3 Takeaways from Indiana men’s basketball’s 90-80 win over Washington

Indiana was favored by KenPom and Bart Torvik entering the game, but this had all the makings of a rough, weird home struggle for the Hoosiers.

The team’s been off for nearly two weeks, Washington matches up generally well with Indiana, and most of the focus in Bloomington has been on the football team of late, for good reason.

Darian DeVries’ group came out shooting like it wanted to avoid the upset though, hitting five straight threes to start the game. All five came from Tayton Conerway, who hit three, and Conor Enright, with two, who were being dared to shoot by the Huskies defense. Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle had to adjust from there.

Defensively, Indiana struggled to compensate for the lack of size inside, but won the rebounding battle and got enough points in the paint on the other end of the court to survive the 3-point shooting droughts that are inherent to Indiana’s playing style.

There were some scary moments throughout, but DeVries group stuck it out and earned a solid home win to gain momentum as the season restarts.

Here’s three takeaways:

Interior Scoring

Indiana finished with 30 points in the paint tonight, narrowly behind Washington’s 34 inside, making up for the fact that the Hoosiers lack the lottery-caliber big man that the Huskies have in Hannes Steinbach. DeVries also had to scheme around Franck Kepnang, not a scoring threat, but an imposing presence at 6’11” 253 lbs.

It wasn’t necessarily pretty, with plenty of missed layups, but Indiana was able to do it mostly by committee tonight, a mix of drives from guards and finishes from bigs or cutting wings. Reed Bailey had eight points in the first half before going cold in the second, but Trent Sisley came in off the bench to pick up the slack.

Post scoring will be a work in progress all season, but with the size Washington brings, regularly playing two centers at once (sound familiar?), it’s good to see Indiana tough out 30 points against that team. Hopefully fewer misses at the rim going forward.

The Bench

DeVries went just three deep on the bench tonight, playing Bailey, Sisley, and Nick Dorn, all of whom finished with at least eight points. Dorn and Sisley looked particularly impressive, bringing energy and athleticism that Indiana doesn’t necessarily have in its starting lineup.

While he’s shooting 44.7% from 3-point range on the season, Dorn didn’t command the defensive attention that Tucker DeVries did on the wing, allowing the floor to open up a little more for off-ball looks when he checked in. He went 1-2 from deep tonight, finishing with eight points and two rebounds in a little over 22 minutes of action.

Sisley was the spark in the second half, hitting a pair of threes when the rest of the lineup had gone cold and driving to the basket for layups when things stagnated. At one point, he scored 10 straight for Indiana, helping fend off a Washington team trying to get back into the game in the second half.

With both Dorn and Sisley having years of eligibility remaining, their production and confidence off the bench should give Indiana fans something to look forward to for years to come.

The Backcourt

Besides Conerway and Enright hitting the shots that Washington bet on them missing, Indiana won today because of their high-scoring, dynamic backcourt that did everything from scoring to rebounding in the 10 point win.

Enright finished with a season-high 12 points to go along with nine assists, three rebounds, and zero turnovers. Wilkerson, who struggled from three, finished with 22 points, three assists, four rebounds, and just one turnover. For his part, Conerway 20 points, two assists, and three boards.

This is still a group that can be challenged physically and athletically, but as tonight demonstrated, all three have ways to impact the game outside of what they normally bring to the table.

When Wilkerson couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half, Enright stepped in for some gutsy drives. Conerway let Wilkerson take over in the second half once he started getting to the bucket, and Wilkerson showed good vision and recognition on those drives, kicking out to teammates when Washington’s bigs converged on him.

Overall, it was a strong performance from the group that will be the core of Indiana’s offense, especially when Tucker DeVries has a quiet night, as he did tonight.