After throttling Alabama A&M in its season opener, questions surrounding how Indiana men’s basketball would handle itself against real competition remained unanswered.
But in its first contest against a power conference opponent Sunday afternoon, Indiana trounced Marquette University 100-77 inside the United Center in Chicago.
And the Hoosiers’ big victory was powered by the hot hand of redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries.
In a transfer class ranked in the top 10 nationally, new head coach Darian DeVries’ highest ranked recruit was his son Tucker. After starting out the 2024-25 season shooting a career-best 47.3% from beyond the arc through eight games, Tucker DeVries’ season was cut short by a shoulder injury. Now at Indiana, the 6-foot-7 forward is picking up right where he left off.
Just 24 seconds into the game against Marquette, Tucker DeVries opened the scoring with a triple from the right wing. The jumper marked the beginning of a monstrous first-half performance that would ultimately propel the Hoosiers to victory.
A little over four minutes later, fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson found Tucker DeVries on a backdoor cut. Tucker DeVries waited for the trailing defender and finished through contact for an and-one. Within the next three minutes, he added two more 3-pointers and grabbed a steal to set up a fastbreak dunk from freshman forward Trent Sisley.
In the first 12 minutes of the game, Tucker DeVries tallied 16 points. But he wasn’t done yet. After the under-eight media timeout, he found Wilkerson for a three — the first Hoosier 3-pointer hit by somebody other than Tucker DeVries.
After hitting two free throws, Tucker DeVries connected on a fade away three from the left wing, energizing the United Center crowd. Despite Marquette briefly halting the onslaught, Tucker DeVries struck once more with another 3-pointer.
The outburst forced Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart to call timeout as the Hoosiers held a double-digit lead. It was Tucker DeVries’ fifth make from long distance, and his 24th point of the half.
“For anybody, when the ball's going in, it's a little easier, a little more aggressive, a little more confident,” Tucker DeVries said postgame of his first half dominance. “But it's really just staying in the moment and still playing within the offense as you get going.”
Tucker DeVries had plenty of time to stay in the moment, as Darian DeVries kept him in the game the entire first half. Tucker DeVries didn’t leave the game until picking up his fourth personal foul at the 13:15 mark in the second half. He finished with 30 minutes played.
By the time Tucker DeVries finally checked out, Indiana had a 68-55 lead. In the absence of its primary scorer, Wilkerson took it upon himself to shoulder the offensive load. Of his 23 points, 15 came in the second half. Nine of them came after Tucker DeVries left the floor.
“That's a little bit how our team is built, just having different guys that can always get in one of those zones a little bit,” Darian DeVries said postgame. “That was something that I really like about this team, is we have a lot of different guys that are capable of having moments like that throughout the game.”
While Tucker DeVries' offense stood out, the dominating performance didn't suffer from a lack of teamwork. The Hoosiers’ 27 total assists were more than any game in the 2024-25 season. Wilkerson contributed a career-high eight dimes.
“They're just a really unselfish group, and that's what leads to some of the scoring opportunities we get, is the guys really understand the game,” Darian DeVries said.
Tucker DeVries finished with 27 points, and the Hoosiers finished with a 23-point win over their first power conference opponent. Indiana will look to keep up its momentum against the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee at 7 p.m. Wednesday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
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.
