As you might expect from a team that had to replace 98.7 percent of its scoring from last season, Indiana has experienced more than a few growing pains this season.
Only reserve senior forward Kyle Taber and walk-on sophomore guard Brett Finkelmeier returned from last year’s squad, which lost two players to the NBA, lost six transfers and fired head coach Kelvin Sampson midway through the season for recruiting violations.
New head coach Tom Crean, an assistant at MSU between 1995-99, inherited a roster that was greener than grass, and it’s certainly showing this season.
Starting three freshmen, an unheralded senior and a junior who missed all of last season after transferring from Eastern Michigan, the Hoosiers rank in the lower third of the Big Ten in scoring offense (62.3 points) and scoring defense (70.9 points).
But hey, at least they have a win.
Indiana won its first conference game of the season Wednesday, topping Iowa 68-60 in Bloomington, Ind.
“I think that’s great they won their first game,” said senior guard Travis Walton, whose No. 14 Spartans will take on Indiana at 4 p.m. Saturday at Breslin Center.
“They’ve been shooting the ball good, playing pretty good, and for them to get their first win is good for us.”
Prior to Indiana’s recent win, it had lost all eight Big Ten contests by an average of 11.8 points. They had, however, been playing better during the latter half of the losing streak.
“They’re a hungry team,” freshman forward Delvon Roe said. “They play hard; they don’t want to get embarrassed like no other team wants to get embarrassed. They’re gonna come in with the mind-set that ‘we don’t have nothing to lose.’”
Although Indiana lacks a bona fide scoring threat, it has a trio of capable young guards. Averaging 14.2 points per game, guard Devan Dumes is Indiana’s leading scorer. The Eastern Michigan transfer is coming off his best game of the season against Iowa, when he scored 27 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, including 5-of-5 from 3-point range.
Freshmen Verdell Jones III (8.5 points, 3.2 assists) and Nick Williams (8.8 points, five rebounds) also are promising players for the Hoosiers.
Tom Pritchard is Indiana’s most polished player in the frontcourt, averaging 11.4 points and seven rebounds per contest. He’s joined on the frontcourt by Taber, who averages 4.1 points and 5.2 rebounds.
“You can tell they’re a team in progress,” senior forward Marquise Gray said. “They have a lot of players who can do some stuff, but I think if we play defense like we did (against Minnesota), we should be fine.”
Although this matchup lacks the allure of previous meetings between MSU and Indiana, Walton said emotions should be running high because of the return of Crean.
“This is Coach Crean’s comeback game to the Bres, so I know he’s gonna get an ovation from all the fans,” he said.
“So that’s gonna make this a big game.”
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