Posted by: @tjinman1987

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Wilkerson has apparently been really good in the second half after going scoreless in the first half. He bags another triple and IU is hanging in there, down 78-71. For those curious...Conerway has been on the bench and the IU coaching staff is seeing how Enright does as the primary ball-handler in this situation. That illustrates how much urgency (or lack thereof) about just winning the game. This is about seeing different guys in different situations. Of course, winning is always preferable to losing if everything else is equal ha.

Great insight on the PG situation. Thanks TJ. Hopefully Enright rises to the occasion

80-74 Mega leads with just under two minutes to play...exhibition reminder: Ristic is in down the stretch. Not a slight to him but he won't be part of the crunch-time/closing lineup unless a few other guys are hurt.

@tjinman1987 have to assume, they'd err on the side of extreme caution with any of the players, injury wise, in this setting and situation.  Even risking losing a practice player/walk on, from these games, wouldn't be worth it.  That's how "un important" winning these games are.

Wilkerson drives and dumps it off to Alexis, he dunks it home (which it sounds like he is quite adept at doing ha), is fouled and cuts it to 80-77 with a free throw. 

Sam Alexis tried a three-pointer to tie, missed it but Ristic hits a floater to cut the lead to one. 80-79 with 39.6 remaining. Mega has the ball and they are up one.

The Hoosiers force a turnover and have the ball, down one, 21.9 to play.

Very good experience right now with a tight game.

Haha...it really sucks we can't watch this. Wilkerson with another drive and dish, this time finding Reed Bailey for a dunk with eight seconds to play. IU leads by one...first lead since it was 2-0!

Per Mike Pegram, Lamar Wilkerson (who it certainly seems like had a great second half) played fantastic defense on the final possession and forced a fadeaway jumper that was no good. IU battles back again and wins 81-80 to close the Puerto Rico trip at 3-0. 

No new injuries that we know about, good team bonding for a week and three wins showing some good resiliency and adjustments after slow starts...that seems like a darn good way to spend August for IUBB!

Go ahead bucket.

https://twitter.com/jeffrabjohns/status/1954953176228261998?s=46&t=zoBJGD5TXRBDk1ODyOZqlg

@tammany Is it bad that I've got goosebumps watching this in my office right now?

@tammany "critical" possession, at least as far as August exhibitions go, and look at how wide open that lane is. Screen action to get Lamar the ball going towards the basket, he draws a double and makes the right play to give it to the baseline cutter in the dunker spot. Perfectly executed.

@tammany What a great look, and to have that trust in a teammate to make the catch and play in a late game circumstance like that, seems big!

@iunorth The team plays hard the staff seem pretty darn good at halftime adjustments.  We are playing modern bball.  May as well be optimistic!

I'll have the DeVries interview up when we get it and then I plan on having a recap article that summarizes general themes that can be projected out from this trip....that should be ready to go tomorrow. Thanks for following along on this. Our in-season basketball coverage will be similar with game threads but obviously, we'll be in attendance and/or watching the games so that will make actual analysis much easier!