The clock is no longer a background detail in Indiana’s season. It is the headline.
Indiana fell 77-64 to No. 13 Michigan State on Sunday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, stretching its losing streak to four games and pushing its NCAA Tournament hopes closer to the edge. With two regular-season games remaining and the Big Ten Tournament looming, the margin for error has all but vanished.
For stretches, the fight was there. The response was there. The shot-making from Indiana’s two stars was there. Though, any sort of support was not.
Two-man show
Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries combined for 49 of Indiana’s 64 points. In the second half, they were the only two Hoosiers to record a made field goal. Wilkerson poured in 19 after the break, attacking the rim and knocking down 3s in an effort to drag Indiana back into contention. DeVries added key shot-making of his own, trying to steady the offense as Michigan State repeatedly answered.
“I was just trying to claw back in the game and doing whatever it took to give us a chance to win it,” Wilkerson said. “All that, we still came up short… so it really doesn’t mean anything today.”
Indiana needed a third option. It never found one.
The first half forced the Hoosiers into uphill basketball from the start. Michigan State shot 7-for-13 from 3 before halftime, building a 45–37 lead that required Indiana to chase the rest of the afternoon.
“Some of them were pretty contested and tough shots, and some of them were missed assignments,” Tucker DeVries said. “I’d say it’s a combination of both.”
Even when Indiana tightened its defense in the second half, the details that win games in March slipped away. Head coach Darian DeVries felt the initial stops were there.
“I thought our first-shot defense was really good in the second half,” he said.
But the problem was finishing the possession. Michigan State grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the second half alone, extending runs that could have fueled Indiana’s comeback. Each time the Hoosiers cut the deficit down, a rebound slipped free, a loose ball bounced the wrong way or the Spartans reset and found a timely basket.
The timing of those second chances compounded the damage. Indiana trimmed the lead to five on multiple occasions, threatening to ignite the Assembly Hall crowd. Each push was met with a response, and more often than not it came off the bench, from Kur Teng. The Michigan State guard finished with 18 points and six 3-pointers, several arriving immediately after Indiana made a move.
A Wilkerson bucket cut it to 60–52. Teng answered from deep. Momentum built again, and Teng nailed another 3. The pattern repeated until the deficit ballooned back to double digits for good.
“Some of them, we were there, and he just made them,” Darian DeVries said. “Some of the open ones, those are the ones that hurt.”
Rebounding woes
Michigan State’s size also shaped the game early and often. Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler established themselves inside, forcing early fouls on Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey. That early foul trouble altered Indiana’s interior rotation and was evident on the glass. Kohler’s physicality set the tone, and the Spartans’ ability to control space inside showed up most clearly in those nine second-half offensive rebounds.
Offensively, Indiana struggled to generate consistent movement. Darian DeVries pointed to it postgame.
“I didn’t think our offense got nearly enough movement,” he said. “I thought we had a lot of late clock with no movement, not enough action there for us.”
The frustration lies in the effort. Players and coaches insisted it was there.
“I thought our fight was great,” Darian DeVries said.
“There’s a lot of season still left… I know those opportunities are getting smaller,” Tucker DeVries added. “We’ve said we’re going to go down swinging.”
A look ahead
That opportunity window, however, is shrinking rapidly. After peaking with wins over Purdue and Oregon just a few weeks prior, Indiana has stumbled through a stretch that included a loss at Illinois, a rivalry domination by Purdue, a home setback to Northwestern that slipped away and now a disheartening loss to Michigan State. The résumé lacks the kind of Quad-1 victories that ease selection-day tension.
Two games remain in the regular season, including another huge opportunity at Ohio State, before the Big Ten Tournament begins. Indiana does not control every variable anymore. It controls only its response.
“We just finish strong,” Wilkerson said. “Prepare for this game Wednesday at home and then go on the road and play Ohio State and try to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament.”
On Sunday, Indiana showed the fight but not enough execution. Two players carried the offense. Nine second-half offensive rebounds extended Michigan State possessions. Every rally was muted by a timely 3.
In early March, those aren’t minor details. They’re season-defining ones.
And for Indiana, time is no longer a distant concern. It’s the reality staring back from the calendar.
COLUMN: One man is not a plan
