By Matt St. Charles
At halftime, Indiana led Oregon, which is now 1-12 in Big Ten play, by just six points. The offense was fine, shooting 43% from the field, and produced plenty of open looks. But it was unable to get hot from outside, something that’s vital to success against Dana Altman’s zone defenses.
The Oregon offense didn’t have enough firepower to build a lead, even against a pedestrian showing from the IU offense in the first 20 minutes. Also on the plus side for the Hoosiers, they had nine assists on their 12 field goals before the break.
But whatever was discussed or drawn up in the locker room by Darian DeVries seemed to resonate, as Indiana came out with a fire in the second half that helped it take down Oregon 92-74.
It started out 8-8 from the field to open the half, opening the six-point lead up to 15 quickly. Every bucket during that spurt came off a wide-open look that was produced through great spacing, cutting, and off-ball screen action.
Tucker DeVries, Sam Alexis, and especially Lamar Wilkerson got involved in that stretch and found rhythm. DeVries scored a layup off a back screen, and after seeing the ball go through the basket, hit a 3 off a flare screen. With the threat of outside shooting, Alexis was able to slip to the rim and get one-on-one matchups inside, something he’s become effective at scoring on.
“We wanted to get to more of our screening actions in the second half and take advantage of what we thought could be some good opportunities there,” DeVries said. “Using Lamar as a screener, using Tucker as a screener, using Tucker as a facilitator a little bit as well–just getting them moving a little bit more. I thought we allowed them to play more in some shell spots; they didn’t have to chase us as much as we would have liked in the first half. Coming out of the half, I thought guys really moved and shared the ball. We cut with more force, screened with a little more force, and they were able to knock them down, too.”
After starting the game 0-5 from the field, Wilkerson found his groove late in the first half, and it continued as the rest of his team got going as well.
“That’s what basketball is,” Wilkerson said with a smile. “You make shots and you miss shots. Coach [DeVries] and [Tucker] and the other guys, we always try to live on the next-play mentality. You miss one, next play. It was easy. Everybody kept telling me to keep shooting, one fell, and then the rest happened.”
Even Nick Dorn, who had hit two of his last 19 3s, hit three free throws and rediscovered his stroke to the tune of 11 points.
The Hoosiers used all that momentum–that offensive mojo–led by Wilkerson’s 41 points to run away from Oregon in the second half. Overall, they shot 60% from the field and 11-27 from 3, but in the second half alone, those numbers reached 82% and 7-11.
More importantly, their 30 field goals came on 22 assists, as the right guy was found possession after possession. Indiana wasn’t hunting 3s, but the open look, and it led to an incredibly efficient night.
Obviously, a lot of the offensive output deserves to be credited to Wilkerson, but in turn, he benefited from the high-level execution from all five guys on the floor. As the go-to guy, Wilkerson finished most possessions, and when he gets hot, there aren’t many other players in the country who can score quite like him.
“When you’ve got him going like that, it makes things really easy for everybody else, too,” Tucker DeVries said. “I think it started when he hit one or two, gets it going, and then it starts with a couple more play calls for him, and then he hits a couple more, and at that point, it’s probably just, ‘Get out of the way and let him cook…’ Thought a lot of guys did really well recognizing him and getting him in his spots, and at the same time, he just made tough shots.”
The precision displayed by Indiana tonight, combined with what happens when Wilkerson gets into the flow state, could make them a force as March approaches.
“We’ve really found an identity on both ends of the floor,” Darian DeVries said. “Our floor spacing has been better. Ball movement has been better. Defensively, we’re more connected. There’s still work to do, but I like the effort they give every day. Even during the losing streak, they never came to practice with their heads down. They came to work, they came to get better, and they came to win the next one.”
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Wilkerson added. “I just feel like it’s our run right now. You’d rather be playing your best basketball in March than January. We’ve got a lot of things to go back to the drawing board and fix, but that [losing streak] just opened our eyes and let us know that, hey, we’ve got to be a lot better to play in this league and get to March Madness, punch that ticket.”