Lamar Wilkerson sat at the dais Feb. 9 just moments after Indiana men’s basketball earned a dominant win over Oregon.
The fifth-year senior guard had just scored 41 points, lifting his squad to an 18-point victory. Wilkerson acknowledged basketball is a game of runs, and the Hoosiers were on one then as they sought to play their best in March.
The Cream and Crimson’s season appears completely flipped nearly a month later. Indiana has lost five of its last six games with the lone victory over Minnesota, a thin team near the bottom of the conference standings.
The Hoosiers’ regular-season finale against Ohio State on Saturday provided them an opportunity to send a positive message to the Hoosier faithful and to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Instead, they were uncompetitive for much of their 91-78 loss to the Buckeyes inside the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Indiana finished the regular season 18-13 overall and 9-11 in conference play. A March Madness berth once seemed nearly guaranteed for a squad that reached 17 wins by early February.
Now, the Hoosiers sit firmly on the bubble needing a strong showing in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago this week.
But how did the Hoosiers reach this point?
First, they traveled to Illinois on Feb. 15, and a 20-point beatdown ensued thanks the Fighting Illini’s offensive prowess. First-year head coach Darian DeVries’ squad turned its attention to then-No. 8 Purdue.
And again, a 29-point throttling occurred in West Lafayette on Feb. 20. The Boilermakers drained 10 3-pointers, setting up a crucial four-game run to the end of the regular season.
When redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries sat in the bowels of Mackey Arena for the postgame press conference, he acknowledged the importance of the final four games — including a three-game home stand.
Instead of returning home and beginning with a victory, the Cream and Crimson collapsed. They fell by four points to Northwestern, which outscored Indiana by 13 in the second half.
“They played a good game, but there is no way in hell we should have lost this game,” Wilkerson said then.
Although the Hoosiers hung with then-No. 13 Michigan State, they fell once more. The final home game of the regular season came against Minnesota, a team Indiana lost to in early December.
Indiana appeared to have righted its wrongs. It won by 30 points on Senior Night three days before facing the Buckeyes.
Despite the Hoosiers’ lackluster record, they remained firmly on the tournament bubble. Saturday’s contest had substantial March Madness implications for both squads, and the visitors appeared prepared early on.
Indiana led for much of the first four minutes of the contest. Then, the Buckeyes took control with a 15-4 run to end the first half. As the Cream and Crimson walked toward the tunnel and into the locker room at intermission, their heads looked toward the ground.
Aside from Indiana’s attempted comeback late in the second half, Ohio State fans had much to cheer for throughout the final 20 minutes as their squad sealed their NCAA Tournament berth.
As Wilkerson walked off the court with the lower part of his jersey in his mouth, the Hoosiers understood the magnitude of their no-show.
“I think, obviously, we want to play well,” Darian DeVries said postgame. “We want to put ourselves in a position to win the game, and for us to have a stretch like that, it's certainly disappointing. But our guys are going to continue to battle, that's all I know.”
The Hoosiers could’ve mailed in the season weeks ago and come to grips with a disappointing campaign. Still, senior forward Reed Bailey said the Cream and Crimson haven’t held any doubts about their capabilities.
But those tough stretches have left an uncomfortable feeling within the squad as the conference tournament nears.
“I think we just have a lot of motivation to come into the Big Ten Tournament and show what we really can do,” Bailey said. “I mean, just having that bad taste in your mouth, I think it's motivation enough to really come out and try and make a run.”
Now, Indiana starts its next chapter: postseason basketball.
The Hoosiers will face either No.15-seeded Northwestern or No. 18-seeded Penn State at 6:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday. A loss would almost certainly end Indiana’s first season under Darian DeVries — which would be viewed as a disappointment for a team tasked with laying the groundwork for the new-look program.
A win would set up a matchup against the No. 7-seeded Purdue at 6:30 p.m. EDT Thursday.
Darian DeVries said all the Hoosiers are prioritizing now is their next game. Their season rests on each contest. So, too, do six careers, including Tucker DeVries and Wilkerson.
But without a successful run through the Big Ten Tournament inside the United Center in Chicago, this iteration of the Hoosiers won’t be remembered as the ones that peaked in March. Instead, they’d be remembered as the ones who wilted in the season’s most critical stretch.
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.
