IUBB vs Baylor (Exhibition) - Sunday, 10.26.25 @ 1:00 on B1G+

[str8baller 7,992]

3 hours ago, Aaron said:

Rest of guys look like mid-major players in size and ability (especially Bailey at the five really concerns me) and it’s why Indiana easily won their services in portal. Team lacks size and athleticism and ability to win or lose will be entirely on heart, hustle, and 3’s falling.

Enright played and started for a P5 team last year. He was also pretty coveted by a coach who had a top 15 DefE last year at a power 5 school. I think the lack of athleticism might be a tad overstated.  I’ve seen guys like Bo Ryan and Tony Bennett put out really good defensive teams without a ton of top line athletic talent.  
 

But that does kind of bleed into the rebounding. Yes we struggled to rebound on the defensive end. But a huge portion of their advantage was in the 16 vs 4 offensive rebounds stat. I doubt you’ll see us get many this year as guys hustle back to set-up our half court defense. The aforementioned mentioned Ryan and Bennett rarely had prolific offensive rebounding teams for the exact same reason. So we’ll usually get out rebounded but hopefully to the tune of getting good D efficiency (which will somewhat be dampened if we still struggle with defensive rebounds).** We got there in the second half and Coach Drew even praised it in post game.  
 

I think the rate at which we will make 3’s won’t affect our floor as much as it does our ceiling. Our floor will be determined by how well they defend. If we defend like the first 10 min of that exhibition somewhere in the mid-teens is realistic. If we defend like we did in the second half, we shouldn’t have a problem making the tourney.   
 

 

**while I agree on some of Baileys limitations, Baylors two leading rebounders were long athletic guards. We can shore up a significant portion of our rebounding issue by getting better at blocking out as a team. 
 

 

[HoosierHoopster 9,115]

^^^  And while it was just an exhibition game and we shouldn't take it for more than that, our guys did hang with a good Baylor team and did so with minimal sideline coaching in at least the closing minutes of the first half and game. a 15-win take from that seems really unwarranted, imo. 

To me, this is a team that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- and that's the opposite of a Woodson coached team.

[Home Jersey 17,207]

Bailey is one of the biggest questions for many posters coming off this game. 

The next meaningful competition we play is Marquette. 

He will match up with Ben Gold, 6'11 235 (Reed is 6'10 229)

He played 25 mpg last year and averaged 7.4ppg 4.3rebs .9 assists .8 blocks. Shot 37% from 3 on 4 attempts a game.

He will be the starter this year. This player profile from a Marquette site was an interesting read, some excerpts:

Quote

 

The fact of the matter is that Ben Gold is probably not best suited to be a traditional 5 in a college basketball rotation, but it looks like that’s going to be his role. Set screens, score in the post, rebounding like crazy.... maybe not the best use of his skills, so Marquette’s going to have to find a way to make Gold an efficient center. He’s probably a better-than-you-realize rebounder but given Marquette’s overall rebounding problems under Shaka Smart’s direction, it’s hard to look at Ben Gold and say “yep, there’s the solution to the problem.”

So on top of the idea that he’s going to have to produce in order to justify the starter’s minutes, Gold is also going to have to be able to stay on the floor. For each of the past two seasons, the big Kiwi has averaged more than four fouls per 40 minute per KenPom.

...

But of everyone on the roster, Gold is perhaps the only one who is seeing a major reconfiguration of what’s being expected of him. 

“God, Andy, just give us the Torvik algorithm expectation already, come on!” Yeah, I know, I wanted to set the tone first..... because the algorithm isn’t super exciting. 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists in a little more than 21 minutes a night. See? You were expecting more from Gold in your head, weren’t you?

...

Offensive rebounding. I don’t know how often Gold will end up in a good position to be there for that if Marquette does play a lot of 5-out with him on the floor, but easy putbacks is a fun way to get a lot of two-pointers.

We have to at least acknowledge the possibility that Caedin Hamilton might fit the 5 position on the floor better than Gold. Not just because of the skills by the way, but also because Hamilton visually appears to be a more physical inside presence than Gold has shown himself to be and/or than Gold visually appears to be.

Shaka Smart has said in the past that part of what the coaching staff is doing with Gold is trying to get him to believe he can be as good as the coaching staff believes he can be.

 

Marquette added nobody in the portal. They lost their 3 leading scorers I think. So they will be playing freshmen and looking for guys to step up in new roles. Should be a fun early season match up.  

[str8baller 7,992]

18 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

He will match up with Ben Gold, 6'11 235 (Reed is 6'10 229)

He played 25 mpg last year and averaged 7.4ppg 4.3rebs .9 assists .8 blocks. Shot 37% from 3 on 4 attempts a game.

He will be the starter this year. This player profile from a Marquette site was an interesting read, some excerpts:

My recollection of watching him play last year was the same as that scouting report. More of a “euro big.” I thought he was a decent player and am kind of surprised his overall stats are that low. In any event he’s not the type of player that Bailey should struggle with athletically. If he does, I don’t think it bodes well for other matchups. 
 

I’m actually interested to see if any of these cupcakes have a physical guy down low and how he handles it. 

[CSP 12,353]

2 hours ago, str8baller said:

My recollection of watching him play last year was the same as that scouting report. More of a “euro big.” I thought he was a decent player and am kind of surprised his overall stats are that low. In any event he’s not the type of player that Bailey should struggle with athletically. If he does, I don’t think it bodes well for other matchups. 
 

I’m actually interested to see if any of these cupcakes have a physical guy down low and how he handles it. 

I'm interested to see if anyone has a player that can effectively/efficiently beat us throwing the ball to some Marco Killingsworth looking dude on the block 30 possessions a game. 

[str8baller 7,992]

10 hours ago, CSP said:

I'm interested to see if anyone has a player that can effectively/efficiently beat us throwing the ball to some Marco Killingsworth looking dude on the block 30 possessions a game. 

Not sure how Purdue handles Jacobsen. I think they’re better on offense without him. I’ll bet TKR will be a mess to guard for anyone but Alexis. There’s too much turnover for me to keep track anymore, but it always seems like Nebraska or NW or somebody has strong Eastern Euro type who can push people around. 

[CSP 12,353]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

Not sure how Purdue handles Jacobsen. I think they’re better on offense without him. I’ll bet TKR will be a mess to guard for anyone but Alexis. There’s too much turnover for me to keep track anymore, but it always seems like Nebraska or NW or somebody has strong Eastern Euro type who can push people around. 

As of now TKR plays the 4.. granted.. his work is for sure done inside the paint.. 

But Tucker will guard him. 

[Stuhoo 92,270]

7 minutes ago, CSP said:

As of now TKR plays the 4.. granted.. his work is for sure done inside the paint.. 

But Tucker will guard him. 

Tucker is a dude; he will find a way. And TKR will be guarding Tucker; not optimum for Purdoo.

People act like these Purdoo 'stars' that led them to a (checks notes) 4th-6th place conference finish last year are somehow all of the sudden NBA lotto picks. I just don't get it. Give me Dusty May's roster and program all day going into this year.

[CSP 12,353]

2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Tucker is a dude; he will find a way. And TKR will be guarding Tucker; not optimum for Purdoo.

People act like these Purdoo 'stars' that led them to a (checks notes) 4th-6th place conference finish last year are somehow all of the sudden NBA lotto picks. I just don't get it. Give me Dusty May's roster and program all day going into this year.

oh I agree.... and they'll have to get matched in transition and stop the ball. Smith and Loyer aren't tremendous with that, TKR and Olaf or whatever his name is will immensely struggle in those situations. 

[Stuhoo 92,270]

9 minutes ago, CSP said:

oh I agree.... and they'll have to get matched in transition and stop the ball. Smith and Loyer aren't tremendous with that, TKR and Olaf or whatever his name is will immensely struggle in those situations. 

As of their two exhibition games, they're gonna need the 7'4" kid to be good (and he might be), because Olaf looks like a Mike Woodson lane-clogger and nothing more.

[str8baller 7,992]

5 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Tucker is a dude; he will find a way. And TKR will be guarding Tucker; not optimum for Purdoo.

People act like these Purdoo 'stars' that led them to a (checks notes) 4th-6th place conference finish last year are somehow all of the sudden NBA lotto picks. I just don't get it. Give me Dusty May's roster and program all day going into this year.

More about who will be able to punish us down low. Bailey shot 40+% from 3 last year too so if your strategy is just run teams off the floor and make them adjust, then there shouldn’t be a lot of concern about his matchups.  
 

I’m not convinced that’s how it’ll play out.
 

 Not ideal other B1G teams have equally as good prospects. We have to play them all…lol. 

[Stuhoo 92,270]

7 minutes ago, str8baller said:

More about who will be able to punish us down low. Bailey shot 40+% from 3 last year too so if your strategy is just run teams off the floor and make them adjust, then there shouldn’t be a lot of concern about his matchups.  
 

I’m not convinced that’s how it’ll play out.
 

 Not ideal other B1G teams have equally as good prospects. We have to play them all…lol. 

My point was more that Tucker Devris is the least of our problems, and our best solution. Tucker is a full grown strong young man who won't get pushed around. But having interior length and being a physical team for rebounding and for interior defense? Yup; that's our biggest problem.

[WayneFleekHoosier 52,107]

40 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

My point was more that Tucker Devris is the least of our problems, and our best solution. Tucker is a full grown strong young man who won't get pushed around. But having interior length and being a physical team for rebounding and for interior defense? Yup; that's our biggest problem.

I mostly Agree but TKR gets away with so much Bully ball. It’s incredible.  That’ll be a brutal matchup for DeVries. Alexis will need to play a lot.  Gonna need to do the double big lineup in several B1G matchups. 

[RaceToTheTop 31,724]

5 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I mostly Agree but TKR gets away with so much Bully ball. It’s incredible.  That’ll be a brutal matchup for DeVries. Alexis will need to play a lot.  Gonna need to do the double big lineup in several B1G matchups. 

IMO, Alexis is going to take the starting job over Bailey.

[Stuhoo 92,270]

19 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I mostly Agree but TKR gets away with so much Bully ball. It’s incredible.  That’ll be a brutal matchup for DeVries. Alexis will need to play a lot.  Gonna need to do the double big lineup in several B1G matchups. 

Last year with TKR largely at the five, especially late in games, it was easier for him to back defenders down. It'll be interesting to see how much putting another true big out there with him continues to clog up the middle with help defense.

[CSP 12,353]

Basketball isn't played 1 on 1. Defense is an entire concept, along with a gameplan, and a scouting report on each player. 

TKR is basically a tough match for anyone-- hence avg 20p 7r and already scoring 1100 points in his college career. His eFG% isn't "other worldly"... it's very good, so you'd find a way to put a game plan together to keep him less efficient than his avg, but more importantly keep him off the offensive glass AS A TEAM... and then take advantage of Purdue's biggest weakness, transition defense, to counter playing Olaf, TKR, Loyer, and Smith all together. 

[ebridges24 2,797]

On 10/28/2025 at 8:35 AM, Scotty R said:

Didn't this team hit 15-30 in the first exhibition game so they proved they can shoot well

i'm just messin'

[Whoozhers 3,793]

Btw….. Sure is nice and comforting to have the name WILKERSON on the roster again.

Got to be a foretelling good omen.

GO HOOSIERS!!