Indiana Basketball: IU battling injuries, starting backcourt out vs Gannon

The Indiana basketball program will be without its two starting guards for Tuesday’s exhibition against Gannon University.

While the Indiana basketball program will return to the court on Tuesday for its preseason tuneup before next Tuesday’s season opener, they will be without two of the team’s top players.

Both Devonte Green and Rob Phinisee, who have yet to participate in the preseason festivities, will again be on the sidelines for Tuesday’s exhibition against Gannon University. As both are battling injuries, and while neither of them are projected to be serious, because it is just an exhibition, there is no need to rush them back to the lineup.

Archie Miller addressed the media for the first time since Big Ten Media Day on Monday and touched on the injuries to the starting backcourt.

"“Both guys are very important to what we’re doing,” Miller said of the duo. “Erring on the side of caution here in October is the smart thing to do. But, you know, we’ll have some other guys hopefully that will have the ability to step in and get some minutes, and that’s always important as well.”"

For Green, the senior guard is dealing with a hamstring injury and while he has been in and out of practice this fall, it isn’t something that should keep him out of the lineup in the coming days and weeks.

Phinisee however, is dealing with abdominal injury that was described as ‘something that’s not very common’, per Archie Miller. While it is a bit more serious than Green’s is, the staff continues to monitor and manage Phinisee on a day-to-day basis.

The backcourt pairing averaged 16.2 points and 5.9 assists per game last season, and while those aren’t eye-popping numbers, the expectation for the duo are extremely high for the upcoming season.

With both being out on Tuesday, Al Durham and Armaan Franklin will be featured again on Tuesday and both will look to build off of their 25 total points that they combined for against Marquette in the ‘secret scrimmage’ last week.

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