Primarily a collection of news links about all 12 Horizon League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
-Northern Kentucky @ Texas A&M – NKU is probably way overmatched, but they have managed two really solid wins away from home so far and could really make some noise if they can pull off an upset tonight
-Florida Atlantic @ Wright State – both teams 1-0
BUY GAMES:
-Youngstown State @ Ohio State – Ohio State looking for their first win
Green Bay gave Duke a scare. The Phoenix led after the first quarter and were up six in the second before Duke pulled away 76-60. Maddie Skorupski had a game-high 16 points, and Kristina Ouimette added 14. Duke was without Fournier, so it comes with an asterisk. But Green Bay going into Cameron and leading a top-10 team for a quarter and a half shows how tight the margins can be.
Cleveland State beat Penn State, 62-61. A Horizon League team winning at a Big Ten program in the opener is a great result, not a fluke. Between this and Green Bay's start at Duke, the Horizon showed up in Week 1. The Vikings came back down to earth a bit Thursday, losing 77-73 at Bowling Green.
The Euros versus the Speedsters, what a game we should have on Saturday in Indianapolis. IU Indy's insanely fast pace gets opponents into a game that barely looks like basketball at times, and most of UT Martin's players come from a FIBA system overseas that couldn't possibly be more different. The Skyhawks' players, who largely are playing their second actual college basketball game ever, may be in for culture shock.
UT Martin's defensive scheme is a 5-man switching system that is meant to fully cut off driving lanes. On the flipside, IU Indy's offensive system is built around a hub big man, which then runs cutters and handoffs through that big at the top of the key. Again, these teams couldn't be more different.
The Skyhawks do have a giant size advantage here, standing as the ninth-tallest team in the country. Considering this non-stop IU Indy pressure allowed copious rim baskets off the back end last year, that size at every position should make a big difference here. The counterpoint would be that pressure may force a ton of turnovers for a UT Martin team that was eighth-last nationally in that stat last year, but pardon the pun, there is lots of turnover on this new roster for Jeremy Shulman and Co.
One thing I can tell you is this game will be fast, very fast. But IU Indy giving a jumbo, physical squad like UT Martin with skilled guards Kaan Onat and Davi Remagen lanes to the basket off its pressure likely doesn't end well for the home team. - Matthew Winick
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