Indiana men’s basketball began its season with a dominant 98-51victory over Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University on Wednesday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
In sharp contrast to its final exhibition game against Baylor University on Oct. 26, the Hoosiers outrebounded the Bulldogs 42 to 19.
Senior forward Reed Bailey led the Hoosiers with 21 points. Redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries filled up the stat sheet, adding 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists.
Until emptying the bench near the end of the game, head coach Darian DeVries utilized an eight-man rotation in the regular season opener. Freshman forward Trent Sisley, senior forward Sam Alexis and junior guard Jasai Miles added a combined 24 points off the bench.
Fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson got the scoring started for the Hoosiers with a 3-pointer from the left wing off a swing pass from redshirt senior guard Conor Enright.
A block from Alexis set up a fast break Wilkerson triple from way beyond the arc to put the Hoosiers up 23-5. Indiana entered the under-12 timeout on a 14-0 run that lasted over five minutes.
By halftime, the Hoosier lead swelled to 36. Alexis and Wilkerson combined for 30 first half points. Four of Indiana’s six 3-pointers in the first frame were hit by Wilkerson, who ended the game four for 10 from deep.
Sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway found senior forward Reed Bailey for two dunks early in the second half. A Conerway steal set up an Indiana fast break that ended in an off-the-back board lob that Bailey slammed home. Conerway tallied two steals on the night.
By the under-16 timeout, the Hoosiers led 67-25 and were on a 9-0 run, stretching nearly three minutes. After a brief 6-0 Bulldog run, buckets from Alexis, DeVries and Bailey snatched back the momentum, and the Hoosiers led by 40 at the under-12.
The Hoosiers added dunks from Miles, Bailey and Conerway as they cruised to a dominant 98-51 victory.
Indiana will face its first major conference opponent in Marquette University at 1 p.m. Nov. 9 at the United Center in Chicago. The game will be streamed on ESPN.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
