Thoughts about A 69-61 victory against the cardinals:
Welp, this one was certainly different.
After making things look free and easy in the first three wins, Indiana’s offense stalled in this win. The three-pointers wouldn’t fall – no matter how open or well the Hoosiers looked at them. IU shot just 5 of 24 (20.8 percent) for the game. Other than Trent Sisley (2-of-4) and Tucker DeVries, who shot 11 but made only three, no one made one from distance. Lamar Wilkerson (0-of-3), Tayton Conerway (0-of-3), Conor Enright (0-of-2) and Nick Dorn (0-of-1) combined for 0-of-9 from distance. Incarnate Word also blended into a zone to mess things up during the first half. While IU had some easy scores against the zone, it also disrupted the offensive flow, something the Hoosiers never fully recovered from for the rest of the game.
After averaging 1.38 points per possession this season, Indiana scored just 1.07 tonight.
It seemed like it didn’t matter. IU put it on defense instead. The Cardinals struggled in the first half, shooting just 20.7 percent from the field and making just six field goals. In the last nine minutes before halftime they only scored five points. With Wilkerson in foul trouble (two points in nine minutes of action) and the rest of the starting lineup not at its best either, the Hoosiers got a big boost from their bench thanks to Sisley and Sam Alexis. They combined for 20 points and 11 rebounds in the first half, which helped keep things steady.
Indiana entered the locker room with a comfortable 35-19. And after a pair of free throws from DeVries put the Hoosiers up 19 at 48-29 with 12:47 left in the game, it looked like IU was well on its way to another big margin of victory.
But that wasn’t what happened.
The Word Incarnate started to heat up and things got interesting. Tahj Staveskie, who led all scorers with 17 points, got hot, scoring 13 points in about 10 minutes of game action. He was especially strong in the middle segment. The Cardinals also made five 3-pointers in the final nine-plus minutes of the game, while Indiana mustered just one in the same time frame. Things got so bad for IU’s offense that DeVries missed two free throws on a trip to the line as IU only had a five-point lead with a minute to play. But that was as close as the Cardinals could get, as Indiana closed things out at the free throw line and escaped with an eight-point win.
“[We] We didn’t shoot it as well as we normally would,” Darian DeVries said during his post-game interview with Big Ten Network’s Brian Butch. “But I thought we were a little stagnant tonight, so we didn’t get the same kind of shots that we’re used to. You had someone hanging around, and suddenly they hit some, and now you’re in it. There is a lot to learn from this early in the year.”
This one won’t be part of the DeVries era highlights package. But on a night when the shots weren’t falling and the offense stalled, Indiana still found a way to win.
It’s better than the alternative.
See more: The minute after, word cardinals incarnate
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