INDIANAPOLIS — When Indiana men’s basketball dropped its first game of the Darian DeVries era Wednesday against Minnesota, the first-year head coach wanted to see his team bounce back.
The No. 22 Hoosiers’ response Saturday against the No. 6 University of Louisville became the “main thing” in DeVries’ eyes. He said every game would be a fight, and that he expected his veteran-laden group to “be ready and respond” against the Cardinals.
But when Saturday’s contest between Indiana and Louisville tipped off inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Bloomington, such a desired response failed to materialize.
Although redshirt senior guard Tucker DeVries said postgame that he thought the Hoosiers played hard, they ultimately failed to execute to start the game. The Cardinals made two layups, a dunk, a free throw and three 3-pointers, and as a result, Indiana found itself facing a 16-0 deficit six minutes into the game.
The Hoosiers couldn’t overcome their abysmal start despite outscoring the Cardinals by seven points throughout the rest of the contest, as they fell 87-78. The loss marked the Cream and Crimson’s second in four days, dropping their record to 7-2.
“When you're not scoring, it makes it really challenging,” Darian DeVries said postgame of the Hoosiers’ start. “You're down 16-0, 16-2 against a team like that, that's tough, because I think they're really good.”
Much like Indiana, Louisville also entered coming off a loss and wanted to respond in its first opportunity this season. While Louisville made six of its first 11 field goal attempts, it also played tenacious defense. Indiana committed four turnovers and called two timeouts before it even scored.
And by the time Indiana got onto the scoreboard via senior forward Sam Alexis, the Cardinals had already heated up.
“I think they do a really good job offensively of making you pay when you make mistakes,” DeVries said. “And defensively, I thought we gave great effort, but there was a few mistakes that we made. They made us pay.”
Although senior guard Ryan Conwell and freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. lead Louisville in scoring, it was senior guard Isaac McKneely who burned the Hoosiers early on. His back-to-back 3-pointers proved to be a sign of what was to come in the second half, as he connected on three more in the final 20 minutes.
Despite digging itself into an early disadvantage, Indiana didn’t roll over. Instead, it answered. Tucker DeVries drilled consecutive longballs and made two three free throws before fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson drained a 3-pointer.
All of a sudden, Indiana trailed by just five points. The pro-Hoosiers crowd inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse was into the game, as Tucker DeVries said Indiana “settled in” after its poor start.
But the five-point deficit proved to be the closest the Cream and Crimson came to the Cardinals throughout the remainder of the contest. For each spurt the Hoosiers made, Louisville had an answer.
“I thought our ability to continue to fight was good,” Darian DeVries said. “If you give into it at all on a team like that, then you can be down 30 or 40 pretty quickly, because they can do that to you.”
Conwell paced the Cardinals throughout the first half with his 11 points, connecting on two of his four attempts from beyond the arc. Conversely, the Hoosiers held Brown — a projected top-five pick in the upcoming NBA draft — scoreless in the first half.
Indiana pulled within eight points of Louisville six and a half minutes into the second half after trailing by 14 points at the break. The Cardinals led by as much as 19 points with just under five minutes left in the game. They appeared on their way to a blowout win.
However, the Hoosiers cut their deficit to seven points inside the final minute, as junior guard Nick Dorn connected on three longballs over the final three minutes. But it proved to be too little, too late.
Darian DeVries commended his squad’s composure, but it ultimately couldn’t get within a couple of possessions of the Cardinals — something he credited to Louisville’s defense.
“I thought defensively they were really hooked up tonight, but they did a good job of making things tough and challenging,” Darian DeVries said. “And we had some moments where we were able to break free and get loose a little bit, but overall it was just too big of a deficit to overcome.”
Indiana is no stranger to struggling with lethargic play in portions of its games. It first showed against Lindenwood University on Nov. 20. But Darian DeVries didn’t feel his squad lacked effort or focus Saturday.
Instead, he thought the Hoosiers approach to the game was “great.” In his perspective, his squad “played their tails off” and “left it out there.”
“I was proud of them from that standpoint,” Darian DeVries said. “Was there things that we could have done better? Yeah, absolutely. ... I liked our mindset. I liked our mindset, our toughness, physicality. I thought that's what we need to do every night.”
The Hoosiers will now turn their attention to their second conference matchup of the season at 8:30 p.m. Dec. 9 against Penn State inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. A bout with the University of Kentucky awaits Dec. 13.
And for as much of a response Darian DeVries wanted to see Saturday, that level will surely increase.
But if the Hoosiers don’t come up with an answer on their home floor, they’ll begin conference play with two losses — something Indiana hasn’t done since 2020.
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.
