For a new generation of Indiana fans, the last few months have felt less like a typical sports season and more like a fever dream.
Just three weeks ago, Bloomington was a city that didn’t sleep. The fans, far and wide, celebrated an improbable, unthinkable, and purely magical 16-0 national championship football season. A perfect run under head coach Curt Cignetti that rewrote what was possible for the Indiana Hoosiers.
But, as the confetti was swept away, the fans who spent the last five months obsessed with Indiana Football brought that same hunger back to the hardwood. They returned to a program that is currently catching fire, suggesting the greatest year in the history of IU Athletics is far from its final chapter.
There is a specific kind of electricity that only Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall can generate when the past and the present collide.
On Monday night, Bloomington’s basketball cathedral celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1976 undefeated national championship basketball team. Indiana legends Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Tom Abernathy, and Kent Benson were among those in attendance. In their honor, the current Hoosiers got pretty close to perfection for the night, dominating Oregon 92-74.
This wasn’t just another Monday night win over a struggling conference opponent; it could be a new arrival of a brand new identity for Indiana Basketball. Many have had questions throughout the early part of head coach Darian DeVries’s tenure in Bloomington. Tonight, DeVries and the Indiana Hoosiers answered a lot of questions.
Five wins in six games. In the unforgiving landscape of the Big Ten it is hard to win multiple games in a row, let alone go on a hot streak. Since a rock-bottom loss at No. 2 Michigan on Jan. 20th, Indiana has morphed into a different beast. They began by dismantling Rutgers on the road, followed that with a gritty and emotional home win over No. 12 Purdue, and then survived a 98-97 offensive firestorm at UCLA.
A narrow road loss to USC slowed the momentum, however, the Hoosiers quickly got back on track after defeating Wisconsin in an overtime thriller over the weekend which was followed by Monday's massive win over Oregon.
All signs point towards momentum shifting from the turf of Memorial Stadium to the floor of Assembly Hall with seamless intensity.
The turnaround has been defined by offensive efficiency. Against the Ducks, Indiana shot 60% from the floor and an unbelievable 81.8% in the second half.
At the center of this resurgence? Lamar Wilkerson.
Wilkerson is currently engineering one of the most spectacular individual seasons in program history. Wilkerson’s 41-point masterpiece against Oregon was his second 40-point outing of the campaign, moving him into an exclusive club. He is now one of only five players in the 125-year history of Indiana Basketball to record multiple 40-point games in a single season.
This was his fourth game with 30 or more points this year, a level of consistent offensive explosion that has vaulted him to the top of the Big Ten scoring charts. Wilkerson is currently the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer, averaging 21.2 points per game.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Wilkerson said postgame Monday. “I just feel like it’s our run right now. You'd rather be playing your best basketball in March than January.”
Despite an 0-for-5 start against Oregon, Wilkerson’s "next-play" mentality took over. He hit 13 of his final 15 shots. A stretch of scoring so effortless it seemed to demoralize the Oregon defense in real-time.
But the brilliance of Wilkerson’s season lies in his evolution into a complete player. His assist numbers are up, his rebounding is consistent, and his gravity on the floor has opened up the paint for his teammates to thrive.
“Lamar is special,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “As he's gotten more comfortable with what we’re doing and we’ve challenged him with some things defensively, playmaking, and creating. He’s accepted those challenges and just taken off with it.”
For the Hoosiers to reach their potential as a team, they need more than just a superstar, they need a modern system.
Sam Alexis has emerged as the go-to big man for Darian DeVries in recent games. His perfect performance against Oregon solidified him as the most dependable forward in this lineup. Alexis went 8-of-8 from the field, tallying 16 points, while being a constant threat at the rim. Alexis has made sure opponents can no longer double-team Wilkerson without consequence.
Conor Enright, Tucker DeVries, and Nick Dorn have all helped to orchestrate Indiana’s recent basketball resurgence.
Enright has evolved into the definitive floor general, recording eight assists to just one turnover against Oregon. Enright has burst onto the scene in recent weeks, attracting fans with his defensive tenacity, famously on display during the closing seconds of the win over Wisconsin. Enright has become the team's heartbeat.
Meanwhile, Tucker DeVries has showcased a veteran’s maturity by prioritizing playmaking and team success over personal stats. Despite navigating a shooting slump unlike one he has ever seen, DeVries has acted as the team’s offensive intermediary, racking up seven assists while constantly attracting the defense’s best wing defender. Complementing him is Nick Dorn, who recently won NCAA Player of the Week, and has been averaging over 16 points per game in the past six games. Dorn is a legitimate third option when it comes to scoring the basketball and adds a significant amount of length to Darian DeVries’s starting lineup.
The Hoosiers now stand at 17-8 and 8-6 in Big Ten play, having successfully navigated a four-game losing streak that threatened to derail Darian DeVries' first year in Bloomington.
By pairing a scoring talent like Lamar Wilkerson with a supporting cast shooting at a historic clip, Indiana has transformed from an NCAA Tournament "bubble" team into a team that no high-seed wants to see in their bracket or on their schedule.
The schedule ahead isn’t easy. Indiana still has road trips to No. 8 Illinois on Sunday at 1 PM ET, then to No. 13 Purdue next Friday. Both will test the durability of this team’s recent form. But for the fans who are still wearing their 16-0 football gear into the stands, the feeling is palpable.
Fifty years after that perfect run, and only weeks after a perfect football season, the 2026 Hoosiers are proving they are no longer just an afterthought in the national conversation. In Bloomington, the fever dream continues. And with five wins in their last six, the Hoosiers are making it very clear that they have no intention of waking up until it's time for the nets to be cut down in the spring.
