Indiana took care of business at home.
The Hoosiers got off to a sluggish start. They trailed 6-0 to start the game, and 19-14 with 7:42 left in the first. But that’s when things started clicking. IU outscored Oregon 22-11 to close the first half, and opened the second session with a 16-6 run to take a 52-36 lead. The Ducks hung around, but a Lamar Wilkerson outburst eventually buried them.
Let’s take a deeper look at how Indiana won 92-74 in Bloomington with our latest edition of The Report Card.
The Hoosiers (17-8, 8-6) will travel to Illinois on Sunday.
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OFFENSE (A)
Indiana has nights when once the offense gets going, they are just about impossible to stop. This was one of them.
The Hoosiers scored 78 points in the final 28 minutes of the game. That’s a full game pace of 111. What changed after a sluggish start against some zone looks?
“We wanted to get to a little more of our screen actions in the second half and take advantage of what we thought could be some good opportunities there,” IU coach Darian DeVries said. “You know, using Lamar a little bit as a screener, using Tuck as a screener, using Tucker as a facilitator a little bit as well. Just get them moving a little bit more. I thought we allowed them to play a little bit more in some shell spots. They didn’t have to chase us as much as we would’ve liked in the first half. I though we came out at halftime and the guys really moved and shared the ball. We cut with more force, screened with a little more force, and then they were able to knock them down, too. That’s part of it as well.”
IU was virtually unstoppable inside the arc, making 19 of 23 from two. They earned 27 free throws and made 77.8% of their chances. For the game IU shot 60% as a team including 40.7% from three. That included 81.8% overall in the second half. They had 22 assists to nine turnovers for the game, and made 9 of their last 15 threes.
In the end IU scored 1.39 points per possession, their fourth-best effort against a high major foe this season. Their 71% effective field goal percentage was the second-best in all games on the campaign.
DEFENSE (B-)
The one player on the other side who could have made this a long night for IU was held in check. 7-foot center Nate Bittle made just 3 of 14 shots as IU harassed him and made him earn everything. Indiana adjusted its gameplan on him during the game.
“We started out the game we were going to double him on the block. As the game went on we felt like he was catching a little bit outside the block and he was,” DeVries said. “He’s really good at finding the weak side when you come and double, so we didn’t want to give some of their shooters clean opportunities.
“We started to just play him a little bit more one-on-one and give a little bit of some digs, rakes as we call it, so he just felt more hands around him from other guys but not fully committing to two people.”
Bittle did finish with 15 points, but it took him 14 shots to get there. As a team IU held Oregon under 50% from two.
The one area Oregon had the potential to dominate Indiana was offensive rebounds. But the Ducks grabbed just eight of their own misses.
The Ducks finished with 1.12 points per possession. IU only forced six turnovers, and Oregon got 25 free throw attempts. Those two factors combined to keep giving them chances to put the ball on the rim and hang around even if their offense wasn’t particularly sharp.
SEE ALSO:
- “Get out of the way and let him cook”: Lamar Wilkerson putting together an all-time season
- ‘A special moment’: IU’s DeVries matching up with former boss Altman was about more than basketball
- Watch: Darian DeVries, Lamar Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries talk win over Oregon
- IU basketball: Indiana 92 Oregon 74 — Three keys, highlights, final stats
THE PLAYERS (*starters)
*Tucker DeVries (B+) DeVries continues to show his offensive versatility as a shooter, facilitator and inside scorer. He’s proving to be a very unselfish player who is content to play whatever role is needed.
*Lamar Wilkerson (A) What can you say? Wilkerson seemed to be having an out-of-body experience at times, like he was playing alone and could do whatever he wanted. After an 0 of 5 start, he made 13 of 15 shots, and none of them were easy. Wilkerson has become a complete offensive player, and he competes on both ends.
*Sam Alexis (A) Alexis continues to look more and more comfortable in the offense, and IU is comfortable looking for his post scoring as an option. He was a perfect 8 of 8 from the field, which is the second-best single-game field goal percentage in IU history. And Alexis’ hustle and effort was even more impressive.
*Conor Enright (A-) Enright continues his mastery running the offense. He’s up to 119 assists against 29 turnovers on the season after and 8 to 1 night. And how about the shortest guy on the team leading the Hoosiers with six rebounds? The effort is always there.
*Nick Dorn (B-) Dorn appeared to use the free throw line to nudge himself back into a shooting rhythm. He’ll need to get it going again with a couple challenging road games ahead.
Jasai Miles (C+) Miles hustled and chased down rebounds. But he appeared a bit skittish in this one.
Reed Bailey (C) After what was probably the best game of his career at UCLA, Bailey has one rebound and four turnovers over his last three games. He’s due for a bounce back effort.
Trent Sisley and Tayton Conerway saw limited action.
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Aleksa Ristic and Andrej Acimovic did not play — coaches decision.
Jason Drake and Josh Harris were out with injuries.
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