Written by: TJ Inman
The Indiana Hoosiers notched a key neutral court victory over perennial NCAA Tournament team Marquette, dominating the Golden Eagles 100-77 at the United Center in Chicago in front of a raucous crowd of mostly Indiana fans. After years of disappointing performances in non-conference games against power conference opponents,
Darian DeVries aced his first real test as the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. IU hit 14-28 from the three-point line and knocked down 20-24 from the charity stripe as Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson combined for 51 points and 12 made three-pointers in the rout. The Hoosiers shared the ball well with 27 assists contrasted to only eight turnovers as Marquette’s trademark ball pressure never really bothered Indiana.
The Hoosiers were carried by Tucker DeVries in the first half. The West Virginia transfer was fantastic in the first 20 minutes, hitting 8 of 12 shots and racking up 24 points as Indiana roared out to a 54-38 lead at the break. They knocked down 7 of 14 from three and had 12 assists while building the advantage. The second half belonged to Sam Houston transfer Lamar Wilkerson as Tucker DeVries got into foul trouble. The sharpshooter had eight points in the first half but dominated during a key stretch in the second half to make sure Marquette did not make a run.
The Golden Eagles cut the deficit to ten points before Darian DeVries set up a play that shook Tucker DeVries open for three, Lamar Wilkerson threw a nice pass for a Trent Sisley layup, hit a three-pointer, had another assist for a Sam Alexis dunk and then nailed another three-pointer to push IU’s lead to 21 points. Marquette never really threatened again and the Hoosiers kept the Golden Eagles down by more than 15 points the remainder of the contest, pushing the lead to 27 points in the game’s final moments.
The only real negative from today’s contest for Indiana was the foul trouble they dealt with for much of the contest. Reed Bailey was limited and Conor Enright eventually fouled out as Marquette shot 33 free throws and made 29 of them. Beyond Wilkerson and DeVries, Trent Sisley (15) and Sam Alexis (13) were both in double-figures. The Hoosiers had 17 more assists and seven fewer turnovers than the Golden Eagles in the dominant display. Indiana is 2-0 and has a neutral court victory they hope ends up as a Quad One result at the end of the campaign. They return to action on Wednesday evening as they host the Milwaukee Panthers.