In a game that kept slipping away from Indiana over the final 10 minutes, Wilkerson never stopped hunting the simplest shot in the building: the next free throw.
The fifth-year guard didn’t have his usual rhythm from deep, shooting just 1-for-8 from 3, and 8-for-20 overall, but he authored the ending anyway. Wilkerson turned in a perfect 8-for-8 at the line and delivered the final sequence that lifted Indiana past Wisconsin in overtime.
It started with chaos.
Clinging to a one-point lead late in OT, Wisconsin attempted to bleed the clock and escape. Indiana responded by trapping near midcourt, and Conor Enright slid in to draw an offensive foul on Nick Boyd with 15 seconds left, flipping possession and giving the Hoosiers one clean chance to win the game.
Then it was Wilkerson time.
Out of the timeout, Indiana spaced the floor and cleared a lane. Wilkerson attacked downhill, met John Blackwell around the free-throw line and drew a whistle.
Two free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining. Two makes.
Wisconsin’s final heave fell short, and Assembly Hall exhaled.
Following the 78-77 win, Indiana head coach Darian DeVries didn’t describe Wilkerson’s night as a shooting performance. He framed it as an identity.
“Lamar, he’s an elite player… from a pro standpoint, I think he’s one of those guys that people aren’t talking about enough because he’s going to play in that league for a long, long time,” DeVries said postgame. “And he’s a winner.”
That’s what this game demanded. More winning plays, rather than perfect basketball.
Indiana went the final five minutes of regulation without a field goal, and the offense tightened as Wisconsin stayed in front of drives and challenged jumpers. But as the shots stopped falling, Wilkerson adjusted. Instead of forcing contested looks, he attacked the paint, absorbed contact, and kept Indiana alive with points that didn’t need a net.
Wilkerson buried four free throws in the final minute of regulation to erase Wisconsin’s late surge and force overtime, then delivered the clincher when it mattered most.
The clutch isn’t loud, but it’s routine.
Inside the locker room, Wilkerson’s calm at the line felt expected.
“He doesn't really miss in practice or like ever,” Sam Alexis said. “So I don’t really think he feels any pressure, to be honest.”
Enright echoed that confidence.
“If I had to pick a guy, I would put Lamar out there every single time to shoot every free throw in the game,” Enright said.
And Wilkerson’s impact wasn’t limited to the final two shots. Indiana needed a closer, and he supplied one, methodically, and without forcing the moment.
The win itself was built on resilience. Indiana shot just 5-for-22 from 3, but compensated with aggressive drives, 44 points in the paint, and timely defensive stops. When the perimeter scoring wasn’t there, the Hoosiers found another way to survive.
Wisconsin didn’t go quietly. Nolan Winter posted a career night with 26 points, and the Badgers erased a double-digit deficit to briefly take control late. But in the one possession that decided everything, Indiana had the ball, and the right player with it.
The box score says Wilkerson scored 25 points. The ending says he scored the last two that mattered most.
