The Hoosiers welcome the Scarlet Knights to Assembly Hall on Thursday night.
With Indiana’s lackluster nonconference slate in the rearview mirror, it’s time for full-on Big Ten play from now until the conclusion of the regular season.
The Hoosiers currently sit at 1-1 in conference with a win over Minnesota at home and a loss to Nebraska on the road. A game against Rutgers in Assembly Hall might not be a must-win, but it would help the overall vibes around the program.
Let’s talk about it:
Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey
Harper, the younger brother of former Indiana tormentor and Rutgers great Ron Harper Jr., is lighting teams up this season as one of the best guards in the country.
Not one of the best freshmen, mind you. One of the best players, overall.
It’s exceedingly rare to see a triple-double in college basketball. It usually takes the right combination of circumstances and a truly special player to make it happen. Harper just did it against Columbia.
He’s an incredible talent with just about everything you could ask for in a guard with his size, scoring, handle and overall feel for the game. He’ll be an absolute handful for the Hoosier defense.
I’d expect Trey Galloway to be his matchup to open the game with Kanaan Carlyle getting some opportunities to guard him from off the bench. Myles Rice will also spend a decent amount of time on him.
Indiana probably won’t be able to outright stop him, but they can try to slow him down.
As for Bailey, I really don’t think Indiana has a good matchup. He’s probably too quick and versatile for Malik Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako just hasn’t proven reliable defensively. If his shot is falling Indiana could be in for a long night.
Oumar Ballo
Indiana’s starting center was absent for the Hoosiers’ win over Winthrop to close out 2025 with Mike Woodson mum on the reason for it postgame.
If Ballo is out, Indiana’s going to have its hands full and will need Langdon Hatton to bring the same effort on the boards and defensively as he did in his last outing. Ballo is by far the Hoosiers’ best rebounder and, while he’s not an elite rim protector, his size and presence in the lane at least gives offenses a thing or two to think about.
Should Ballo play, Indiana will probably look to capitalize on its size advantage. Rutgers hasn’t had reliable play at the five up to this point which makes for a matchup problem on both ends of the floor.
Who has more to prove?
Indiana is coming into this game having failed to live up to its pretty high expectations up to this point. Rutgers didn’t necessarily have those same expectations, but the sheer talent has some play there for what has been a pretty rocky nonconference.
Both of these teams need a statement in Big Ten play in order to feel good about themselves come March. Could that start here?
For Rutgers, Harper could recreate the moment then his brother broke Hoosier fans’ hearts three years ago with a game winner in the closing seconds of Indiana’s final game in Assembly Hall during the 2021-22 season.
For Indiana… it just needs to prove it can beat a team on its level.