Written by: TJ Inman
The Indiana Hoosiers entered Friday evening’s contest against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights as losers of four straight and in desperate need of a quality performance before taking on the Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday night. A loss to the struggling Scarlet Knights would not only put Indiana further behind the eight ball in the Big Ten standings, it would be a likely fatal blow to any NCAA Tournament hopes for Darian DeVries’ squad. The Hoosiers responded to the “must win” situation by sliding Nick Dorn into the starting lineup and scorching the nets in Piscataway, establishing an early lead and pulling away for a 82-59 victory to improve to 13-7 and 4-5 in the league. Nick Dorn, Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson combined for 72 points including 43 of IU’s 47 in the first half to stake the road team to a 15-point halftime lead.
Senior forward Tucker DeVries played his best game in several weeks and he got Indiana off to a nice start with a three-pointer on the Hoosiers’ first offensive possession and another one a couple of minutes later. Lamar Wilkerson got cooking with a nice mix of perimeter and mid-range opportunities and he led IU early with 13 points with a score of 26-14 but a bad pass by Conor Enright led to Wilkerson picking up his second foul. He headed to the bench for the remainder of the first half but Tucker DeVries and Nick Dorn made sure the advantage did not slip away. IU made 8 of 20 three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes, led Rutgers 22 to 14 on the glass and had eight assists to just one turnover.
Both teams started hot in the second half and Indiana weathered a surge from the Scarlet Knights thanks to the continued hot shooting of Tucker DeVries and Nick Dorn and extended the lead to 20 points at 60-40. The hosts refused to go away quietly, scoring seven straight and eventually cutting the lead to just 12 points but IU had an answer. Tayton Conerway was limited due to his lingering ankle injury but he picked up a key four points a row to help the Hoosiers extend the lead back to 18 at the under-eight media timeout. Rutgers made a few tough shots but their lackluster defense and good ball movement from Indiana ensured the home team did not get any closer than 12 points and the Hoosiers cruised down the stretch for the wire-to-wire 82-59 victory. It was a three-man show for the Hoosiers as Nick Dorn, Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries all went for more than 20 points. The trio combined for 72 points and 15 made three-pointers to key the dominant performance. IU had 15 assists to just five turnovers and they bucked a recent trend, outrebounding Rutgers by 13.