Written by: TJ Inman
Most any realistic path for the Indiana Hoosiers (11-3, 2-1) to make the NCAA Tournament in the first season of the Darian DeVries era includes winning at home against the Washington Huskies. Washington entered the contest at 9-4 and 1-1 in the Big Ten and the Hoosiers, coming off a long holiday break, showed up for what felt like an extremely contest with a strong offensive effort and rode a 12-point halftime advantage to a 90-80 victory.
Both teams began the game red hot as they traded buckets and roared off to a 27-24 scoreline after just eight minutes of action. Indiana’s defense stiffened for the remainder of the first half and the squads cooled off a bit but it was the play of Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright propelling IU to a 52-40 lead at the break. Conerway was outstanding with 18 points on a perfect 5-5 from the field and Conor Enright added a surprising 11 to pace the home team as Indiana had 9 assists to only two turnovers and shot 68% from the field in the first half. Washington’s biggest strength over the Hoosiers figured to be rebounding but IU won the battle on the glass 13-10 before the break.
The Washington Huskies began the second half with a concerted effort to get the ball into the paint and feed star big man Hannes Steinbach and the visitors cut the deficit from 12 to 4 in a matter of moments as IU racked up fouls. Tucker DeVries was among those victimized and he went to the bench with three fouls.
Freshman Trent Sisley entered the game with IU ahead 54-50 and immediately made a huge impact, scoring ten points and reestablishing Indiana’s control of the contest before exiting with the score at 75-62. Conor Enright’s incisive passing was a key during the run as well and Indiana continued to do a nice job battling on the boards.
Cold perimeter shooting from the Hoosiers kept the Huskies in the game and a fast break bucket from Steinbach cut the lead to 78-69, prompting a timeout by Darian DeVries. The timeout did not change momentum as Washington got a free throw and a layup and Reed Bailey missed a pair of shots but the Hoosiers answered with a stop and a huge three by Lamar Wilkerson to push the lead back to nine points heading into the game’s final media timeout.
Indiana continued to get called for fouls and that gave the Huskies some hope but the Hoosiers kept responding and were never truly threatened in the game’s final moments, pulling out the 90-80 victory.
The Indiana Hoosiers were led by Tayton Conerway’s 20 points but 18 of those came in the second half. Lamar Wilkerson and Trent Sisley came to play in the second half and made sure the Hoosiers were victorious in Assembly Hall. Wilkerson had 22 points including 18 in the second 20 minutes while Trent Sisley chipped in with 10 points and four rebounds off the bench, all in the second half.
The Washington Huskies entered the night as one of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten and that’s an area that has been a weakness for IU but the Hoosiers fought hard on the glass and ultimately won that battle 33-29. IU only shot 12-28 from three and that included a 5-5 start that came exclusively from Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright but they found a way to manufacture points through driving to the basket, getting the occasional transition bucket and only turning the ball over four times.
Indiana now heads to College Park to play the Maryland Terrapins in another critical contest on Wednesday night before embarking on a brutal stretch against ranked opponents but tonight was a very nice step towards building a tournament-worthy resume.