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Indiana’s 2022-23 non-conference schedule was finalized on July 1 and Contained in the Corridor can have a team-by-team have a look at all 11 opponents. First up: Morehead State.
Indiana males’s basketball will start its long-awaited and extremely anticipated 2022-23 season in opposition to non-conference opponent Morehead State College on Monday, Nov. 7 at Simon Skjodt Meeting Corridor. Will probably be the primary time the 2 groups have met since 2015.
The Hoosiers and the Eagles have confronted off 5 occasions, with the Hoosiers taking decisive wins in every recreation. In 2015, they received by a rating of 92-59.
Morehead State has appeared within the NCAA event thrice since 2009, most lately in 2021, the place the workforce misplaced to No. 3 seed West Virginia College within the first spherical. The Eagles have additionally chalked up 23 wins and superior to the Ohio Valley Convention championship in every of their two most up-to-date seasons.
Head coach Preston Spradlin is coming into his sixth season as head coach, and his 14th working with a Division 1 program. Spradlin is the second head coach in Eagles historical past to steer his workforce to back-to-back 20-win seasons, and has coached a number of gamers to OVC honors.
The Eagles enter the 2022-23 season with out their high performer and 2020-21 OVC Freshman of the 12 months, Johni Broome. Broome transferred to Auburn after averaging 16.8 factors and 10.5 rebounds per recreation within the 2021-22 season. With out him, Morehead State loses rim safety and a constantly dependable submit participant.
Guard Ta’Lon Cooper, who led the workforce in minutes and was fourth in scoring final season, transferred to Minnesota.
There’s additionally an opportunity the Eagles will likely be with out junior guard Skyelar Potter, who entered the switch portal in April however has but to announce his dedication to a different faculty. Potter averaged 10.4 factors and 5.1 rebounds per recreation.
Regardless of shedding key gamers to the portal, Spradlin has had success choosing up transfers, gaining Kalil Thomas and Mark Freeman, to call just some incoming Eagles. Total, the Morehead State roster will characteristic a complete of 5 transfers this season.
Thomas, a 6-foot-5 guard from UMass-Lowell, averaged 9 factors and 4.1 rebounds final season and shot at a forty five % clip. He dished out 53 assists, second-best on the workforce and was chosen to the Basketball Corridor of Fame showcase in 2021. Along with his dimension, Thomas is anticipated so as to add extra versatility to the Eagles as a powerful defensive wing.
Freeman, a degree guard coming into his senior season, offers Morehead State a pacesetter amongst a workforce of newcomers of freshmen and transfers. Whereas a switch himself, Freeman has loads of experiences to share, enjoying in each the Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley conferences. He most lately performed with Illinois State and averaged 8.8 factors, 3.5 assists and a pair of.6 rebounds per recreation.
Morehead State was one of many high defensive groups within the OVC final season and completed seventh within the NCAA for blocked pictures per recreation with 5.8. Indiana completed twenty ninth with 4.8 blocked pictures per recreation.
With 5 transfers and 5 freshmen, Morehead State will look very completely different than it did final yr. At the very least three of its high scorers will likely be gone, and the freshmen will likely be getting thrown right into a hostile atmosphere dealing with a workforce like Indiana for his or her first non-exhibition Division 1 basketball recreation.
However the objective of Spradlin and the Eagles appears pretty clear — preserve the defensive success they’ve had lately, and again it up with constant scoring. Spradlin has described nearly each switch as being versatile and highly effective on each ends of the ground, and the incoming freshmen are anticipated to point out the identical abilities.
Newcomers value noting embody two freshmen in three-star guard Julian Norris and ahead Reis Jones. Norris attended Hyperlink Academy his senior yr, enjoying alongside among the high recruits within the nation. Jones, the son of former Maryland ahead Tom Jones, stands at 6-foot-10 and is aware of it. He averaged 13 factors, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks per recreation as a senior.
One of many greatest focuses for Indiana whereas enjoying Morehead State will probably be sustaining its personal consistency on each ends of the ground. The sport might come right down to protection if Morehead State can proceed its prowess on that finish of the ground from final season.
Historical past and present predictions level to Indiana as a transparent favourite. Morehead State is ranked 237th nationally in Bart Torvik’s preseason rankings, whereas Indiana sits at twelfth. As the primary official recreation of the season, this matchup will likely be a chance for each groups to learn how to finest play collectively beneath the intense lights in Meeting Corridor.
(Picture credit score: Morehead State Athletics)
Filed to: Morehead State Eagles
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