After two buy games, Indiana faces their first true test against the Syracuse Orange. This game tips off at 6:30 on Monday evening, and should be a great contest between power conference opponents. You can watch it on FS1.

Syracuse has beaten New Haven and Central Connecticut so far this season. It is hard to glean much from those two games, but one thing is clear. Kyian Anthony, son of NBA legend Carmelo Anthony, is one of the two keys for this team. Anthony is averaging 15.5 points per game so far this season, after posting a freshman campaign where he averaged 8. Indiana cannot let Anthony get hot if they want to win this game. The other is Gavin Doty, who is averaging 16 points, 9 rebounds on the year.

Lineups

Syracuse has seven guys averaging at least 20 minutes per game so far this season. While this suggests balance in their lineups, it also means nobody has taken a leap to establish themselves as starters for the rest of the season. Indiana should be able to use this to their advantage, especially given their defined roles already this year.

Syracuse started Mark Morano, Sadiq White, Luke Wilson, Gavin Doty, and Garwey Dual in both games. Anthony and Ryan Moesch appear to be the two guys who are playing the most off the bench, while Amarri Monroe is making the most of his opportunities, scoring 7 in just 13 minutes per game. Syracuse’s rotations will continue to evolve throughout the season, and you’d expect Anthony to continue to see increased minutes if he scores as he is.

Frontcourt Depth

The Orange only use one center in the rotation, and their power forward, Sadiq White Jr., is only 6’8. Indiana’s frontcourt should be able to dominate this matchup, both on the glass and in the offensive end of the paint. WIth Aiden Sherrell, Samet Yigitoglu, and Sam Alexis all getting significant playing time, I expect one of them to be the star of the game.

“Neutral Site”

This game is technically a neutral site for Indiana. However, playing in Indianapolis is basically a home game for most Hoosier fans. Why this matters is the NCAA’s quadrant system. Because this is technically a neutral site game, Syracuse might end up counting as a Quad 1 game, whereas if this game was in Bloomington, they would almost assuredly count as a Quad 2 game. We don’t have the NCAA’s NET rankings until December, but per Kenpom.com, Syracuse is 77th right now, firmly in the Quad 2 range.

This is the first opportunity for Indiana to showcase who they are to the casual fan. The game against Syracuse is a great opportunity to carry positive momentum into the toughest stretch of the nonconference schedule, as well as add a solid win to the resume when March arrives.