The Mike Woodson era got off to a ceremonious start over the weekend, with the Hoosiers taking both contests over Serbian club BC Mega. Naturally, IU basketball fans will wonder which combinations of players worked well. Guess what? IndianaHQ dissected the available play-by-play data, and we have answers for you.
Note: This article combines the 80 minutes of game action between the two games in The Bahamas. For example, the most-used lineup of Johnson, Stewart, Kopp, Thompson, and Jackson-Davis played a combined 11:38 together over the weekend. When the regular season begins, we will have this information available and published on a game-by-game basis.
Nuggets:
- In both of Indiana’s double-digit wins over Serbian club BC Mega, Mike Woodson used a starting lineup of Xavier Johnson, Parker Stewart, Miller Kopp, Race Thompson, and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Good news for Hoosier fans! That unit started both games effectively, jumping out 7-4 on Friday night and 8-2 before Kopp’s injury on Sunday. They outscored BC Mega 30-15 in the 11:38 they played together over the weekend, a +15 clip.
- Even though he didn’t lead the Hoosiers in individual +/- in either game, Race Thompson went +29 in The Bahamas, the highest mark for the Hoosiers when combining both games from the weekend. Thompson played 43 minutes across the contests, and IU won those minutes 82-53. In the 37 minutes he was off the floor, IU was outscored by five, 66-61.
- However, when you look at it on a per-minute basis, Indiana was at its best with Miller Kopp on the floor, who finished +23 in 27 minutes of playing time on Paradise Island, before exiting Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, which is not expected to be serious. Most notably, IU’s offense played an elite level with Kopp in the game. The Hoosiers scored 65 points in the 27 minutes with Kopp on the court, a scorching 2.36 points per minute (PPM). In the 53 minutes he was sidelined, IU scored 78 points, or 1.49 PPM.
- There was an interesting stretch at the end of the first half on Sunday afternoon when Rob Phinisee and Xavier Johnson played together in a two-PG setup. Phinisee and Johnson shared the court for the final 2:54 of the half, and IU outscored BC Mega 7-3 in that stretch, yielding the Hoosiers a seven-point halftime lead. Those two guards, when joined by Galloway, Geronimo, and Jackson-Davis, made up the 3rd-best IU lineup over the weekend on a per-minute bases.
- Speaking of Phinisee, he showed up in each of IU’s four most efficient lineups on a per-minute basis, and five of the top six. It’s only the preseason, but that is an encouraging sign going into the 2021-22 season.
Featured Photo: Indiana University Athletics
