Bill Self gives initial thoughts on matchup with Indiana

Kansas will officially hit the road for the first time this season when they tip inside of Assembly Hall against Indiana on Saturday. It’s a matchup between two of college basketball’s biggest brands and, as such, will take a lot for either team to come out with a win.

Bill Self previewed the game against the Hoosiers in Bloomington during a press conference on Thursday. He started by noting three-point shooting as an important aspect because he thinks IU has shot it more poorly than they’re capable of while it’s an area where he thinks his team has overachieved in.

“They haven’t shot the ball like they’re capable of shooting it. Of course it’s a small sample size but they haven’t,” said Self. “To be honest with you, we’ve actually, statistically, shot the ball better than what I feel like we’ve shot it because (Hunter Dickinson) has been so good. That’ll be a big key to the game – who can make perimeter shots?”

Kansas has shot 38.2% from distance with four players shooting 40% or better. As for Indiana, they’re knocking down just 27.2% of their attempts from behind the line with two players, Kel’el Ware and Xavier Johnson, carrying the team at 50% with neither taking a high volume of attempts.

This contest goes deeper than shooting, though. Self continued by noting several qualities, such as the Hoosiers’ frontcourt and the environment for the game, as some things that Kansas will have to find a way to deal with and overcome.

“They have a good team,” said Self. “I don’t know about their guard, Xavier, or what his status is. But they’ve got a good team. They’re athletic, they’re long, they’re big.”

“We won’t play a bigger four and five at the same time together than what they do. Ware can stretch it. I really feel like that four man is as hard as anybody to guard. He can put his head down, he can draw fouls. So we’ll have to do some different things to defend the post,” Self continued. “We need to keep (Trey) Galloway out of the paint. And certainly handle their pressure in a turned up arena.”

At 9-1, Kansas has maintained their status as one of the best teams in the nation. Meanwhile, at 7-2, Indiana’s good start lost some shine last weekend when they lost by 28 to Auburn in the Holiday Hoopsgiving.

Even so, Self isn’t overlooking this next non-conference test inside one of the sport’s most respected venues.

“I like their team. I think Mike (Woodson) has done a great job,” Self said. “It’ll be a hard game, especially in the first road game of the year.”