Senior forward Sam Alexis was honored alongside his five fellow seniors prior to the start of the Indiana men’s basketball’s final home contest of the season. Alexis took the court alongside his parents, sister and coaches to cheers from the home crowd. Once the game started, he traded emotion for determination.
The University of Florida transfer scored a season-high 23 points to lead all scorers during the Hoosiers’ 30-point drubbing of Minnesota on Wednesday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Eighteen of Alexis’ points came in the paint, with the rest from the free throw line.
“Just my teammates finding me,” Alexis said postgame. “Coach setting up plays for me in the post. I feel like once I get it, it's like I'm going to score.”
Minnesota opened the scoring with a layup, but Alexis scored Indiana’s first point of the night — a free throw — to spark a 20-4 run in which the Hoosiers took the lead. It was the only lead change of the night. The Cream and Crimson led for over 38 minutes in a must-win clash with Minnesota, the team that handed head coach Darian DeVries his first loss at the helm of the Hoosiers back in December.
Amid the run, Alexis scored nine points. The Golden Gophers couldn’t contain his physicality in the post, leading to frequent open looks underneath. As the half wore on, Alexis continued to attack the paint, bullying defenders and scoring with ease.
Prior to Wednesday’s matchup, Alexis’ season-high was a 19-point performance in a contest with Wisconsin on Feb. 7. Alexis entered halftime Wednesday night with 17 points.
Darian DeVries emphasized the Hoosiers wanted to utilize Alexis in the post particularly against zone defenses.
“Sam was great,” DeVries said postgame. “Let him play on an island one-on-one because they hadn't doubled much on the interior, so we thought we could get in there and let Sam go to work a little bit and then space our shooters out around it.”
Indiana shot 57.4% from the field — its third best mark in a Big Ten game — in large part due to its emphasis on attacking the paint. The Hoosiers shot 21 for 30 from 2-point range. With five free throws, the Cream and Crimson tied the Golden Gophers’ 47 points before adding any of their 3-point production.
Alexis’ paint activity did more than just provide efficient scoring opportunities. It also enabled the Hoosiers’ outside shooters to find open space. When Minnesota was forced to collapse on Alexis to prevent another easy score, swinging the ball around often led to an open look from beyond the arc.
Fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson drilled four 3-pointers, and redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries and junior guard Nick Dorn each added three. Dorn ultimately tallied 11 points, his first time in double figures since Indiana trounced Oregon on Feb. 9.
“It does a lot for us,” Dorn said. “It really opens up everything as well because they kind of have to send two to help him and leaves mismatches on the backside. Just able to get even cleaner looks.”
Entering Wednesday’s game, Indiana was on its second four-game losing streak of the season. The Hoosiers' previous losing skid was snapped with a 23-point win over Rutgers on Jan. 23, the Big Ten’s 14th place team. Immediately after, Indiana secured its first Quadrant 1 victory in an upset rivalry win over then-No. 12 Purdue on Jan. 27.
This time, Indiana avoided a fifth consecutive loss by taking down the 12th-place Golden Gophers. But just like before, a Quad 1 opportunity awaits. The Cream and Crimson’s final game of the regular season is a showdown between two teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Indiana will take on Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday inside the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.
“It feels good,” Dorn said. “Just to be able to flip it around now just gives us a lot more momentum going into Ohio State and on from there, just giving us more motivation to keep pushing and that everything is right in front of us.”
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.
