Written by: TJ Inman
After beginning the season 7-0, the Indiana Hoosiers dropped their second-straight game, falling in Indianapolis to the #6 Louisville Cardinals 87-78. As has been the case far too often in neutral site games in recent years for IU basketball, the Hoosiers started slow and found themselves in a big hole. Louisville roared out to a 16-0 lead and Indiana spent the rest of the game trying to work back into the game. Indiana cut the 16-point deficit to just five at 19-14 but the Cardinals restored it to 27-16 with a pair of three-pointers and IU never got any closer than eight points after that. Louisville (8-1) controlled every aspect of the first half, beating Indiana by three on the glass, outscoring the Hoosiers by three at the foul line and limiting Indiana to only 3-16 from beyond the perimeter. Tucker DeVries led the team with nine points in the first 20 minutes but he also had three fouls as the teams headed to the locker room.
Indiana (7-2) needed a fast start to the second half to put pressure on the Cardinals but they instead came out with three straight empty possessions and Louisville extended the lead before Lamar Wilkerson responded with a ten-footer and then a three-pointer that dropped the deficit to eight points at 52-44. Louisville called a timeout and Ryan Conwell nailed a triple to get the lead back to 11 points. Indiana continued to battle and keep it around a ten-point game, ultimately cutting it to seven points with under a minute to play but they never really threatened again and Louisville steadily pulled away for the comfortable victory.
Indianapolis native Ryan Conwell led Louisville with 21 points while Tucker DeVries set the pace for the Hoosiers with 26 points. Nick Dorn and Lamar Wilkerson joined DeVries in double-figures for Indiana as Dorn filled it up with 15 points, all in the second half. The Hoosiers battled on the glass and ultimately tied the Cardinals in rebounds but were minus six from the perimeter and minus nine from the foul line.
The Hoosiers will need to get back on track with the Big Ten home opener this coming Tuesday against Penn State before a road trip to Rupp Arena to play Kentucky next Saturday night.