Indiana men’s basketball couldn’t afford to drop its final home game Wednesday if it wants to earn an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Hoosiers, who had lost the past four games, were tasked with avenging their early-season loss to Minnesota in a Quadrant 2 opportunity. They did just that, picking up a 77-47 victory inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Senior forward Sam Alexis paced the Hoosiers with his 23 points and nine rebounds. Fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson and redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries added 16 and 13 points, respectively. Senior forward Cade Tyson led the Golden Gophers with 21 points.
Before tipoff, Indiana recognized its six-man senior class — forwards Reed Bailey, DeVries and Alexis, and guards Conor Enright, Tayton Conerway and Wilkerson.
Although Minnesota scored on the game’s first possession, Indiana went on a 20-4 run to take a 14-point lead with 12 minutes until halftime. The Golden Gophers responded with their own 13-3 spurt, cutting their deficit to three.
The squads largely traded buckets for the rest of the half until the Hoosiers scored eight consecutive points across the final 1:21 to take a 15-point halftime lead. Alexis led the Cream and Crimson in the first half with his 17 points, making all but one of his nine field-goal attempts.
The back-and-forth offense returned for much of the first 10 minutes of the second half until the Hoosiers truly pulled away with a 14-0 run. Leading by 29 with just over six minutes left, the Cream and Crimson cruised to their 18th victory of the season, as the Golden Gophers managed just 19 second-half points.
Indiana (18-12, 9-10 Big Ten) now turns its attention toward its regular-season finale against Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday inside the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. The contest will be broadcast on Fox.
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.
