Indiana men’s basketball lost four consecutive games over a week-and a half stretch in late January. The Hoosiers’ NCAA Tournament hopes were beginning to fade.
But instead of allowing the season to snowball, the Cream and Crimson have won five of their last six games. They sit at 17-8 overall and 8-6 in Big Ten play ahead of their 1 p.m. matchup Sunday against No. 8 Illinois inside the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.
The Fighting Illini enter the contest coming off back-to-back overtime losses to No. 10 Michigan State and Wisconsin — the latter on their home floor — by a combined five points. Still, Illinois is second in conference standings behind No. 2 Michigan.
The Hoosiers lost each of their last two meetings to the Fighting Illini across the last two seasons under former head coach Mike Woodson. Now, Indiana head coach Darian DeVries looks to lead his squad to a resume-boosting road victory.
Here’s what to know about Sunday’s matchup:
Keaton Wagler
When Fighting Illini freshman guard Keaton Wagler arrived in Champaign last summer, there was no talk of the NBA draft — and certainly not the lottery. He was a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings.
Wagler scored 15.9 points per game across Illinois’ first 19 games before bursting on the national scene Jan. 24. He poured in 46 points in a victory over then-No. 4 Purdue inside Mackey Arena.
“He has that ability a little bit like Lamar (Wilkerson), where he can get them in a hurry,” DeVries said in a Zoom press conference Friday. “So, yeah, I think you got to try to just do as best job as you can. Make sure he's got your focus all the time and not let him get started, ‘cause once he does, he's really difficult to bring back.”
The 6-foot-6,185-pound Wagler averages 26.5 points per game across the Fighting Illini’s last six games. Wagler’s emergence comes as senior guard Kylan Boswell missed the last seven games with a broken hand sustained in practice.
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said Boswell is a game-time decision Sunday. So, too, is junior guard Andrej Stojakovic, who’s dealing with a high-ankle sprain.
DeVries’ concerns about the Fighting Illini
While Illinois hasn’t won in a week and a half, there’s still “a lot” that concerns DeVries when he watches the Fighting Illini.
“I mean, they're a really, really good basketball team,” he said. “...So, they are just so big and balanced. And they do a great job of exploiting mismatches, and then they offensive rebound. So, there's really not much of a weakness that you can really try to attack.”
Illinois has the most efficient offense nationally in the KenPom rankings. They previously set the record in mid-January for the most efficient offense in KenPom history, which dates to 2002.
Indiana’s 3-point offense vs. Illinois’ 3-point defense
DeVries emphasized 3-point shooting when he built his first Indiana roster last offseason. It’s a staple of the first-year head coach’s offensive philosophy, and the Hoosiers have backed it up.
Indiana takes the fourth-most 3-pointers among the 18 Big Ten squads, but it sits eighth in 3-point percentage. The Fighting Illini sit above the Hoosiers in both statistics, but the former also allows opponents to attempt nearly 27 longballs per game.
Still, DeVries said Illinois is “going to make it difficult.”
“You still got to do things to get yourselves in the spots to create those opportunities,” he said.
With Illinois’ frontcourt size, Indiana must be selective on how it wants to challenge the hosts, DeVries said. Playing in transition will be another difficult task for the Hoosiers.
“But in order to play in transition, you got to get stops,” DeVries said. “And that's always been a big part of our game, as well as you can't run when you're taking the ball out of the net. So, getting stops is going to be a big part of that.”
Getting Conerway back in Indiana’s rotation
Since sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway suffered an ankle injury against Iowa on Jan. 17, he hasn’t played significant minutes. He was on the floor for 18 total minutes in the Hoosiers’ ensuing two contests.
Then, the Burleson, Texas, native missed two games before playing 10 minutes against USC. He was sidelined against Wisconsin on Feb. 7 with an illness before playing just four minutes against Oregon on Monday.
Junior guard Nick Dorn has stepped into the Hoosiers’ starting lineup in Conerway’s absence. Although DeVries said he and his staff will “take it a game at a time” with getting Conerway back into the rotation, they aren’t making any significant changes.
“But as we head into it, we'll stick with what we've been going with here recently and try to get him back involved as that happens,” DeVries said. “And then those minutes will be distributed based on kind of how we're playing, how he's playing, and we'll just take it from there.”
The game
Tipoff between the Hoosiers and Fighting Illini is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday inside the State Farm Center. The contest will be broadcast on CBS with play-by-play announcer Andrew Catalon and analyst Clark Kellog on the call.
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.
