (105.1 FM in Bloomington) is the flagship station for the network that has more than 50 stations broadcasting Hoosier basketball. Don Fischer (play-by-play), former Indiana guard Todd Leary (color commentary) and Joe Smith (pregame, halftime and postgame host) call all of the action.
Scouting Nicholls State
Nicholls State enters Friday night's contest against Indiana as one of the youngest teams in not only the Southland conference, but in the nation. The Colonels welcome back only two starters and three letterwinners from last season's 6-21 team. Furthermore, Nicholls State has just one senior (Cyril Djoukeng) mixed with nine freshman on its 13-man roster.
Junior guard/forward Stefan Blaszcynski is the Colonels' leading returning scorer (14.4 ppg) and rebounder (5.0 rpg). Blaszcynski is joined by Djoukeng as the team's lone returning starters. Last season, Djoukeng averaged 4.7 points and 2.2 boards per contest.
The Nicholls State Series
This will be the first meeting between the two schools on the hardwood. The Hoosiers defeated the Colonels, 35-31 on Sept. 10 in Bloomington. IU student-athletes collected more than $2,000 and donated it to Nicholls State student-athletes for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Nicholls State Last Time Out
The Nicholls State basketball team began their season on a solid note, as it defeated NAIA opponent Mobile, 61-54 in H.L. Bourgeois gym on Nov. 12. The Rams entered the exhibition sporting a No. 18 ranking in the most current NAIA poll.
Michael Czepil led the way for Nicholls with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The Melbourne, Australia native also pulled down seven boards and dished out four assists in 36 minutes. After an Adonis Gray layup gave Nicholls a 24-23 halftime lead, the Colonels began the second half falling behind 35-30 on a Zarko Comagic 3-pointer with 15:34 remaining.
But, Nicholls went on a 10-1 run, capped off with Gray making a free throw to give the Colonels a 40-36 advantage at the 11:41 mark. The Colonels eventually extended their lead to 48-42 thanks to a Czepil three-pointer.
After Mobile made the score 56-54, Nicholls made good on 5-of-6 free throw attempts down the stretch on its way to posting a seven-point win.
Hoosiers Roll Past Greyhounds
The Indiana men's basketball team closed the exhibition season strong with a convincing 96-49 win over in-state foe Indianapolis on Nov. 10. Led by seniors Marco Killingsworth and Marshall Strickland's double-digit scoring, the Hoosiers notched their second preseason win. For the night, IU hauled 51 rebounds and shot 55.7 percent from the field, including blistering the nets for 67.6 percent in the opening half.
Killingsworth finished the contest with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor. Strickland finished with 15 on the night, including hitting 3-of-4 shots from behind the arc. Freshmen Ben Allen and Joey Shaw also reached double figures, contributing 13 and 11 points, respectively. Junior Earl Calloway was the catalyst on the offensive side of the ball, collecting 10 assists without a turnover. As a team, the Hoosiers had 26 helpers on the evening.
Preseason Rankings
The Hoosiers' talented team in 2005-06 is starting to catch wind nationally. In the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll released Oct. 27, the Hoosiers were ranked 22nd in the country. IU also found itself among the Associated Press top-25 preseason poll released on Nov. 7, coming in at No. 23 in the nation. It is the first time since the 2002-03 campaign that an IU team has appeared among the top 25 teams in the nation in a preseason poll. In addition, the Hoosiers are also ranked 17th in the country according to Street & Smith's.
Milestones Ahead
As the 2005-06 season approaches, several IU basketball players are approaching milestones.
Senior guard Marshall Strickland is already found among the top 10 in three-pointers made and attempted. He also has 728 points in his career, which places him 62nd overall among the IU all-time scoring leaders. He only needs 262 points this season to become the 40th Hoosier in IU lore to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Additionally, Strickland and Robert Vaden should improve their standing among the school's all-time steals leaders. Strickland enters the season with 75 steals, while Vaden has 45.
Can I Assist You
One of the many facets Indiana has worked during the preseason has been ball distribution. The hard work looks like it has paid off. In their two exhibition games, the Hoosiers collected 44 assists compared to only 24 turnovers - a ratio of nearly 2 to 1. In fact, IU had 26 assists on 39 baskets against Indianapolis on Nov. 10. It was the most assists in a single game since the Hoosiers had 21 dimes against Ohio State on March 11, 2004 in the Big Ten Tournament.
Additionally, junior college transfer Earl Calloway had 10 assists without a single turnover against the Greyhounds. That number would have been the most helpers by an IU player since Tom Coverdale had 10 against Northwestern on Jan. 15, 2003. Calloway led the Hoosiers in the exhibition portion with an average of 7.5 assists per contest.
Home Openers
Indiana head coach Mike Davis has fared well in season-openers throughout his career, going a perfect 5-0. In fact, the Hoosiers have won seven consecutive regular season openers and nine of their last 10. Indiana has an all-time record of 83-22 in the season's first game dating back to 1900.
Aussie Connection
Even though Ben Allen will be playing his first regular season game for Indiana, he will be quite familiar with several players from Nicholls State. Four of the Colonels players hail from the land down under. In fact, Allen is long-time freinds with NSU's sharp-shooter, Stefan Blaszcynski.
November Success
Indiana has enjoyed considerable success during the 11th month of the calendar year, recording a 60-22 (.732) record. More impressively, IU is 29-2 (.935) in November home contests, and head coach Mike Davis owns an 13-5 (.722) record in the month of November.
IU Inks Two Recruits
Armon Bassett, a 6-1, 170-pound point guard from Terre Haute, Ind. (South Vigo HS and Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy) and Xavier Keeling, a 6-6, 218-pound forward from Huntsville, Ala. (J.O. Johnson HS have signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at Indiana University, Hoosier head coach Mike Davis announced. Bassett and Keeling will each enroll at IU in the fall of 2006 and will be eligible to compete for Indiana in the 2006-07 season.
Indiana head coach Mike Davis feels that Bassett and Keeling can immediate contributors.
"Both Armon and Xavier are very talented and highly recruited players," Davis said. "My staff, especially coach (Donnie) Marsh and coach (Kerry) Rupp, deserve a lot of credit because they expended a lot of time and effort in making sure these players knew they would have the best on and off the court if they came to Indiana University. Their hard work has paid off, and we are excited to have Xavier and Armon in the program."
Bassett is one of the top-ranked point guards in the nation according to rivals.com, which had him ranked as the No. 21 point guard in the class of 2006. As a senior at Terre Haute South Vigo High School, Bassett averaged 22.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists. This season, the 2005 Indiana All-Star is playing at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.
Keeling is another player who is expected to pay immediate dividends for Davis and the Hoosiers. As a junior at J.O. Johnson High School in Huntsville, Ala., he averaged 17.0 points and 14.0 rebounds. Keeling and current IU sophomore D.J. White were teammates with the AAU Alabama Lasers in 2003.
Errek The Great
Junior guard Errek Suhr has made a name for himself at Indiana. After two years as a walk-on, Suhr earned a scholarship this season, and his hard work has paid off for not only himself, but for the team as well. After averaging 1.3 points and 0.8 rebounds in his two previous seasons, the Bloomington, Ind., native was a force to reckon with in the preseason. In two exhibition contests, Suhr came off the bench to average 7.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 20.5 minutes per contest. He shot a blistering .556 from the floor, hitting 5-of-9 shots, including 2-of-6 from behind the arc.
`Strick'ly Speaking
After playing the point guard position for three seasons, senior guard Marshall Strickland made a move to his more natural position of shooting guard. That has paid off as the Winfield, Md., native hit 3-of-4 three-pointers and shot .700 from the floor (7-of-10) in the preseason. Furthermore, the move may have helped Indiana on the boards. Strickland led the Hoosiers in exhibition play with an average of 7.0 rebounds per contest - over two rebounds better than seniors Marco Killingsworth and Sean Kline, both of whom averaged 4.5 rebounds a game.
Fifth-Year Seniors
If experienced players make for a good season, then the Hoosiers are looking great heading into the 2005-06 campaign. Indiana has four seniors on this year's squad, all four of which are likely to start in the season-opener against Nicholls State. What people may not realize is three of the four seniors (Marco Killingsworth, Sean Kline and Lewis Monroe) each are playing their fifth year of college basketball this season. Killingsworth and Monroe sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, while Kline redshirted the 2001-02 campaign with an injury.
Spreading The Wealth
Last season, Indiana had three players who averaged double figures, while scoring 63.8 points as a team. Head coach Mike Davis looks to have more of an up-tempo style this season and if the Hoosiers' exhibition games are any indication, he is well on his way to an improved offense. The Hoosiers put and average of 94.5 points on the scoreboard, compared to only allowing 57.0.
Welcome Back
Seniors Marco Killingsworth and Lewis Monroe will make their long anticipated return to the court when the Hoosiers take on Nicholls State. Both players had impressive performances in the exhibition contests. Killingsworth led the team in scoring (19.5) and field goal percentage (16-of-20/.800). Monroe also played well at the point guard position, averaging 4.5 points and 4.0 assists per contest. Killingsworth and Monroe were three-year players for the Auburn Tigers, helping the team reach the 2003 NCAA Sweet 16. After transferring, both players were forced to sit out the 2004-05 season due to NCAA rules, meaning this will be their first collegiate games in over a year.
