It took an excruciating 45 minutes, but the Hoosiers pulled out a resume-building win over Wisconsin on Saturday. Without Tayton Conerway, who was a late scratch due to illness, the Hoosiers needed big games from Conor Enright and Lamar Wilkerson. The Hoosiers got big games from both, just perhaps not in the way they were expecting.
Conor Enright started the game hot, knocking down a couple of big shots and facilitating for others, quickly racking up some assists. However, Enright quickly tallied two fouls, which saw him head to the bench early.
Without Enright on the floor, Indiana’s offense ground to a halt. Part of this was due to the Hoosiers’ inability to shoot the three. The Hoosiers went just 5-22 from behind the arc on Saturday. Hit hardest by this was Hoosier sharpshooter Lamar Wilkerson, who went 1-8 from three. Undeterred by his cold streak from deep, Wilkerson attacked the basket, ending the game with a team-high 25 points, most of which came in the paint. Wilkerson was also a force on defense, locking down the Badgers’ guards.
Speaking about this after the game, Head Coach Darian DeVries said, “As I said earlier, the thing about it, a night like tonight, where you’re 5 for 22 from 3, typically, the way our roster is built and how we’re playing, that’s a hard night for us. We were able to win that game because we held them to 38 percent from the field. So our defense did just enough. There was times in there where it wasn’t great, but again, the defense did just enough to get the stops we need when we needed them to allow us to win that game.”
DeVries continued, “There’s some things out there we’d like to clean up a bit. We get a double-digit lead there late, we don’t need to go to overtime, you know. But again, they found a way. They didn’t give into it. They kept fighting. They kept in the huddle encouraging one another, and I think that’s a sign of a veteran team. They didn’t panic inside the huddle. They just knew you’ve just got to make that next play, and they were able to do that.”
One of the biggest plays of the game came in overtime when Conor Enright was able to draw an offensive foul, giving the Hoosiers the ball back down one point with 15 seconds left in the game.
“We were trying to get a quick trap, see if we could get a quick steal. We thought we had enough time to try to take a few chances there, and if we could get them sped up, try to get one first. Conor just does what he does. He keeps competing, keeps fighting, and that was a huge play for us.” Coach DeVries said about the play after the game.
Enright echoed these sentiments, saying, “We were trying to get a turnover first, trying to see if they’d cough it up. Honestly, I was kind of panicking, trying to get a hold of him because he was wasting time, 15 seconds, something like that. Then I just saw his shoulder go into me and figured if I’m gonna foul I might as well try and get a charge. It worked out.”
When asked how confident he was that the play would be called a charge, he said, “Very low, very low, but we got it. I was a little shocked myself. I thought, ‘Next play, we’ve got to get a bucket.’”
That next bucket came at the hands of Lamar Wilkerson, who found himself at the free-throw line, facing two massive shots to win the game. Wilkerson knocked down both to give Indiana a 78-77 lead with two seconds left.
When asked how confident he was in Wilkerson taking those free throws, Sam Alexis said, “He doesn’t really miss in practice or like ever. So I don’t really think he feels any pressure, to be honest, when he’s shooting them.”
Conor Enright echoed these sentiments, saying, “If I had to pick a guy, I would put Lamar out there every single time to shoot every free throw in the game.”
Coach DeVries summed it up best, saying, “Lamar, he’s an elite player. I even think from like a pro standpoint, I think he’s one of those guys that people aren’t talking about enough because he’s going to play in that league for a long, long time. He has all the things you need, the intangibles, in addition to like he has that one skill that everybody wants, and he can throw them in there.”
For the Hoosiers, this was a must-win game. While it may not have been the prettiest of wins, it helps build their resume as they make a late push for an NCAA Tournament bid.