Indiana men’s basketball opened its season with 23 or more assists in three straight games. Afterward, the Hoosiers only achieved that mark once in their next six games, recording 27 in a 44-point drubbing of Bethune-Cookman University on Nov. 29.
But against Penn State on Tuesday night, the Cream and Crimson’s reinvigorated offense tallied 30 assists, the second most in a single game in program history — Indiana had 31 against the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2001.
The Hoosiers’ abundance of playmaking combined with the shot-making of fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson led to Indiana’s 113-72 trouncing of Penn State on Tuesday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Wilkerson’s historic 44-point performance headlined the Cream and Crimson’s dominant night, but amid his prestige, four other Hoosiers ended the game in double figures.
Senior forward Reed Bailey scored 18 points, sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway added 17, junior guard Nick Dorn tallied 13 and redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries posted 12. After the historic night, head coach Darian DeVries praised his team’s revitalized offense.
“It's funny how that works. Sometimes one guy gets it going, everybody feels like they're hot,” Darian DeVries said postgame. “It was nice to see tonight 30 assists to go with it. I think that's a big piece of it, too. Like we talked about all year, you have 30 assists, usually that means we were getting pretty clean, good looks, the kind of shots that we wanted.”
Indiana lacked quality shots and hit only 41.3% of its field goals in the Hoosiers’ Dec. 6 loss to the then-No. 6 University of Louisville. Against Penn State, 21 of the Cream and Crimson’s 42 field goals were layups and dunks. And of those, 12 were assisted. That night, Indiana shot 68.9%.
Joining the five Hoosiers with double digit points, the Cream and Crimson also had five players with multiple assists. Redshirt senior guard Conor Enright posted a season-high eight assists, while Conerway had seven, Tucker DeVries dished a season-high six, Wilkerson added four and senior forward Sam Alexis tallied three.
Indiana’s reemergence comes on the heels of Darian DeVries’ first lineup change of the year. After starting for the first nine games, Bailey was moved to the bench in favor of Alexis. While Bailey played 21 minutes to Alexis’ 16, the switch provided a change of pace for the team.
“I thought Reed responded great, like I knew he would,” Darian DeVries said. “It freed him up a little bit, coming off the bench, maybe just a chance to process as the game's going. Allows us with Sam a little more physicality to start the game, then Reed comes in and utilizes some of his speed and things.”
Bailey made the most of his new role, shooting a perfect 6 for 6 from the field and knocking down all six of his free throws. However, the 6-foot-9 Alexis didn’t add much in the starting role, recording only two rebounds and attempting zero field goals.
After scoring 21 points against Kansas State University on Nov. 25, Bailey failed to reach double digits in each of Indiana’s next three outings. But Darian DeVries’ message after the Louisville game was clear.
“Just keep being ourselves,” Bailey said. “Just being more physical, then playing with an edge, playing with effort, having fun.”
In a show of physicality, Indiana scored 42 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle — 28-21 — for the first time since Bethune-Cookman.
As a team, Indiana nailed 17 3-pointers, the most the Hoosiers have had in a game since they recorded a program record of 19 makes from beyond the arc against Illinois in 2016.
Coming off back-to-back losses, Indiana reestablished its offensive prowess, thrashing Penn State in the process. Up next, the Cream and Crimson will face the University of Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. Saturday inside Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
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.
