My Two Cents: To Get Road Wins, Indiana's Veterans Need to Step Up

LAWRENCE, Kan. — It's pretty cool that Allen Fieldhouse sits on Naismith Drive, named after the founder of this game of basketball that we all love so much. There's great basketball history here, much like back home in every corner of Indiana.

It's also cool that Allen Fieldhouse is just a few blocks west of Indiana Street. I had to throw that in.

It's great to be here for Saturday's big blueblood battle between Indiana and Kansas. Their rivalry is nearly a century old, starting nearly 83 years ago when the two schools battled for the second-ever NCAA Tournament championship in 1940. Indiana won, and then did the same again in 1953 to claim the Hoosiers's second national title under Branch McCracken.

Indiana won the first six of the 14 meetings between the two schools. Kansas won the next five, including painful and heartbreaking NCAA Tournament losses in 1991 and 1993. That '93 loss, with an injured Alan Henderson trying to give it a go, was Bob Knight's last real chance at winning his fourth national title.

Indiana got its seventh win in the series in Bloomington in November of 1994, and also won the most recent meeting to open the 2016-27 season. It was a 103-99 overtime thriller in Hawaii, with No. 11 Indiana taking down the third-ranked Jayhawks behind James Blackkmon Jr's 26 points in what turned out to be Tom Crean's last season with the Hoosiers, who finished 18-16 this year.

The rivalry renews on Saturday, with the first of a home-and-home series that replaces the decade-long Crossroads Classic on Indiana's schedule. It's an ESPN2 game —tipoff is at Noon ET — with lots of the national TV eyeballs on it and Dick Vitale and Dave O'Brien in the house to do the broadcast.

Adding this series to the schedule is a huge deal because everyone around Indiana — coaches, players and fans — wanted more high-profile nonconference games. They got it this year. Indiana has already beaten Xavier on the road and preseason No. 1 North Carolina at Assembly Hall, before losing to Arizona — a legit Final Four team — in Las Vegas.

And now comes Kansas, the last of the real challenges before the Big Ten schedule kicks back into high gear on Jan. 5 at Iowa.

Kansas is 8-1 and ranked No. 8 in the country, its only loss coming against No. 6 Tennesee. The Jayhawks are the defending national champions, and still have plenty of talent back, led by 6-foot-8 forward Jalen Wilson, who's averaging 22.1 points and 9.4 rebounds a game.

The Hoosiers are 8-2, and check in at No. 14 in the polls, just one spot below where they started in the preseason. They got out-toughed in a road loss at Rutgers in their Big Ten opener, giving up 17 offensive rebounds, and they fell into a big hole last weekend, down 19 to Arizona early in the first half. They made several runs to get it close, but could never get over the hump in a 89-75 loss.

Winning at Phog Allen Fieldhouse is very hard, but Indiana is at least used to hostile environments in the Big Ten. So there should be no fear factor, especially with such a veteran, experienced lineup.

Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, No. 10 on Indiana's all-time scoring list now, is in his fourth year of college basketball. Point guard Xavier Johnson and forward Miller Kopp are in their fifth seasons and forward Race Thompson is in his sixth year.

With all that experience, Indiana absolutely has to be a better road team this year, and that starts on Saturday. It's a great day to make a huge statement to the nation that they are a legitimate Big Ten contender than came make some noise in March.

But we need to see it, don't we? It can't be just talk.

There needs to be results.

Tom Crean, the last Indiana coach to win Big Ten titles (2013, 2016) and beat Kansas, was a guest — and a very entertaining one at that — on Dan Dakich's show ''Don't @ Me'' on Outkick.com earlier this week, and Crean — who's an analyst for ESPN now — spent a lot of time talking about how Indiana's veterans need to play at a high level for this to be a successful season.

“For Indiana, there can’t be panic when they play on the road,'' Crean said. "Miller Kopp has to be consistent every night, home or road. He can’t be streaky this year. He’s in the 50s and he has to stay there. He has to make three threes or more every game.''

Kopp is 23-for-47 from three so far this year, a 48.9-percent clip. He was just 36.1 percent from three a year ago, so this is a nice — and much-needed — jump. He made more than two threes only twice all year last season, but he's done it four times already this year. That's a veteran stepping up.

Crean said the same thing about Johnson and Thompson, veteran guys who need to be better.

"Xavier Johnson has to cut down on the turnovers. It’s like John Wooden used to say, be quick but don’t hurry,'' Crean said. "When he plays that way, he’s really good. Race Thompson, the way he shot it the other night — (he hit four three-pointers against Arizona, a career high) — if he can make shots, it’s going to change their whole offense because it will give Trayce more room.’’

That would sure help. Rutgers chose to double-team Jackson-Davis on every post catch, with a third defender lurking if he tried to split the double-team. Arizona forced a lot of kick-outs too, but unlike the Rutgers game, the Hoosiers knocked down shots, making 10 threes.

It's been very clear that the Hoosiers miss Hood-Schifino, too. The 6-foot-6 freshman guard can do a lot of things on both ends of the floor, and he's missed three games now with a bad back, including both losses. That's not a coincidence.

Hood-Schifino practiced on Thursday and made the trip with the team on Friday. He will once again be a game-time decision come Saturday morning.

Crean loves what he's seen out of Hood-Schifino so far, a mature freshman who was two high school national championships at Montverde Academy in Florida.

“I think that Jalen Hood-Schifino not playing last week showed how much they miss him. I think he’s the best pro prospect on that team,'' Crean said. "He has a freshman presence like Yogi Ferrell had for us as a freshman. There’s a confidence that he plays with.''

Here's to hoping that Hood-Schifino can play Saturday because it would be nice to see these two teams go at it with all of their weapons.

it's a great matchup, something well worth doing, that's for sure. Up and at 'em early.

“It’s exciting to go away. This is what me and Trayce came back for,'' Race Thompson said. "We wanted a tough schedule and games like this is what it’s all about. Just having these three road tests, it will really help us out in Big Ten play and later in the season.’’

Tom Crean with Dan Dakich on Outkick

Midweek Edition:

WTH Wednesday, @TomCrean joins the show + #NFL trade rumors

Tune in ⬇️https://t.co/6gpe9Zkevv
— Dan Dakich (@dandakich) December 14, 2022

Watch Race Thompson's pregame video

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