Indiana Men’s Basketball at Xavier: Preview, how to watch

Nov 18, 2022 - 3:08 PM

After more than a week off, Indiana men’s basketball will be heading to Cincinnati for its first road game of the year in a matchup with Xavier in the Gavitt Games.

Here’s everything you need to know about the game:

Background:

Indiana’s wanted a matchup with Sean Miller since 2017 when it was rumored that Indiana would have a home-and-home with Arizona featuring the Miller Brothers against each other at their respective Power Five programs. The game will have a different character now that he’s back at Xavier and Mike Woodson is at the helm for Indiana, but it’s a Sean Miller team nonetheless.

Xavier will be entering the matchup at 3-0, though its toughest matchup to this point on the season has been with Fairfield, who comes in at a whopping 219 on KenPom. Still, this is a team with experience led by a couple of senior big men, one in his sixth year, who have been around college basketball for a while.

Jack Nunge, a 5th-year, 7’ senior is the leading scorer for the Musketeers this season, averaging 18 points per game in their three contests so far. Despite his size, he’s hit 7 of his 9 three-point attempts this season and can stretch the floor a bit better than Trayce Jackson-Davis at this point.

Xavier also has Zach Freeman up front, a 6’9” senior averaging 15.7 points per game. He’s only taken a single shot from deep this year, so it’ll be interesting to see how Woodson handles the defensive assignments between Race Thompson, Malik Reneau, and Trayce on these two.

Kenpom likes Indiana by two points with a 59% chance of victory and since it’s the first real test of the year, it should be a close game. At the end of the day though, I think Indiana has a talent and depth advantage that will win out even if they aren’t playing at their highest level yet.

If the Hoosiers can shoot like they did against Bethune-Cookman, I think they could win comfortably on the road and notch a nice resume win while we’re still in November.

Game Date/Time: Friday, November 18, 2022 / 6 PM EST

Location: Cincinnati, OH

Broadcast: FS1

Draftkings Sportsbook Odds: Indiana -3, O/U 144.5

Reading List:

Indiana vs. Xavier: Mike Woodson midweek press conference highlights

Three Things: Indiana Men’s Basketball beats Bethune-Cookman 101-49

Indiana men’s basketball vs. Bethune-Cookman: Mike Woodson midweek press conference highlights