Fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson was unstoppable Tuesday night. The Ashdown, Arkansas, native poured in 33 points on 11-for-20 shooting across 32 minutes of action. Wilkerson made half of Indiana men’s basketball’s 10 3-pointers, shot a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line and was the Hoosiers’ lone double-digit scorer.
But it wasn’t enough to carry the Cream and Crimson to victory. Junior guard Nick Dorn and redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries combined for just 11 points on 3-for-21 shooting from the field.
Lacking scoring outside of Wilkerson, Indiana concluded its West Coast trip with an 81-75 loss to USC on Tuesday night inside the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Prior to Tuesday, Dorn had “been shooting about as well as anybody in the country,” Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said postgame. Over the Hoosiers’ last four outings, Dorn averaged 20.25 points and five 3-pointers per game on 46.5% shooting from the 3-point line.
“He just had an off night,” DeVries said. “Tuck had some really good looks as well. They just didn't go down. So, we didn't get that second and third scorer like we've been getting tonight.”
Dorn’s emergence propelled Indiana’s three-game win streak that included two road victories and a ranked win over rival No. 12 Purdue. Without Dorn’s production, the Cream and Crimson just couldn’t keep up with the Trojans.
USC freshman guard Alijah Arenas — a former five-star recruit — gashed the Hoosiers’ defense for a career-high 29 points in just his fifth game. Graduate guard Kam Woods and senior forward Ezra Ausar joined him in double figures.
“Yeah, I think overall. Couldn't get that three to go, and then we couldn't follow it up with that stop,” Darian DeVries said. “I thought there was a big stretch in there where Arenas got loose for a couple of threes, a couple of tough baskets.”
Despite resurfacing in a 22-point effort against Rutgers, Tucker DeVries still hasn’t found his shot. The two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year has made just 26 of his last 100 attempts from 3-point range. His extended slump dates back to the Hoosiers’ loss to Kentucky on Dec. 13.
DeVries, who began the season averaging a team-high 17.3 points per game in nonconference play, has seen his average plummet to just 10.4 points per Big Ten contest. Wilkerson and sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway have surpassed DeVries, with Dorn only 0.1 points behind.
“I think the biggest thing, like everybody, when you're a good shooter and you go through something you haven't gone through before, it's just to stay confident,” Darian DeVries said. “Trust your work. You've done it your whole life. Just continue to believe in that.”
Wilkerson shares that philosophy with his head coach. Instead of pressuring his teammate to look elsewhere, he maintains belief that he’ll find his way back to his former self.
“Yeah, man, Tucker's a great player. All he’s got to do is just get out of his head and keep playing, man,” Wilkerson said. “Once he finds his groove, man, it'll be all right, man. I got the ultimate faith in Tucker, man. He’s been doing it a long time, so we just stay encouraged in each other, and hopefully we'll figure it out.”
As Tucker DeVries and Dorn struggled, Wilkerson was forced to shoulder the offensive load against the Trojans, and the Hoosiers fizzled out. After falling behind by 14 points in the second half, Wilkerson’s third 30-point outing of the season wasn’t enough to claw back and earn a win.
“It doesn't matter how good I play if we don't come out with a win,” Wilkerson said. “If we get outscored, it doesn’t really matter. So, try to find a way to get us all back on one, mesh together and come out of these games with wins instead of losses.”
After the road trip, Indiana will return home for a matchup with Wisconsin as it aims to get back on track following the loss. The Hoosiers will face the Badgers at noon Saturday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
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.
