In its first three games, Indiana men’s basketball has blown out each opponent it’s faced, under a formula of shooting the lights out, not turning the ball over and out racing its opponents.
Indiana beat Incarnate Word on Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall 69-61, but did it in a way different to the first three wins, relying on its defense while the offense struggled.
The Hoosiers entered the halftime locker room with only 35 points, its lowest by far to start the year. But the Cardinals couldn’t capitalize on Indiana’s offensive shortcomings and only put up 19 in response in the first 20 minutes.
Indiana forced Incarnate Word into bad shots, sped the Cardinals up and just brought more physicality.
Indiana had to deal with something it hadn’t yet, senior guard Lamar Wilkerson was not good early with just two points in the opening frame. With Wilkerson being this team's heartbeat from beyond the arc, IU shot 3-for-13 from that range. Indiana had to find a way to make up for uncharacteristic play, and it did.
The second half got a tad bit dicey for Indiana with more uncharacteristically bad offense, with only two 3-point makes and only 10 field goals. Incarnate Word cut the Hoosier lead to as low as five. Indiana was outscored by 10 points in the second half. Indiana also missed eight free throws in the ballgame.
“You are going to have ‘off’ shooting nights, that’s just going to happen,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “On a night that you don’t shoot it particularly well you’ve got to find a way to win.”
Senior forward Sam Alexis was one of the lone bright sports for Indiana with 16 points. The other was senior guard Tucker DeVries with 14.
“Sam is playing great, I thought he was one of the guys tonight that brought great energy,” Darian DeVries said. “I thought he was terrific.”
Indiana found a way to win ugly. It doesn’t look great now, but you would rather have this result against Incarnate Word rather than later in Big Ten play. Indiana will be back in action on Thursday against Lindenwood at 6 p.m. at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
