Just midway through the season, Indiana men’s basketball has already experienced a plethora of highs and lows.
The Hoosiers started the season 7-0 and worked their way into the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the first time in nearly a year and earned dominant victories over Penn State, Marquette University and Kansas State University.
Yet right after entering the AP Poll, Indiana suffered a disappointing 9-point loss to a then 4-4 Minnesota team and fell to the University of Louisville 87-78 in its next contest. Then just seven days later, the Hoosiers displayed a second half-collapse to the University of Kentucky for their third loss of the season.
While Indiana ended nonconference play with back-to-back wins [Dec. 20 and Dec. 22], the Hoosiers needed to adjust as they headed into conference play.
So far after the break, Indiana has done just that. In their first game back against Washington on Sunday, the Hoosiers cleaned up the turnovers and led on the glass — two areas head coach Darian DeVries stressed needed work ahead of the 13-day break.
Indiana continued to make strides in its 84-66 victory over Maryland Wednesday night inside XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland.
Despite the slow start to the game against the Terrapins, Indiana eventually settled in and proved the pieces are starting to come together right as the intensity of the season ramps in conference play.
In the victory, the Hoosiers won the rebounding battle for the second straight game. Indiana logged 41 total rebounds including 14 offensive rebounds, while Maryland only tallied 33 total rebounds and 12 offensive rebounds. Prior to the new year, this was an area the Cream and Crimson struggled in and needed to address before facing the increased physicality of conference opponents.
“I think we've taken really good strides here the first two games, but we have to continue to prioritize it (rebounding),” DeVries said postgame.
In addition to the rebounding strides, the offense is beginning to become more dimensional with redshirt senior guard Conor Enright finding his shot and the bursts from freshman forward Trent Sisley.
The 6-foot-1 Enright tallied his second straight season high Wednesday with 16 points against Maryland after scoring 13 against Washington on Sunday.
Enright has been an impactful player for the Hoosiers all season long with his defense and playmaking ability. However, his shooting has not been a facet of his game on display yet this season.
But in the last two contests, Enright hasn’t shied away from shooting the ball. Against Washington, Enright sank two shots from beyond the arc and continued to do so against Maryland with two 3-pointers and a 5-7 shooting performance from the floor.
“I promise you he can shoot it,” DeVries said postgame. “You know, I see those guys every day, and, you know, they put in the work, they just got off to a slow start to begin the season, so it's not one of those things where, hey, we got bad shooters and they're just shooting low percentages. They're actually good shooters that just went through a little slump to start the year.”
And while Enright’s game is not all about scoring, his ability to shoot the ball will continue to add depth to the Hoosiers’ offense.
“I'm excited about the way he's continued to play, and he just always tries to make the right play, the winning play, and the last couple games, it's been a little bit more scoring, which is great,” Devries said.
And in addition to Enright’s shooting, the freshman Sisley continues to grow more comfortable and show bursts of what he can do and add to the team.
Against Washington, Sisley contributed 10 points, 4-6 shooting from the field and two 3-pointers in just 15 minutes of play. He provided a boost and meaningful minutes off the bench. And then against Maryland, he added four rebounds and a powerful dunk off the bench in the second half.
“Yeah, I thought Trent had a great second half,” DeVries said. “I thought he made some impactful plays, effort plays, toughness plays.”
The improvements and growth of the team could not come at a more opportune time for the Hoosiers. Indiana will be faced with a highly difficult conference schedule and will need to continue making strides to stay afloat in the Big Ten.
The Hoosiers will have a big test in its next contest at noon Saturday against No. 10 Nebraska at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The game will be streamed on Big Ten Network.
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.
