Indiana Basketball: Different basketballs part of road challenge in Big 10?

The NCAA allows different branded basketballs during home games based on sponsorship and preference. A reason for Indiana basketball’s struggles?

According to the 2019-2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Book, “The circumference of the ball shall be within a maximum of 30 inches and a minimum of 29½ inches. The weight of the ball shall not be less than 20 ounces nor more than 22 ounces.” Each basketball: the Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and Wilson balls have different components from each other.

The biggest contrast in the ball that can be felt is in terms of texture. Every ball has a different feeling when gripping it with smoothness being a large factor. When the upcoming game for the Indiana Hoosiers is a road game, they practice with the basketball used by the team that they’re traveling to in every practice leading up to that specific game.

It’s very tough to not only have to play in a tough road environment but also adjust to a new basketball every game and this is evident in Indiana’s top three-point shooter Devonté Green’s split statistics. At home, Green is shooting 40.7 percent from beyond the arc and 42.4 percent from the field while on the road, he is shooting 31.6 percent from beyond the arc and 27.7 percent from the field.

It’s not just Indiana who has struggled with this issue, either. In an interview with ESPN, Wisconsin guard D’Mitrik Trice spoke on the issue.

"“One day you might play at Nebraska and be using an Adidas ball, and then you go to Ohio State and you’re using a Nike ball, and you’re playing at home and you’re using a Wilson or Under Armour ball. It’s hard to get used to the different sizes of them because they all have different feels, different ripples in the ball. It’s honestly difficult at times.”"

Below are the basketball brands that each Big Ten University uses and it aligns with each school’s main sponsor beside the University of Wisconsin who elected to go with the Wilson basketball.

Nike: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue,

Adidas: Indiana, Nebraska, Rutgers

Under Armour: Maryland, Northwestern

Wilson: Wisconsin

Overall the Big Ten is 38-86 on the road in conference play this season for a road percentage of 30.6 percent, with no team having more than one more win than loss.

Obviously, the hostile road Big Ten crowds are likely the largest factor of why it’s tough to play on the road but the basketball adds a component of difficulty that is definitely hard to ignore.

In the NCAA Tournament, they use a Wilson basketball for all games.

While the ball isn’t the only thing that has contributed to Indiana’s 2-8 record, it definitely hasn’t helped either.

The Hoosiers close out the season with two straight home games and will look to solidify their spot in the NCAA Tournament.