Indiana basketball returned to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Thursday after staving off a late surge from Incarnate Word on Sunday. Thursday’s opponent was the Lindenwood Lions out of the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Assembly Hall crowd saw more of the same out of Indiana: A slow start headlined by poor shot-making that gave Lindenwood a chance to hang around.
Indiana was sluggish out of the gates again with just 15 points through the first 10 minutes and 34 for the first half. The good news for IU was that Lindenwood started slower. The Lions scored their first points at the 13:30 mark of the first frame. Even amid another off night, Indiana was no match for Lindenwood as the Hoosiers won 73-53.
After halftime, Indiana struggled to pull away. The Hoosiers went without a field goal from 4:18 of first half to 16:45 of the second half. Lindenwood crept to as close as six points at the end of Indiana’s dry spell.
From then on, it was the Tucker DeVries show. DeVries caught fire and ignited a double-digit lead with 17 second-half points (25 total) with three 3-point makes (five total).
Sam Alexis delivered another impactful performance off the bench with eight points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
“I love what (Alexis) is doing for us right now,” head coach Darian DeVries said postgame. “I think he’s getting better and better every day too.”
Indiana has failed to eclipse 75 points in back-to-back games after averaging 99.7 points through its first three games. The Hoosiers will face their second power conference opponent early next week. Next on the docket is Kansas State, spearheaded by pre-season All-American PJ Haggerty and head coach Jerome Tang.
Indiana will host the Wildcats at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
