Tayton Conerway couldn’t help but smile when asked about teammate Conor Enright after Indiana’s 86-69 win against Kansas State Tuesday night.
“I told him on the bench, ‘Man, you’re one of my favorite players to play with,’” Conerway said during his post-game press conference. “You just make basketball so much easier.”
His comments came moments after the Hoosiers overcame their toughest defensive test yet, college basketball’s leading scorer PJ Haggerty. Haggerty entered the matchup averaging a whopping 28 points per game in a Wildcats offense that totaled 92.8 points per game.
Indiana’s solution? Well, it started with Enright.
“When the shot went up, we had him run to Haggerty on every shot so we could kind of block him, make or miss him, and not let them get on their transition game,” Darian DeVries said. “It takes a lot of discipline to be able to do that every time and I thought he was great at it.
Haggerty finished with a season-low 16 points on 7-for-17 shooting and coughed up six turnovers.
DeVries is no stranger to Enright’s impact defensively. The two spent three seasons together at Drake before parting ways with different programs. Now reunited in Bloomington, Indiana’s head coach is using the same traits he recruited Enright to five years earlier.
“He’s been that way his whole life,” Darian DeVries said. “Let me do all the dirty things that affect 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 there.”
It started just 30 seconds into the match. On Kansas State’s first offensive possession, Enright’s outstretched left hand denied a kickout pass to Haggerty on the perimeter, a steal that promptly resulted in a Lamar Wilkerson transition 3-pointer.
He set the tone for an aggressive Indiana defense that held the Wildcats to just one goal in their first eleven attempts from the field. Kansas State’s 27 points in the first half were the fewest it scored in any half this season.
It’s tempting to slap the term “glue-guy” on a player like Enright, but it’s a title that doesn’t fully capture the true impact he has on the floor. It’s not just hustle, the willingness to sacrifice your body by stretching out on the hardwood or the dedication to play defense for 40 minutes. These are qualities that Enright possesses, certainly, but there is more to it.
What makes him really valuable is his mentality. Not only was Enright willing to guard a player like Haggerty, he also longed for an opportunity to shut him down.
“He didn’t back down, man,” Conerway said. “He wanted all the smoke. He talked about it. Three days ago he was excited about this match. He wanted to show what he could do, so he took the challenge and executed.”
That kind of energy is contagious. In total, the Hoosiers scored seven steals, scored four blocks and forced 19 turnovers on the season.
Additionally, Indiana has addressed a glaring issue that came to light last time: a rebound. The Hoosiers gave up 16 offensive boards to Ohio Valley Conference foe Lindenwood last Thursday. Against Kansas State, Indiana cut that number in half.
Leading the way in that department is none other than the smallest player on the floor, Enright. Standing just 6 feet tall, he grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
“I thought our defensive rebounding was much, much better,” Darian DeVries said. “There is still a lot of room for improvement, but we are taking steps.”
As Indiana continues to make progress, so does Enright. Despite entering the game averaging just 3.8 points per game, he confidently sank a pair of points from beyond the arc against the Wildcats. While it’s clear that Enright’s role isn’t that of a primary scorer, the ability to stretch the floor at a high level would make him an even more valuable asset to DeVries.
All of that – the defense, the rebounds, the unexpected scoring – is just a reflection of how he approaches the game every day. Enright’s energy is essential to the identity DeVries is trying to build in his first year at the helm.
“A lot of people only see it during games and stuff, but in practice that’s how he is,” Conerway said. “That’s how he is everywhere. That’s just Conor.”
From the outside, Enright’s success in slowing down college basketball’s leading scorer was a statement, a surprising defensive display that lifted Indiana to its sixth straight win to open the season. But for Conerway and his teammates, that’s just Conor.
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