In a back and forth contest that saw 13 ties and 15 lead changes, Indiana men’s basketball found itself with the opportunity to seal its contest against UCLA in the final seconds of double overtime.
After the Bruins tied the game with 12 seconds remaining on the clock, the Hoosiers had held the ball for the final shot. Trent Sisley found himself under the basket as the clock drained, but the freshman forward missed a layup, and the ball was knocked out of bounds.
Yet after review, the officials granted the Hoosiers one last possession. With 1.5 seconds remaining, redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries inbounded the ball to Sisley, who drew a foul with 0.3 seconds left in the game.
With some of the biggest free-throws of his young career on the line, Sisley sank one of two to seal the victory. Yet Sisley wasn’t the only Hoosier to step up in big ways during Indiana’s 98-97 double overtime victory over UCLA on Saturday inside Pauley Pavillion in Los Angeles.
“From top to bottom, everybody had a significant part in the game,” junior guard Nick Dorn said postgame. “I feel like that just shows how connected we are as a team and how we're growing as a team.”
Dorn, who earned his third consecutive start in the absence of sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway, stepped up once again and put on an offensive clinic throughout regulation.
Dorn led all scorers and finished the night with 26 points — all of which came in the first 40 minutes — off 8-18 shooting from the field and 6-15 shooting from beyond the arc.
“Yeah, he (Dorn) was great,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “He's been playing great, and he's really confident. I think he really fits well with what we try to do and the spacing that we have on the floor.”
DeVries added that when the team is able to find Dorn, it opens up other areas of the floor and allows Indiana to get to the rim easier.
One of the players who took advantage of that opportunity was senior forward Reed Bailey. The 6-foot-10 Bailey, who averages just 10 points per game on the season, stepped up and provided 24 points in 28 minutes Saturday.
Bailey was a force at the basket and finished the night 6-7 from the field, 12-13 from the free throw line and with five assists and six rebounds.
“We've kept encouraging him, just be aggressive, you know, and go make plays, be yourself,” Darian DeVries said. “And I think he's doing a really nice job of that. He's trying to find his way around as the season's gone around, and I think he's picking those moments. He had some really, really big plays for us there on both ends of the floor.”
Throughout the second half, fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries were held to a combined seven points. However, Dorn stepped up to provide 21, while Bailey added 14.
But as the game progressed into extended periods, Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries put their second half performances behind them. It would take a team effort to finish the game with a win.
In the two overtime periods, Wilkerson was a force getting to the basket and was a major reason for the Hoosiers’ success, scoring 10 points in 10 minutes.
“I thought Lamar was terrific,” Darian DeVries said. “We started going to him a lot more, told him to be assertive, and he had an up and down game a little bit, but he just took it on his shoulders and went and got to the rim, got fouled, got some layups.”
And while Tucker DeVries didn’t pour points in the game, he found other ways to have a positive impact on the game. The 6-foot-7 forward came up with big free throws and critical rebounds. DeVries finished the night with 10 boards and was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
“I think, 10 again today (rebounds), 10 the other night, and he's (Tucker DeVries) not 6-foot-11, so he's having to really battle and fight in there, and he's giving us all he's got,” Darian DeVries said. “His leadership has been a big part of, as we get through this stretch here of these few wins, I think he's doing a great job leading the team.”
It took an overall team effort for the Hoosiers to secure the victory on the road. Players were forced to play different positions and were ready when their names were called.
And while Sisley typically wouldn’t be on the floor in the critical final minutes of a game, the freshman stepped up, was reliable down the stretch and ultimately sealed the game for the Cream and Crimson.
“We had new guys coming in, guys in different roles, different positions, and that's what being ready is,” Darian Devries said. “And I thought everybody that had to contribute tonight was needed and, you know, it finishes with Trent Sisley. You know, a freshman that hadn’t played a lot in this game, comes in and knocks down the free throw to win the game.”
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.
