The Hoosiers aren't opening the season on the road, even if their uniforms Tuesday night suggest it.

The IU basketball team will wear their road red unis against Chicago State because the Cougars have yet to receive their road uniforms.

“At the request of Chicago State, IU will wear its red uniforms tonight," an IU release said. "The Cougars road uniforms had not been delivered to them by the time they left Chicago.”

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Chicago State has struggled financially for years and new athletic director Chris Zorich — the former Notre Dame football player — is trying build a program.

An IU football game once had a sartorial oddity. In wake of Hurricane Katrina, IU invited Nicholls State, which is in Thibodaux, La., to Bloomington to play.

Jay Thomas, Nicholls' coach at the time, explained how it came together.

“It was a struggle to get flights because no one could fly in or out of New Orleans. Indiana did a wonderful job of helping us get a flight out of Baton Rouge. They wanted to do something for our kids, and their coach (Terry Hoeppner) was accommodating and he donated some money and they gave us extra food,” Thomas said.

“Another problem we had was our uniforms. We had new uniforms on the way when Katrina hit, and they were lost in the flooding in Biloxi. I remember calling LSU and they were going to lend us their practice jerseys with purple numbers to go with our silver practice pants. Indiana said we could wear their practice jerseys, but Nike shut down the basketball production to make a uniform for us and the delivered them on game day.“