Indiana men’s basketball started the second half flat. Lindenwood University opened up the half with a 10-0 run and cut the deficit to just 6. The two teams continued to trade baskets, but the Hoosiers needed a spark to pull away.
Indiana found that spark in senior forward Sam Alexis.
With 13:48 remaining in the second half, Alexis yelled and flexed to the crowd after he grabbed a defensive rebound, drew a foul from graduate student center Milos Nenadic and went to the free throw line for the bonus shots.
Alexis sunk both, putting the Hoosiers up 43-31. This shifted momentum to the Hoosiers and sparked an Indiana 7-0 run that led to the eventual 73-53 victory over Lindenwood on on Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
“I thought the first half was just kind of dead all around,” senior forward Tucker DeVries said postgame. “It was important for our team to bring the energy, and coming out, when he (Alexis) came in for the first time in the second half, he really brought it and changed the game again.”
Alexis finished the night just 2 points shy of a double-double, with 8 points and 10 rebounds. The University of Florida transfer went 2 for 3 from the field, 4 for 4 from the free throw line and tallied four blocks.
While this is just one instance of Alexis bringing passion to the court, the senior forward did so all game long — and has all season long.
“Sam, again, saved the day with not only what he produced on the court, but his energy, his enthusiasm gets everybody going,” Tucker DeVries said.
Alexis has proven to be a reliable player off the bench, and that can make an immediate impact on the game. In the Hoosiers' last contest against the University of the Incarnate Word on Sunday, Alexis provided energy off the bench and put up 16 points when Indiana was struggling to offensively find their rhythm.
“We talk about it all the time,” Tucker DeVries said. “We're not a very good team when we are not playing with a bunch of enthusiasm and excitement. We got to get to that every point, 40 minutes a game, and then I think we're really good when we are doing that.”
In Indiana’s first three games of the season, it averaged nearly 100 points per game and sunk at least 10 3-pointers in each. However, in the last two games, Indiana has averaged 71 points a contest and didn’t hit double digits in 3-point attempts made in either game.
To get back to playing at the level it started the season with, Indiana must bring the energy. Energy and defense fuels offense. Thursday, Alexis brought that energy, but in the future, it must come from all aspects of the team.
“I feel like we just need to bring energy every day. I mean, it starts with the bench, too. The bench have to have energy, as well,” Alexis said.
While Indiana was able to come away with the win over a struggling Lindenwood team which entered the matchup with a 2-3 record and ranked toward the bottom of the 365 Division 1 schools in the KenPom rankings, the Hoosiers may not have had the same outcome over a power opponent.
Indiana will need to clean things up and bring the energy as they face off against Kansas State University at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
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.
