At 8:00pm tonight, the Hoosiers welcome the Western Carolina Catamounts to Assembly Hall. An early morning trip yesterday got the Cats to town just in time for some nasty Indiana wintry weather. WCU is 3-5 with wins against Bowling Green, Methodist, and North Carolina Central. I am still checking to see if North Carolina Central is a college or a high school. However, the Catamounts have not lost by more than 10 points in any game, and they have played Cincinnati and the College of Charleston to close finishes. They are led in scoring by freshman Michael Porrini (13.1 ppg) and sophomore Brandon Giles (12.3 ppg), both guards. They have four players that are 6'8" tall in Camden Miller, Blake Gallagher, Jake Robinson, and Richie Gordon, with Robinson and Gallagher seeing the bulk of playing time down low. Head coach Larry Hunter has a career record of 533-261, and has been head coach at Marietta College, Wittenberg University, and Ohio University. Prior to taking the HC job at WCU, Hunter was an assistant at NC State.
The Catamounts are a young team, with 7 of the 11 roster spots filled by freshman/sophomores. As noted above, they will look to get the bulk of their scoring from their guards in a fast-paced tempo and plenty of 3-point field goal attempts. They have taken 23 3-pointers per game so far this season on average, with the bulk of those from big man Jake Robinson. Their guards should look to get their shots from penetration, but may find that difficult against a strengthening Hoosier defense.
The Hoosier post-men could have a field day against the young Catamount front line. One thing that will be interesting to see is whether or not DJ White defends Robinson, or if that task will be left to one of the smaller perimeter guard/forwards such as Jamarcus Ellis. With Eric Gordon expected back, he and Jordan Crawford should match-up well defensively with the WCU backcourt. Armon Bassett will miss this game under suspension again, and no word as of yet whether or not AJ Ratliff has regained his eligibility. I personally do not expect to see AJ until next week, assuming he was successful academically in the fall semester, but he would be an added bonus to the backcourt for tonight's game, should he be already reinstated.
I look for IU to go down low early to establish DJ White. Expecting a fast paced tempo from WCU, I would not be surprised to see Lance Stemler get the start over Mike White or DeAndre Thomas. Stemler may be an option to defend perimeter big man Jake Robinson as well. If IU can get DJ started aggressively, the Cats will have no choice but to bring the double teams more quickly, opening things up further for Gordon and company outside. With the size disadvantage they will be up against, a 2-3 zone may be the defense of choice for WCU anyway.
I think that if WCU tries to push the tempo, they are going to find that the Hoosiers are certainly up to the task. But, they probably do not have a choice, as they are going to be outmatched in a half-court game as well. Some hot shooting may keep the Catamounts in this game early, but I feel confident that the Hoosiers are going to handle their initial surge and take this one going away. My prediction: IU 85 - WCU 59.
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