BLOOMINGTON — For a team centrally built around 3-point shooting, Sam Alexis can be a little overlooked on IU men’s basketball at times.
Alexis is the only true big man in Indiana’s rotation. He’s started for the Hoosiers since the Penn State game on Dec. 9, but he largely time inside with Reed Bailey. And though Alexis has been solid for much of the season, Bailey has had the bigger games of the two thus far.
But that changed Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Alexis had one of the best games of his collegiate career and helped Indiana earn another quality win, a 78-77 overtime victory over Wisconsin.
The Florida transfer shot 9 for 10 for a season-high 19 points, along with seven rebounds, one assist with one turnover, and five blocks. Indiana (16-7, 7-6 Big Ten) needed every bit of his effort to win the game.
“His energy just kind of spreads to other people,” guard Conor Enright said after the game. “He’s been doing that every day in practice, in the weight room. It’s contagious. So him just being around has been awesome for us.”
Particularly in the second half, Wisconsin (16-7, 8-4) couldn’t stop Alexis. The Hoosiers fed him in the post time and time again in the second half, and he made it look easy. Alexis, at 6-foot-9 and 190 pounds, just out-muscled anyone the Badgers threw at him. He shot 6 for 6 in the second half for 13 points.
The post-up looks often weren’t the product of set plays. Darian DeVries didn’t call a single timeout in the second half, even as Wisconsin came back from down 12 points with 11:08 remaining to eventually take the lead with 1:48 to go. IU players just recognized what was working and found ways to get Alexis the ball.
“He was cooking,” Enright said. “So we kept giving it to him.”
He was a force defensively, as well. The five blocks came one shy of matching his career high, set against Rutgers in January. His two blocks in the second half both came in the final eight minutes, and he made another in a big spot in the middle of overtime. He leads the Hoosiers with 1.3 blocks per game on the season.
Alexis was battling through some cramps in the second half on Saturday. But he found a way to make a big impact nonetheless.
“Coach (DeVries) tells us every day in practice just to bring the intensity,” Alexis said. “I felt like we had a good practice last practice, and I thought it just carried over into the game. I was just trying to do what I did in practice yesterday.”
Indiana can’t rely on Alexis for these sorts of performances on a regular basis.
This was only his eighth game of the season (out of 23) scoring in double figures. He’s done it in four out of 13 Big Ten games. Even after Saturday, he’s averaging just 7.7 points per game this season. In conference play, Alexis has posted 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
But on this occasion, none of that mattered. Indiana doesn’t beat Wisconsin on Saturday without Sam Alexis’ best game of the season.
“I thought Sam was tremendous that second half,” DeVries said. “We were able to take advantage of a few switches. That’s why they were able to stay in front of us a little better. They were switching a little more. We were able to throw it inside. I thought the guys did a good job, ran a few things to try to get it to him, but they got it to him, and Sam did the rest from there.”
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