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Indiana Hoosiers v. South Carolina State Bulldogs: preview.

By John M. IU

South Carolina State Bulldogs
Current record: 4-5
Current RPI: 337(IU is #106)
Current Sagarin: 282 (IU is #50)
Current Pomeroy: 269
2009-10 record:  18-14 (10-6 in MEAC)
2009-10 RPI: 225
2009-10 Sagarin: 252
2009-10 Pomeroy: 258
Pomeroy scouting report
Series:  first meeting
TV: 4 p.m. tonight, Big Ten Network
Blog: none

IU hosts South Carolina State in the second game of the IBN/Las Vegas Classic, again in Bloomington.  The Classic resumes on Wednesday when IU plays Northern Iowa.  SC State is 4-5, but all four wins came against non-Division I opposition.  Among the Bulldogs' losses is one to an IU common opponent, North Carolina Central.  The Bulldogs lost 66-52 to Northern Iowa in the first game of the Classic. 

SC State doesn't particularly stand out in any particular way except that they do force a large number of turnovers, so given IU's problems in that regard it bears watching.  The Bulldogs have a fairly balanced scoring attack with only one player, Darnell Porter, scoring in double figures at 13 points per game.  No player averages more than 26 points per game.  Still, as with the last game, there isn't much to be learned today except in the negative.  I don't necessarily disagree with the scheduling strategy for this season, but I'm glad that all of IU's remaining games will be against respectable opposition.  It will be enjoyable to write a preview that says more than, "these guys aren't very good, IU has never played them before, their leading scorer is someone you've never heard of, and it's a disaster if we don't win by 20."  SC State is far enough down the food chain that they aren't even listed in the SB Nation stats widget.  Still, here are the Hoosiers' individual numbers if you haven't looked at them lately.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Christian Watford 10 28.1 5.7 11.9 47.9 1.0 2.4 41.7 5.5 6.5 84.6 1.6 4.3 5.9 1.8 2.0 0.9 0.4 2.1 17.9
Verdell Jones III 9 25.0 5.1 9.7 52.9 0.4 1.7 26.7 2.6 4.4 57.5 0.3 3.0 3.3 3.6 4.3 1.6 0.0 1.8 13.2
Maurice Creek 10 21.5 3.6 8.4 42.9 2.0 5.6 35.7 1.5 1.8 83.3 0.6 2.2 2.8 1.3 1.8 0.2 0.2 2.5 10.7
Jordan Hulls 10 27.4 3.1 5.3 58.5 2.0 3.5 57.1 1.1 1.6 68.8 0.1 2.2 2.3 3.4 1.5 1.1 0.4 2.1 9.3
Victor Oladipo 10 16.7 2.9 5.3 54.7 0.3 0.8 37.5 0.8 1.6 50.0 1.5 2.2 3.7 1.2 1.9 1.5 0.2 2.2 6.9
Derek Elston 9 15.0 2.3 4.2 55.3 0.2 0.8 28.6 1.0 1.7 60.0 0.7 3.0 3.7 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.7 1.9 5.9
Will Sheehey 10 9.9 1.9 3.0 63.3 0.1 0.4 25.0 0.7 1.2 58.3 1.1 1.3 2.4 0.5 0.9 0.4 0.2 0.8 4.6
Jeremiah Rivers 10 20.6 0.6 1.2 50.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 1.4 1.6 87.5 1.0 2.3 3.3 1.7 1.4 1.2 0.4 2.3 2.6
Daniel Moore 8 8.5 0.6 1.1 55.6 0.3 0.4 66.7 0.9 1.1 77.8 0.0 0.6 0.6 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.0 0.9 2.4
Tom Pritchard 10 17.2 1.0 1.8 55.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.8 12.5 1.6 2.7 4.3 0.8 0.8 0.0 1.5 2.6 2.1
Bobby Capobianco 9 7.3 0.7 1.2 54.5 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.6 0.9 62.5 1.1 0.7 1.8 0.3 0.6 0.1 0.2 2.2 1.9
Matt Roth 6 7.3 0.3 1.2 28.6 0.3 1.2 28.6 0.7 0.7 100.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.8 1.7
Kory Barnett 8 2.9 0.1 1.0 12.5 0.1 0.6 20.0 0.3 0.5 50.0 0.1 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.6
Jeff Howard 6 2.8 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.7 75.0 0.2 0.7 0.8 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.5
Taylor Wayer 6 1.3 0.2 0.3 50.0 0.2 0.3 50.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.5


I think one of the keys for IU moving forward is finding a way to more fully integrate Jordan Hulls into the scoring offense.  He is shooting 58 percent from the field and an astounding 57 percent from behind the arc on 3.5 attempts per game.  I'm not naive enough to think that Hulls can simply double his attempts and keep up with those numbers, but they would be excellent percentages even with 10 percent knocked off.  We'll see.

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