Hoosiers Finish Up Non-Conference with Kennesaw State

Well that was unpleasant. SB Nation had some technical issues that caused a bit of a hiatus here at The Crimson Quarry, but a big thanks to our tech guys as we're back in time to preview and recap the biggest game of the non-conference season. And by biggest, I mean nothing of the sort. The Hoosiers are playing their second game of this weekend against a nobody to wrap up all of the non-conference season.

This is going to be a lot like Friday's game in that you probably can't take much of anything away from the game, good or bad. Essentially this game is going to happen and there is no possible way to glean any sort of big positives or huge negatives. Kennesaw State is 3-9 on the season and only one of those wins is actually against a Division I team. They're not very good.

The Owls go about 7 deep but only one of their players could be considered offensively efficient. Only 6-5 wing Orlando Coleman has a season offensive rating over 100 and his only sits at 103.9. For context Indiana's very iffy offense still has 7 players over that threshold. Even including Coleman's team high in efficiency the Owls rank a measly 311th offensively on the season.  They just don't score the basketball very well, which means the Hoosiers should be looking to try and pitch a shutout. Obviously that isn't going to happen, but it would be nice to see the Hoosiers hold them under 50 on the game.

On the defensive side, the Owls aren't much better ranking 302nd in the nation in defense. They are the highest fouling team in the nation allowing .8 free throws per field goal attempt. That is double the nation average. They aren't just bad at allowing teams to get to the free throw line, they're on the verge of historically bad. So we should see a very slow game as Indiana does their best to shoot 50 free throws today. They also allow teams to rebound 34% of their own shots, which coupled with Indiana's own offensive rebounding abilities should mean a ton of second chance points for the Hoosiers as well.

This game is just not likely to provide a lot of excitement. The thing we'll be looking for the most if for Indiana to show some energy and take care of the ball. The 20 turnovers on Friday felt more like a product of the lack of give a crap at times than being poor basketball players. It was just lackadaisical and nonchalant. The one time the Hoosiers did play with energy they scored at will. Expect for Indiana to play with more energy in a bigger win today.

This preview will also serve as a game thread.