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Indiana Looks To Get the Offense Going Versus Winless Army

· Nov 12 - 4 minutes read

The timing for the first meeting between Army and Indiana is rather ironic considering the recent death of former Cadet and Hoosier head coach Bobby Knight. The college basketball betting lines have host Indiana listed as a 26-point favorite.

Knight began his Hall of Fame college coaching career as an assistant coach at Army from 1963-65 before taking over as the head coach in ‘65. After leading Army to four postseason tournament appearances in six years, he was hired at Indiana. He led the Hoosiers to three national championships and that included a 32-0 mark in the 1975-76 season.

Indiana Looks To Get the Offense Going Versus Winless Army

The @HoopsHall regrets to learn of the passing of 1982 inductee, Bobby Knight.

Widely considered one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all-time, Bobby Knight was a national champion as both a player (Ohio State ‘60) and as a coach (Indiana ‘76, ‘81, ‘87). Knight… pic.twitter.com/Y4dojcjpDP

— Indiana Basketball HOF (@HoopsHall) November 3, 2023

Army is 1-2-1 against the NCAAB Las Vegas odds in its last four games as the double-digit underdog while Indiana is 6-0 outright and 4-2 against the spread in the last six games as a 20-point favorite.

Over the last three seasons, Indiana is 22-14 against the spread as the home team and only Iowa has a better mark among Big Ten teams. During that span, Army is 16-15-1 against the spread as the road team and 12-9-1 as the road underdog.

Army opened the season with a 16-point loss to Marist and a 13-point loss to Stonehill. Indiana topped Florida Gulf Gulf Coast 69-63 in its season opener.

Indiana was without Payton Sparks and Jakai Newton in its season opener. Sparks is questionable for the game.

Army played without TJ Small in the loss to Stonehill.

When looking at the college basketball futures odds, Indiana is tied for 28th at +6000 in the odds of winning the national championship.

Indiana is among the teams receiving votes in both the Associated Press and coaches polls.

Strength in Numbers

It has not been the greatest of starts for Army as the Black Knights have failed to cover in the losses to Marist and Stonehill.

The one thing that Army can build on is its depth as the top two scorers against Stonehill were Jared Cross and Abe Johnson.

The non-starters outscored the starting five 23-21 in that game and they also had 21 points against Marist.

Keep an eye on Indiana natives Blake Barker (3 points, 2.5 rebounds per game), Matt Dove and Charlie Peterson (5 points, 7 rebounds) as they return home.

Army misses leading scorer Jalen Rucker, who opted to leave the program after averaging 17.1 and 16.6 points over the last two seasons.

Dating back to last season, each of the last four games played by the Army Black Knights went under the college basketball spreads.

Indiana’s Offense a Work in Progress

With Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino both off to the NBA, there has been added offensive responsibility placed on Trey Galloway, Malik Reneau and Xavier Johnson this season.

That trio combined to average 22.7 points a game last season but had 45 points in a season-opening win over Florida Gulf Coast.

Oregon transfer Kel’el Ware came through with 13 points and 12 rebounds in his debut with the Hoosiers.

Six of Indiana’s last nine games have gone over the Las Vegas odds total.

Go With the Hoosiers

It was hard to make too many declarations about this Indiana team based on the game against Florida Gulf Coast with so many players in new roles for the Hoosiers. The only two double-digit scorers from a season ago are gone while the top returning scorer (Xavier Johnson) was limited to 11 games during the 2022-23 season.

However, this is not a good Army team and the Black Knights could struggle to score against Indiana.

The top five scorers for Army are all under 6-foot-5 so scoring in the lane might be an issue.

The 26-point spread does offer a challenge, but look for the Hoosiers to take care of business in this matchup.

College Basketball Pick: Indiana -26

Bet On This Pick: Indiana -26