2019 NIT Preview: No. 5 Arkansas at No. 1 Indiana

Things weren’t pretty on Tuesday night for the Indiana Hoosiers, but the team made it through and now gets a second round matchup against the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday for a chance to advance.

Let’s take a look at Indiana’s second round matchup.

-No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks at No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers

• Time/TV: 12:00PM ET (ESPN)
• KenPom Spread: Indiana (-5)

Predicting the NIT is generally a pretty difficult task. Not only do you have the challenge of predicting postseason play, but motivation is a key component in the NIT. How hard will teams play to advance and who comes in with the legitimate desire to advance. For Indiana, that was a major question on Tuesday and still seems like one.

On paper, Indiana is a better team than Arkansas. However, most of those stats include Romeo Langford. He sat out Tuesday’s game and is not expected to play on Saturday. As such, a lot of those numbers should be thrown out of the window.

Like Indiana’s first NIT game, how Juwan Morgan plays will likely determine the winner of this game. Without Langford, Morgan is the key piece for the Hoosiers and Archie Miller and staff will need him to play well. This is especially true since Arkansas’ key big man, Daniel Gafford will be out for the matchup.

Arkansas is a pretty balanced team on paper, with offensive and defensive numbers relatively close to each other. However, the Razorbacks are a pretty terrible defensive rebounding team. Indiana will hope to capitalize on that on Saturday.

• Pick Against The Spread: Indiana