As Selection Sunday draws closer, Indiana men’s basketball has added key victories to its resume. In just the past four games, the Hoosiers picked up their first two Quadrant 1 victories — Purdue on Jan. 27 and UCLA on Jan. 31 — as well as a Quadrant 2 win over Wisconsin on Feb. 7.
The Cream and Crimson (16-8, 7-6 Big Ten) now sit at 33rd in the NCAA’s NET rankings. With all eight of their losses currently in Quad 1, the Hoosiers are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament field.
But seven games remain before Indiana’s fate is sealed March 15. Up next is a contest with Oregon on Monday.
Over the course of the Hoosiers’ upswing, they've found production from a variety of sources. Junior guard Nick Dorn emerged as a potent scoring threat, racking up 20 3-pointers and 81 points in a 4-game stretch.
However, Dorn’s production slowed against USC and Wisconsin. He shot a combined 2 for 16 across the two outings. In 28 minutes against Wisconsin, he failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time since Jan. 7, when he only played 12 minutes and attempted just one shot.
Lacking Dorn’s shot making, senior forward Sam Alexis stepped up in the Hoosiers’ win over the Badgers. The University of Florida transfer scored a season-high 19 points.
Against UCLA, senior forward Reed Bailey scored a season-high 24 points, adding five assists and six rebounds. It was the first time Bailey reached 20 points since November, and his ninth game in double figures.
However, the lone constant of Indiana’s offense has been fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson. Averaging over 20 points and three longballs per game, Wilkerson is second in the Big Ten in scoring. Over the Hoosiers’ past five games, Wilkerson has scored 25.6 points per contest, leading the Cream and Crimson through their best stretch of conference play.
After beating Wisconsin in overtime, Indiana remains at home for a matchup with Oregon (8-15, 1-11 Big Ten) on Monday.
Battle of the Bluejays
Oregon is led by 16th-year head coach Dana Altman, who previously served as the head coach at Creighton University for 16 previous seasons. In his time leading the Bluejays, Altman amassed 327 wins. At his side for 273 of those wins was former Creighton graduate manager and assistant coach Darian DeVries.
While DeVries remained at Creighton until 2018, Altman departed for Oregon in 2010. Since then, he’s become the winningest head coach in Ducks history, tallying 378 victories over 16 seasons. The two former longtime Bluejays will share the court once more Monday, this time as opponents.
Big Ten misery
Oregon began its season 4-0, handling nonconference matchups that included a rivalry game with its former Pac-12 conference foe Oregon State University. The Ducks finished the nonconference slate 7-4.
Since entering Big Ten play, wins have largely eluded Oregon. The Ducks lost to USC and UCLA in December before defeating Maryland on Jan. 2. Since then, it’s been nothing but defeat.
Entering the matchup with Indiana, Oregon is on a nine-game losing streak that features road losses to 16th place Rutgers and 13th place Washington.
The Ducks have dropped games to Ohio State, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa and Purdue. Eight of their 11 conference losses are by double digits, but they kept it close in a four point-loss against the Boilermakers on Saturday.
Scoring leaders
The Ducks are led by a quartet of scorers each averaging over 12 points per game. Senior center Nate Bittle (16.8), junior guard Jackson Shelstad (15.6), junior forward Kwame Evans Jr. (13.1) and senior guard Takai Simpkins (12.6) account for 61.2% of the Ducks’ total points on the season.
As Shelstad has been sidelined since Dec. 28 with a season-ending hand injury, Altman has tinkered with Oregon’s starting lineup in search of options to replace his production. Ducks senior forward Dezdrick Lindsay, sophomore guard Wei Lin and junior forward Sean Stewart have all been in and out of the starting five.
As a team, Oregon is 17th in the conference in points per game, 3-point shooting percentage and free throw percentage. The Ducks are 16th in field goal percentage and 15th in turnovers.
Indiana will host Oregon and look to avenge its 2025 Big Ten Tournament defeat at 8:30 p.m. Monday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Coverage will be available on FS1.
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.
