IU’s Bid to Upset No. 2 Kansas Comes Down to a Word -- ‘Work’

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall magic is real.

You know that, right?

Consider what happened to Purdue and North Carolina last season when they faced Indiana and Hoosier Nation on Branch McCracken Court.

The Hoosiers (7-2) could use a big dose of that magic Saturday afternoon when No. 2 Kansas (9-1) arrives in the midst of the Stripe-Out promotion to showcase one of college basketball's best atmospheres.

The anticipated loud, raucous crowd could provide a huge edge given the Jayhawks are playing in their first true road game of the season. Their only loss came in late November to Marquette in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational in Hawaii.

Kansas coach Bill Self is well aware of Assembly Hall's intimidating environment from his coaching days at Illinois from 2000 to 2003.

"It's a unique arena. It's loud. It's a good home court, and I assume that it will be a packed fieldhouse. I played there before and we couldn't communicate, it was so loud. I'm sure it will be turned up Saturday."

Kansas has won five straight since then. IU has had finals week to get over its 104-76 loss to Auburn in Atlanta.

What do the Hoosiers need to do bounce back? The answer, coach Mike Woodson says, starts and ends with "work."

"When you experience a game like that, the only thing you can do is go back to work. You practice to try to get better. Only time will tell.

"I don't know where we are until we tip it up. We'll see where we are. We come back to practice and we work, we work. That's the only way you going to get better.

"Hopefully our work this week will pay off."

Work included boosting a defense that was shredded in multiple ways against Auburn. The Tigers had struggled previously from three-point range, but against IU, they were 14-for-29.

"We have to play harder, fight," Woodson says. "That's the name of the game.

"To give up 104 points is unacceptable. That's something that hadn't happened since I've been here. We normally fight and try to hold teams in the 60s. To give up a hundred points, you're not going to beat anybody in college basketball doing that.

"We had to come back and go to work, emphasize defense along with offense. Now we got to see where it leads us."

Did Woodson see the necessary practice response this week?

"We've had a decent week of work. There's always room for improvement. Only time will tell."

Woodson has had success in high-profile home games – 2-0 against Purdue, 1-0 against North Carolina. Does he do anything different to get the Hoosiers ready at home?

"We just work. You practice to get better. That's all we do.

"You emphasize that you can't lose at home. That's what's important. If you're talking about winning the Big Ten title, you have to win your games at home, and figure it out on the road.

"When teams come in here, this is our home court. We've got to try to hold court (Saturday) against a great-coached team, a talented team."

Kansas's ranking comes with impressive victories. It has a 69-65 win over Connecticut, which beat the Hoosiers 77-57 in November. It has also beaten Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Jayhawks lead the nation in assist rate at 73%. They are 12th in the country in 3-point accuracy, but are 321st in 3-point frequency. They are 66-for-173 to IU's 31-for-114.

Self, who has won 794 games and two national titles in a 31-year career, basically goes with a seven-player rotation. Four starters each average more than 30 minutes a game.

Hunter Dickerson, a 7-2 center, transferred from Michigan and has made a big impact. He leads the Jayhawks in scoring (19.4), rebounding (12.6), blocked shots (13), steals (13) and 3-point shooting (57.9%). Guard Kevin McCullar is at 19.0 and 7.1. Forward K.J. Adams averages 12.9 and 3.8. Guard Dajaun Harris has a team-leading 70 assists.

Indiana has a pair of double-figure scorers in center Kel'el Ware (16.7) and forward Malik Reneau (14.8). Forward Mackenzie Mgbako averages 13.0 points in his last four games.

Guard Xavier Johnson averages 10.5 points, but he's missed the last three games with a lower body injury. His status remains uncertain.

"It's been tough for him," Woodson says. "You go back-to-back years where you're not playing. We went into this season expecting him to be on the floor. He's not there, so...

"It's tough on him. It's tough on us. But we've got to keep marching along based on who we got in uniform until he gets back. When that is, I don't know yet. I just don't."

Ware and Reneau rate among the Big Ten's best inside tandems. Ware averages 9.2 rebounds and has 13 blocks. Reneau averages 4.2 rebounds, and his 25 assists are second to guard Trey Galloway's 25 on the team.

"We won't play a bigger four (Reneau) and five (Ware) at the same time together than what they do, and of course Ware can stretch it (with his perimeter shooting).

"Reneau, is as hard as anybody to guard because he can put his head down and he can draw fouls. So we'll have to do some different things to defend the post."

What makes Reneau and Ware so formidable? Sophomore forward Kaleb Banks offers perspective.

"They're so skilled and so naturally talented. It's hard to stop them two guys together. We try our best in practices to contain them, but they're just so skilled.

"I see them every day go at it. They also compete against each other and just feed off each other in practice."

IU’s Bid to Upset No. 2 Kansas Comes Down to a Word -- ‘Work’

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Players Mentioned

Kaleb Banks

Trey Galloway

Xavier Johnson

Mackenzie Mgbako

Malik Reneau

Kel'el Ware