With Malik Reneau on the shelf due to a right knee injury, Indiana needs Oumar Ballo to play like the dominant big man he’s proven to be at times this year and during his previous two years at Arizona.
Coming off a 25-point, 13-rebound performance in a win over Penn State, Ballo has a chance to rack up more big numbers Wednesday night when the Hoosiers host new Big Ten Conference rival Southern California in Bloomington, Ind.
Reneau was injured early during Indiana’s 84-74 win over Rutgers Jan. 2. His absence leaves 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game out of the lineup. That means Ballo gets more touches and, in theory, should have more chances to shine like he did for Indiana (12-3, 3-1) on Sunday.
“We’re featuring him now,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. “He’s always been a double-double guy in his career. We’re featuring him more now with Malik being out.”
Ballo, who’s averaging 13.6 ppg and a team-high 9.6 rebounds, won’t be a one-man show, even with Reneau sidelined. Mackenzie Mgbako scored 20, hitting four 3-pointers, against Penn State and adds 14.1 ppg. Myles Rice hits for 12 ppg and dishes out 3.2 assists.
But Ballo figures to be the No. 1 option Wednesday night against the Trojans (9-5, 1-2), who don’t have anyone to physically match up with the 7-foot-0, 265-pound pivot. They had difficulties stopping Michigan’s two 7-footers Saturday night in an 85-74 home loss, giving up 21 points and 13 rebounds to Danny Wolf.
The bigger concern to first-year coach Eric Musselman is the upcoming schedule. This game starts a stretch of three road games in the next five. That includes trips to surging Illinois, which jumped from No. 22 to No. 13 in this week’s AP Top 25, and Nebraska, which stopped then-No. 15 UCLA Saturday night.
“This is a league that dominates at home,” Musselman said. “You look at the record for our next three road games and there’s like two losses (between them). We’ve got an uphill battle in this league, just based on home-court advantage.”
Xavier transfer Desmond Claude paces USC at 14.9 ppg, sinking 51.5 percent from the field.
–Field Level Media
