College Basketball Odds - Indiana at Louisville Game Preview

The Archie Miller era has not gotten off to a good start. The Indiana Hoosiers dropped their season opener against Indiana State and are just a game above .500 at this point in the season. A learning curve was somewhat expected with a new coach and a new system, but not many people were expecting 5-4. Now the Hoosiers must travel south to take on a Louisville Cardinals team that is also breaking in a new coach.

This war on the floor will go down Saturday, December 9, 2017, at 2 p.m. ET at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The game will be televised live on ESPN. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.

Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu

To be fair to Miller and the Hoosiers, the only bad loss they have suffered was in that opener against Indiana State. Indiana has beaten the teams you’d expect and lost to the team you’d expect outside of that game. The Hoosiers lost by double digits to Seton Hall, Michigan, and Duke, failing to cover the spread in each of those games. They are 3-6 ATS this season.

Everyone is still wondering what to make of this Louisville team. The Cardinals haven’t had any problems with the softer teams on their schedule, but did lose to Purdue and Seton Hall. They were competitive in both games, but there is a ton of talent on this team and we are still waiting to see how they will respond under interim coach David Padgett.

Those around the program say that Padgett is a breath of fresh air after the seemingly endless Rick Pitino saga, but the team needs to start picking up some wins over good teams in order to take the interim tag off of Padgett.

Key Stat

The one thing that hasn’t changed in the transition from Pitino to Padgett is that the Cardinals still play incredible defense. Louisville has been known for its pressure defense ever since Pitino took over the job.

This season has been no different and the Cardinals on the ball defense has been superb. Opponents are hitting just 36.6 percent of their shots against Louisville and that makes the Cardinals defense as one of the best ten best defenses in the nation in terms of shooting defense.

The best part of Indiana’s offense has been its ability to create good shots. The Hoosiers are hitting 48.1 percent of their field goals this season and that has kept this team afloat under a new coach. They will need to continue that if they hope to knock off Louisville on the road.

Matchup to Watch

Indiana has not played good defense this season, especially along the perimeter. The Hoosiers have allowed opponents to knock down over 40 percent of their three-point attempts and that has put this team behind the eight ball on more than one occasion.

It started in the very first game when Indiana State hit 17 of 26 three pointers against Indiana’s defense and has continued throughout the season. Seton Hall knocked down over 50 percent of its threes against this defense and Iowa was able to hang around against Indiana because it hit over 40 percent from downtown.

This is a weakness that the Cardinals may not be able to exploit. Louisville is sinking just a third of its three-point attempts this year and that bodes well for the Hoosiers.

Free College Basketball ATS Picks

Indiana is going to be a decent-sized underdog in this game. The Hoosiers have yet to beat a good opponent this year and are still coming together. They are a lot better than they were at the start of the season though and have been more competitive in recent weeks. I think this is where they start to put it together and pull off the upset.

College Basketball Odds: Indiana 73, Louisville 70

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