Thoughts about A 92-74 win against the Ducks:
This one started off choppy, Oregon’s length and size making the Hoosiers a bit hesitant and stagnant on offense.
Lamar Wilkerson missed his first five shots. Nick Dorn made four three-pointers in the first half and missed them all. The Hoosiers shot just 4-of-16 (25 percent) from deep in the first twenty minutes. Still with Jackson Shelstad out for the season and Nate Bittle 1-of-6 from the floor, Oregon had to look to its bench (Wei Lin, nine points) to try to keep pace with the Hoosiers in the first half, and Indiana held a 36-30 halftime advantage.
The second half told a different story, as Indiana’s offense hit an all-time high.
In the beginning, the motion of it – the cutting, spacing and screening – was elitist and led to a number of buckets down low. Wilkerson’s slow start turned into a dominant explosion. Tonight’s game felt just like his record-setting 44-point performance against Penn State in December. All he needed was the ball, and every shot he made seemed destined to find the bottom of the net. The transfer from Sam Houston State began his ascent in the first half, making his final five shots after missing his first five. At halftime he scored 16 points. Wilkerson then went 8-of-10 after the break, including a 4-of-6 from deep for 25 points in the half. At one point he made a deep 2 from the left side as the shot clock was winding down, a high-difficulty shot that he made look easy. He made 13 of his final 15 shots before leaving the game late with 41 points, another 40-plus point performance in the books.
Just as impressive? Wilkerson’s 80 percent shooting mark in the second half was actually lower than the team’s. That’s right: Indiana shot 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) after halftime. The live box score had the Hoosiers allowing 1.8 points per possession in the second half. Indiana was up 16 at the 3:40 mark, and Oregon cut it to 10 just over two minutes later. You wondered if this would be another game where Indiana got up by double digits early in the second half, only to squander and blow the lead, or worse, lose the lead entirely.
But Darian DeVries, perhaps wondering that himself, took a timeout to slow things down. Oregon never got closer than 10 the rest of the way. The Hoosiers increased the lead by as many as 21 before settling for the 18-point victory.
Sam Alexis continues to play his best basketball of the season. After going 9-of-10 (19 points) from the floor against Wisconsin on Saturday, Alexis shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor for 16 points in this one. Tucker DeVries continues to make himself valuable, even outside of scoring. While he had 15 tonight (5-of-10), he also dished out seven assists. Dorn got it done in the final 20 minutes, going 2-of-3 from deep and 5-of-5 from the line (11 points). The Hoosiers finished with an effective field goal percentage of 71 and scored 1.39 points per possession. IU had 22 assists on 30 made baskets.
Indiana left no doubt about this thanks to a strong second half. After their four-game skid in January, the Hoosiers have now won five of six. At 8-6 in the conference with six games left in the league, can the Hoosiers finish above .500? We have some tough games ahead of us, especially on the road. But it is within reach.
See more: The minute after, Oregon Ducks
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