When Indiana’s leading scorer Tucker DeVries made his first shot Tuesday evening against Kansas State, it give the Hoosiers a 19-point second half lead with 15 minutes to go.
Second-leading scorer Lamar Wilkerson wasn’t finding much room to operate either. He attempted just seven shots all night despite averaging nearly double that amount per game coming in.
So how was Indiana able to pull out to such a big margin without significant contributions from its duo averaging a combined 36 points a contest?
In its 86-69 win over Kansas State at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Indiana’s supporting cast showed it is good enough to carry the load.
In the case of senior forward Reed Bailey, some not so gentle encouragement helped get him going.
After Bailey’s second turnover in less than two minutes, Indiana coach Darian DeVries called a timeout midway through the first half. And as the players approached the IU bench, DeVries glared at and then yelled at Bailey, who had also missed both of his shots from the field and hadn’t recorded a rebound 10 minutes into the game.
What was DeVries’ message?
“I think just normal coaching stuff. Just, hey, be more aggressive,” a grinning DeVries said. “So he did. Good job, Reed.”
Bailey would go on to score 21 points. He made a living at the free throw line, where he made 13 of 15 attempts on trips to the stripe earned by aggressive drives and attempts in the paint. His contributions were especially important because his fellow center Sam Alexis only played 10 minutes due to foul trouble.
“I thought Reed really took the challenge of, hey, there’s some open space,” DeVries said. “I thought of the six games we’ve played, I thought by far, especially in that second half, this was the most aggressive he’s been.”
Senior guard Conor Enright didn’t need any special encouragement for this game. He had been thinking about the chance to guard the nation’s leading scorer — Kansas State’s P.J. Haggerty — for days.
“Putting him on somebody like P.J., and then he didn’t back down, man. He wanted all the smoke. He’s been talking about it three days ago,” IU guard Tayton Conerway said.
Haggerty had 16 points on the night — 12 points under his average. He also committed six turnovers. Enright was up in Haggerty’s business to an obsessive degree, anticipating his every move. Even when Haggerty approached the bench and tried to call timeout, Enright tried to steal the ball as Haggerty made the signal.
Enright posted good stats. He made a couple threes. He was tied for the team high in rebounds. He added three assists and two steals with just one turnover.
But there were so many other things the stat sheet doesn’t measure.
“He’s so valuable to a team and that’s all he cares about,” DeVries said. “Like, he loves that challenge. He’s been that way his whole life. Just let me go guard him. Let me dive on the floor. Let me take charges. Let me do all the scrappy things that impact winning. He doesn’t care about scoring. He can score but he doesn’t care. He just wants to win. That’s why he’s the ultimate team guy. I love having him out there. You can see why watching him against a guy that averaging 28 points, he did an unbelievable job.”
With Kansas State worried about not leaving Wilkerson and DeVries on the perimeter, that opened up driving lanes for Conerway, who got downhill and went 5 of 7 from two. He scored 19 points.
Trent Sisley continued to look incredibly poised for a freshman, and he scored 12 points and added five rebounds, most of that production a result of his relentless motor.
As opponents began to see the film emerge on Indiana, it became clear DeVries and Wilkerson were the alphas, the perimeter shot hunters that could bury you.
Just ask Marquette, after they combined for 50 points to bury the Golden Eagles.
But as the adjustments emerge and teams do their best to take away DeVries and Wilkerson, it’s becoming clear IU has other players who can step up and fill the scoring void. And it’s also becoming clear Indiana can collectively defend at a high level.
Just ask Kansas State.
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