Three Matchups To Watch When Indiana Plays No. 2 Kansas Saturday

The home-and-home series between Indiana and Kansas shifts Saturday to Assembly Hall, which will be striped-out in the cream and crimson. 

Friday marked the end of the fall semester, so Assembly Hall may not reach its absolute peak noise level without as many students as usual. But it should still be a raucous atmosphere when No. 2 Kansas comes to town for a 12:30 p.m. ET tipoff. Kansas dealt with a similar dynamic last year against Indiana in Lawrence, and Allen Fieldhouse made for a loud, daunting road environment.  

Indiana enters this game 7-2 following a blowout loss to Auburn in Atlanta, but a 2-0 start to Big Ten play eases some of that pain. To hang their hat on any significant nonconference win this year, the Hoosiers must defeat No. 2 Kansas, which has wins over No. 5 UConn, No. 12 Tennessee and No. 14 Kentucky, plus a 14-point loss to No. 7 Marquette.

It's a team game, but here are three individual matchups to watch when the Hoosiers and Jayhawks battle.

Ware versus Dickinson

Hunter Dickinson and Kel'el Ware held the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on 247 Sports' transfer portal rankings this offseason, after Dickinson moved from Michigan to Kansas and Ware went from Oregon to Indiana. The 7-footers enter this matchup as their teams' leading scorers, with Dickinson averaging 19.4 points and 12.4 rebounds and Ware contributing 16.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

It's an interesting matchup on multiple levels. Dickinson is the far more proven commodity, having earned All-Big Ten honors all three years at Michigan. Putting up career-high numbers in nearly every category so far, Dickinson is on pace to shatter his 3-point shooting records and earn his second All-American nod. Seemingly by choice, he's become one of college basketball's villains. He'll surely antagonize the Assembly Hall crowd Saturday, like he did as he led Michigan to a 2-1 record at Indiana, averaging 20.6 points and 10 rebounds. 

"I can't wait to go back to Indiana," Dickinson said preseason. "Playing at Assembly Hall is crazy. I love that atmosphere.''

Ware will have his hands full with Dickinson, who can score inside and out, but it's that same versatility that could neutralize Dickinson on the other end. Though less proven at the college level, Ware, currently a sophomore, is a projected first-round pick and Dickinson is not. If there's a flaw in Dickinson's game, it's pick-and-roll defense. That becomes even more complicated with a player like Ware, who's a lob threat at the rim and can also pick-and-pop beyond the arc, shooting 6-for-12 from three this year. 

The concern with Ware has been his physicality, as Woodson noted he "was shoved around a little bit and pushed out of his comfort zone" against Auburn. The same was true against UConn, and those two games were his two worst shooting nights of the year by at least 15%. Dickinson may not have the same defensive prowess as Ware's UConn and Auburn opponents, but he's one of the most talented offensive players in the nation.