If Indiana couldn’t beat Iowa Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, fans would have to wonder where any more feasible Quad 1 opportunities would come. In a matchup between the last two coaches at Drake University, Iowa’s Ben McCollum and Indiana’s Darian DeVries, two eerily similar teams would throw down on Branch McCracken Court, for the right for each team to claim its first Quad 1 win.
The Hoosier faithful will have to wait for that first Quad 1 win as Indiana limped to the finish line in a 74-57 loss to Iowa, where IU didn’t do anything well enough.
Through the first seven and a half minutes the fans inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall were restless, as only a Conor Enright 3-pointer got the Hoosier fans cheerful. Iowa led 10-5 at the under-12 media timeout. The contest started ugly with the two teams were 6-for-25 from the field in the first eight minutes and 23 seconds.
After the under-12, the scoring started to pick up and these two teams started to look like themselves. From 11:29-5:16, the teams combined to make 15 straight field goals. After all of that Iowa still led 30-23. Indiana only hit two 3-pointers in that span but the Assembly Hall crowd started to get behind Indiana for the first time in the matinee. The first miss after was from Iowa’s Cam Manyawu and the ensuing Hoosier possession was another 2-point basket from Tayton Conerway, who had 10 points in the first half, to cut the Iowa lead to five, 30-25.
But the Hawkeyes found themselves to re-stretch their lead as Iowa went on a 8-to-3 run to close the half. Iowa led 38-28 and the Hoosiers went into the locker room hearing loud boos. Iowa’s biggest lead in the half was 11 and never trailed.
Indiana outscored Iowa 9-4 to start the second half at the under-16 timeout. That stretch featured Nick Dorn’s first basket of the game, a 3-pointer, along with Conerway and Sam Alexis had a 2-point field goal each and Lamar Wilkerson added two free throws. Iowa led 42-37.
Following that timeout, the theme of this game came to light: Indiana was never out of this game, but Iowa always felt like it was never going to let up. Indiana made shots, but Iowa had a response, leading 49-43 at the under-12 timeout.
Indiana cut the Iowa lead to four after trailing by 10 with two layups from Conerway and Wilkerson and two free throw makes from Reed Bailey. Then, Iowa quickly stopped that trip up from becoming a sinkhole with a Bennett Stirtz 3-pointer, forcing a Hoosier shot clock violation on the ensuing possession and another two from Tavion Banks, who went on to finish with 26 points. Then, Iowa got another 3-pointer from Stirtz on a step back over two Hoosiers and a dying shot clock, which negated two more Bailey free throws and Iowa’s lead was back to 10, 57-47.
Shortly after the under-8 timeout was when Hoosier fans and mostly students started to hit the road as they had seen enough as Iowa led 62-48 after more Iowa conversions and Indiana mishaps.
Indiana went nine minutes without a field goal until a Sam Alexis dunk, but in those nine minutes Iowa stepped on Indiana’s throat as the Alexis dunk cut the Iowa lead from 20 to 18, 70-52.
As stated in the preview for this game, Indiana’s key to victory was getting Tucker DeVries going early, with the thought that Wilkerson would also be let free — that didn’t happen. The two frontline scorers for Indiana were 5-of-19 combined and totalled 16 points together. Thankfully Indiana had Conerway to keep itself above water until the field goal drought. The Troy transfer had 16 points of his own.
“He certainly is in one of those shooting stumps that everybody goes through at some point in time,” head coach Darian DeVries said on his son’s shooting inefficiencies.
“(He’s) got to get it going and got to continue to find those better looks and opportunities so we can get him free a little bit more,” DeVries said on what has plagued the offensive struggles for Indiana. DeVries also mentioned that he, Tucker DeVries, is shooting well and often in practice.
The other point that was made was to get Iowa into foul trouble which not only takes impactful Hawkeyes off the floor, but gets Indiana to the line. The Hoosiers only had 15 free throw attempts. Iowa flipped that script on Indiana, getting to the foul line 23 times and making 21. Many were converted by Stirtz who finished with 27 points, a game-high and five assists for Iowa.
Indiana had some aforementioned stints where it avoided getting sunk into oblivion but it couldn’t capitalize on the times it only trailed by four, five or six. It didn’t perform like it usually does on its home floor, like shooting the 3-pointer, which Indiana was just 6-of-24
“First 15 games of the year our offense was moving, cutting, we were playing the way that we think makes us successful,” Darian DeVries said. “I felt like the last two or three games we have gotten away from that action.”
It won’t get any easier for Indiana as it heads north to Ann Arbor to take on KenPom’s No. 1 ranked team, Michigan, Tuesday at 7 p.m.
