What to Expect: Indiana vs. Arizona – Inside the Hall

Indiana returns to motion on Saturday night in opposition to Arizona in Las Vegas. The Wildcats received the Maui Invitational and are 7-1 total. 

Saturday’s sport is about for a 7:30 p.m. ET tip on FOX:

The third of Indiana’s 4 marquee non-conference video games is Arizona. The Wildcats had been picked to complete second within the Pac-12 within the preseason and are a present prime 20 KenPom crew.

Tommy Lloyd is in his second season in Tucson and has compiled a 40-5 document after spending 20 years as an assistant to Mark Few at Gonzaga. The Wildcats have measurement, play an uptempo model that’s enjoyable to look at and are battle-tested this season with wins over Cincinnati, San Diego State and Creighton.

It’s a testomony to Lloyd that Arizona stays a top-20 crew regardless of shedding Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry and Christian Koloko to the NBA within the offseason.

MEET THE WILDCATS

Arizona received the Maui Invitational final month, however has been shaky coming back from the island. In its first post-Maui sport, Arizona misplaced by 15 at Utah. Most lately, the Wildcats beat California by 13 at residence final Sunday. Any convention residence win by double figures ought to be seen favorably, however Cal is within the dialog for the worst high-major crew within the nation at 0-10.

The scoring power for Arizona lies within the frontcourt with the duo of Azoulas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo.

Each gamers can run the ground and prefer to seal off their defenders in transition for straightforward buckets. Arizona is taking part in the nation’s quickest tempo with a mean of 75.8 possessions per sport.

Tubelis is a 6-foot-11 junior from Lithuania who averages 20.1 factors and eight.3 rebounds in 27.1 minutes per sport. He’s capturing 61.9 p.c from the sector and 44.4 p.c on 3s in 9 makes an attempt. He’s utilizing 28 p.c of Arizona’s possessions, the very best mark on the roster.

Ballo adopted Lloyd from Gonzaga earlier than final season and is a high-usage, high-efficiency publish scorer. After averaging solely 6.8 factors and 4.4 rebounds in 15.2 minutes final season, the Mali native is amidst a breakout season as a junior. His 19.1 factors per sport are second on the crew and he’s capturing a ridiculous 76.9 p.c from the sector. Ballo’s main wart offensively is his free throw capturing. He’s taken 61 makes an attempt however is capturing simply 54.1 p.c. His effectivity on the rim is a serious purpose Arizona enters Saturday’s sport because the nation’s greatest 2-point capturing crew at 64.5 p.c.

Pelle Larson started his profession at Utah earlier than transferring to Arizona earlier than final season. The Swedish wing is a profession 38.3 3-point shooter, however is simply 6-for-22 from distance by means of the primary eight video games. About half of his discipline aim makes an attempt at Arizona have come from past the 3-point line.

The beginning backcourt for the Wildcats consists of Texas switch Courtney Ramey and Kerr Kriisa.

Ramey initially dedicated to Louisville as a highschool participant, however ended up at Texas with Shaka Sensible. The St. Louis native performed three years for Sensible and one for Chris Beard earlier than opting to make use of his ultimate season of eligibility in Tucson. He was suspended for the primary three video games of the season for collaborating in a non-certified pre-NBA draft camp within the offseason.

The 6-foot-3 guard is third on the crew in scoring at 13.8 factors per sport and is capturing a scorching 15-for-30 from distance by means of 5 video games. His 32 minutes per sport lead the Wildcats.

Kriisa, an Estonia native, runs the purpose and has been wonderful this season. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 3.1-to-1 and he’s capturing 40.9 p.c from 3 on 44 makes an attempt. Kriisa can also be a profession 83.8 p.c free throw shooter. Kriisa had his second profession triple-double earlier this season with 14 factors, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in opposition to Southern College. The matchup between Kriisa and Xavier Johnson will likely be one to look at.

Cedric Henderson, a 6-foot-6 switch from Campbell, performs 23.4 minutes off the bench and averages 9.1 factors, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per sport. The Memphis native is capturing 66.7 p.c on 2s and 40 p.c on 3s.

Freshman Kylan Boswell was a prime 30 recruit within the 2022 class and is the backup for Kriisa. He’s struggled so far and is capturing 23.1 p.c from the sector. Long run, he tasks as an essential backcourt piece for Lloyd however his position will doubtless be minimal behind Kriisa for now.

Two frontcourt backup names to know are sophomore Adama Bal and freshman Henri Veesaar. Bal is a France native who logs 14.4 minutes off the bench and is a profession 37.5 p.c 3-point shooter. Veesaar is from Estonia and is a 7-footer who’s 10-for-14 on 2s.

TEMPO-FREE PREVIEW

Indiana’s protection will likely be challenged at MGM Grand Enviornment. Arizona enters Saturday’s matchup with the nation’s second-best offense and the perfect efficient discipline aim proportion, per KenPom. Indiana has solely allowed one opponent – Xavier – to attain greater than some extent per possession in a sport this season.

The Wildcats push the tempo relentlessly and their huge males run the ground to attain shortly. Kriisa and Ramey can even put numerous strain on the protection with 3-point capturing.

Arizona is a strong defensive rebounding crew, however has struggled with turnovers, which isn’t shocking resulting from their tempo. Whereas the Wildcats are 3-point capturing crew, it isn’t an emphasis of the offense. Indiana has a better level distribution from 3s than Arizona at 24.8 p.c versus 23.8 p.c.

Defensively, Arizona has holes to use. Their perimeter protection might be crushed off the dribble and aren’t practically pretty much as good of a shot-blocking crew as Indiana.

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO

The KenPom projection is Indiana by one with a 54 p.c probability of victory for the Hoosiers. The Sagarin numbers like Indiana by three.

With the standing of Jalen Hood-Schifino unclear, Indiana will want one other sturdy efficiency from Tamar Bates, Trey Galloway and Miller Kopp to achieve success. Bates and Galloway had been wonderful in opposition to Nebraska, however had been ineffective at Rutgers.

This may be a difficult matchup for the Hoosiers on the 4 in opposition to Tubelis. Race Thompson hasn’t performed as much as his regular degree this season up to now and the scale and flexibility of Tubelis is a troublesome matchup.

Each fanbases ought to be effectively represented in Las Vegas and the winner of this matchup may have a notch on the resume that will likely be precious come NCAA event choice Sunday.

Filed to: Arizona Wildcats