Former Hoosiers Kaleb Banks, C.J. Gunn Have Career Days Just Hours Apart on Saturday

Kaleb Banks and C.J. Gunn came to Bloomington three years ago as high school stars with explosive offensive talent. But it never played out at Indiana, and the pair had minimal impact during their two seasons together.
Both sought fresh starts after last season and hit the transfer portal. Banks, a 2,000-point scorer as a Georgia prep star, landed at Tulane in Newo Orelans. Gunn, an Indianapolis native, joined Chris Holtman to take part in the major rebuild at DePaul in Chicago
Just a few hours apart on Saturday, the former teammates had career days. Gunn scored an all-time high 22 points in just 14 minutes in the Blue Demons' 91-72 win over Wichita State. He was 9-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three. It capped his previous high of 17 against Nebraska last year in the Big Ten Tournament, a 27-point loss for the Hoosiers.
Banks had just one double-figure game at Indiana, but he's having a breakout season at Tulane. He scored a career-high 33 points and had 16 rebounds in a 77-64 loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Fla. He is averaging 17.6 points and 8.1 rebounds this season for the 5-7 Green Wave.
Banks scored only 103 points in two years at Indiana and struggled to find meaningful playing time along Indiana's front line. He shot just 39 percent from the field, and was just 5-for-20 from three last year.
Gunn never found his groove at Indiana either. He made just 2-of-24 threes as a freshman, and had just three double-figure games last year, one in that 27-point loss to Nebraska and he had 13 poiints late in the 20-point blowout by Purdue.
The fresh starts have helped both players. Gunn and DePaul are 8-2 this season, a massive upgrade from a year ago when DePaul went 3-29 and lost all 20 Big East conference games. Holtman, who was fired at Ohio State last year, has turned the program around quickly.
Gunn, who is averaging 9.9 points a game for DePaul, gave a shoutout to Banks on Twitter after their games on Saturday night.
…Let the chains off https://t.co/zh5i1gbQex
— CJ Gunn (@CJ_Gunn22) December 15, 2024