Written by: TJ Inman
Neutral site games have not been kind to the Indiana Hoosiers in recent years but the times, they are a changing and IU wrapped up the exhibition season with a 76-74 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse over the Baylor Bears.
The Hoosiers were still without four scholarship players, including expected rotation players Josh Harris and Nick Dorn and that left them undersized against Scott Drew’s Baylor Bears. It showed as Indiana struggled to finish around the rim against length and were beaten on the glass by a margin of 44 to 25. The Hoosiers made up for that with superior passing, taking care of the ball and connecting on 20-21 from the free throw line. Indiana had 18 assists and only turned the ball over nine times while forcing Baylor into 16 giveaways. Lamar Wilkerson led the way with 28 points while Tucker DeVries had 18 and Tayton Conerway added 15.
The Baylor Bears had control for much of the first half, leading the game 31-18 with eight minutes to play before the break but Indiana fought back in the closing possessions and went into the break down by only five points at 41-36. The Hoosiers were only 2-10 from three and were outrebounded by eight but showed good resiliency to stay within touching distance.
Indiana began the second half with a flurry and pushed into the lead midway through the final stanza as Tucker DeVries made multiple outstanding plays on both ends to give Indiana the advantage. Indiana outscored Baylor by 23 points during a 20-minute stretch and appeared to have control but the Bears roared back to take a lead with under two minutes to play.
Tucker DeVries hit a baseline jumper to make it 74-73 and Baylor missed a three-pointer but the Bears grabbed the rebound and drew a foul with 12.2 seconds remaining. Baylor made one of two from the line and Tayton Conerway took his defender took the basket, drew a foul and made the basket with under ten seconds left. He missed the free throw, giving Baylor a chance to win the game but the three-point attempt clanged off the rim and the tip-in effort was off the mark as time expired as IU prevailed 76-74.
The Hoosiers will hope to get a few players back into action and continue to work on improving as a squad over the next week before opening the regular season November 5 against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.