After struggling in three of its last four halves against both Incarnate Word and Lindenwood, Indiana basketball welcomed the first Power Five team it will see in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall this year, the Kansas State Wildcats.
No. 25 Indiana showed its ability to have a short memory winning 86-69 on Tuesday night. Indiana kept its foot on the gas all night.
Spearheaded by preseason All-American PJ Haggerty and Elite Eight veteran coach Jerome Tang, Kansas State posed a threat of pace to Indiana.
This was a game thought of by many to be tight and both teams to score in the 80s and 90s with both teams in Ken Pomeroy’s top 40 offensive rankings. That was not the case in this one-sided affair.
Indiana started off hot from the field, living and dying by the long ball. IU hit five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes while the Cats went blisteringly cold. But then K-State woke up and the Hoosiers got cold going seven minutes without a bucket as the Hoosier lead shrunk to two.
But Indiana ended the first half nicely with a 13-3 run, entering the halftime locker room up 12 39-27.
Kansas State’s seven or so minutes in the first half were its only competitive minutes all night. Indiana left the halftime locker room and didn’t look back.
Reed Bailey led Indiana in scoring with 21 points but only eight points coming from the field and 13 free throw makes. Tayton Conerway, usually more of a distributor than a scorer, followed closely behind with 19 points. Indiana also got a good performance from Conor Enright who hit two 3-pointers, finishing with only seven points but expanding his scoring arsenal. Lamar Wilkerson did his thing hitting four 3-point field goals, his only makes from the field.
Indiana did something it hadn’t so far, playing without the offensive services of Tucker DeVries who had just nine points (the final four came in the last three minutes to increase Indiana’s lead to 18 then 20).
“We’ve just got a bunch of dudes,” Bailey said postgame. “We’re just scratching the surface.”
Indiana will be back at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to take on Bethune-Cookman on Saturday.
