Indiana coach Darian DeVries’ priorities seemed clear heading into Saturday’s home game against Chicago State in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Hoosiers (8-3) are coming off a 72-60 loss to Kentucky on Dec. 13 in the first regular-season meeting between the teams in 14 years. Indiana had 18 turnovers that led to 23 points and saw Kentucky grab 14 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points.
That was enough to offset a strong defensive performance that saw the Wildcats shoot 37.9 percent from the field.
“Those turnovers created too many opportunities for them,” DeVries said. “We missed them enough. We need to secure those rebounds and go the other way.”
The Hoosiers are averaging 85.6 points per game, while allowing 67.4. The average is 10.5 turnovers, while their 36.3 rebounds are 203rd in the country.
Lamar Wilkerson, the Big Ten co-player of the week after scoring 44 points in a loss to Penn State on Dec. 9, leads the team in scoring at 18.5 per game. Tucker DeVries adds 17.0 points and Tayton Conerway scores 12.2.
While Indiana has worked on its deficiencies, the Cougars (2-10) are trying to find strengths to build on before Northeast Conference play. They are coming off a 76-55 loss at Bowling Green on Tuesday despite scoring 19 points off the bench from Doyel Cockrill III.
Cockrill has been their most consistent source of offense, leading the team with 15.1 points on 48.5 percent shooting. Alcorn State transfer Marcus Tankersley adds 14.7 points and CJ Ray adds 10.8.
Chicago State has struggled to score, scoring just 66.9 points as a team and hitting just 39.6 percent of its shots, which ranks 349th out of 361 teams in Division I. The Cougars also rank bottom of Division I in rebounds at 33.3 per game and assists (9.8).
Chicago State is in its first season under former Alcorn State head coach Landon Bussie.
–Field level media
