‘He can just change a game’: Lamar Wilkerson’s scoring ability was known. When Indiana needed him, he did more than score — ‘he sparked us’

The expectations for Lamar Wilkerson were high when he arrived in Bloomington and through the first eight weeks of the summer, he was exactly what Indiana thought he’d be. Heading down to Puerto Rico would shed light on the Hoosiers as a whole, but specifically the capabilities of a guy like Wilkerson who is expected to play a large role in setting the tone on both ends of the floor this season.

Right when he stepped on the floor in game one you could see the capabilities from a scoring perspective. His ability to create off of the dribble was seen, but also his range from three, stretching out past NBA range at times.

But, while the range and ability was there — the shots weren’t falling. For some, that would be a time to press and force the issue, but Wilkerson stayed the course and took what came to him — which were still a lot of opportunities from his teammates who were looking to get him going.

It resulted in just 3-of-14 from the field and 3-of-13 from three. He finished with 12 points in what was a blowout win.

There was no concern heading into game two from his head coach, however. Instead, excitement.

It resulted in a major turnaround performance. After getting down by 23 points, it was Wilkerson who got going. He sparked an 8-0 run out of the half and turned into the go-to player Indiana knew he was. The difference from game one to two? His shot creation and shot making.

“Lamar can shoot as many times as he wants. I have ultimate faith in Lamar making shots,” DeVries said after game two. “I think you saw a glimpse of why we do in that second half. He can just change a game in two, three possessions. He can go 0-for-4, 4-for-8, 6-for-10 in a hurry.”

(On3+): Inside The Numbers — Full stats from Indiana basketball exhibition trip to Puerto Rico

He hit two quick 3s that sparked his play, and Indiana’s, as he led the Hoosiers with 18 points on 7-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-7 from three. Indiana’s comeback was a 72-27 final run after falling down 44-21 in the first half.

“It’s just like being in an empty gym,” Wilkerson said of the groove he found. “I don’t see anybody — it’s just me being me.”

Now the question would be — how would he respond after Mega Superbet was able to look at film and gameplan even more after their first matchup.

And once again, it was a slow start. Not just for Wilkerson, but for Indiana. After falling down by 23 points in game one, it was a 22-point deficit early in game two. Indiana’s offense was stagnant, slow and looking for a spark.

Just like in Saturday’s first game with Superbet, Indiana turned to Wilkerson to give them a spark — and he did exactly that.

“DeVries came to me and told me I have to be a better leader on and off the floor and I took that personally,” Wilkerson said after Monday’s 81-80 win. “And I didn’t like how bad we were down.”

Wilkerson didn’t score and had just three shot attempts in the first half on Monday.

He admitted he had been sticking to the three-point line a bit too much. Coming off of a season in which he shot 44.5 percent from three and made 109 3s, that’s to be expected. But Monday’s second-half proved that Wilkerson is much more than that.

“I feel like I’m a three level scorer and can make plays,” Wilkerson said on Monday. “I have to remind myself not to just straddle that three-point line but to get involved and get others involved.”

That he did and it resulted in 17 points (all in the second half) and leading Indiana all the way back for a one-point win. It wasn’t just his shot-making, but also his ability to make plays and defend. On the last two possessions of the game, Wilkerson beat his defender off the dribble and dished to a cutting Reed Bailey for the game-winning dunk. Then, he locked down Savo Drezgic — who had 28 points — on the final possession giving Indiana the one-point win.

“Got Lamar going in the second half, and that was two games in a row where he’s really sparked us in the second half. So again, awesome for us,” DeVries said. “Love the fact that we were able to come out with a win, and that guy made some really big plays for us down the stretch.

“Once we started getting into some actions and things and getting guys on the move, now we were able to create a few more spaces, able to set some pin-downs for Lamar, where they lost him on the weak side. And then Lamar, I just challenged him — he’s got to be aggressive. Challenged Tucker, he’s got to be more aggressive that second half to get our offense going a little bit.”

În Indiana’s three games, Lamar Wilkerson averaged a team-high 15.7 points and 3.7 assists a game. While he shot just 32.3 percent from three, his ability to create instant offense is critical for this group — and evident. For Indiana and this staff, it’s about finding new ways to get Wilkerson — and Tucker DeVries, the two main creators — the ball and put them in position to be the creators they are.

“It’s a combination of things. When they’re (opponents) going to stay that close, (A) you got to get downhill a little bit more and (B), we got to use them as screeners,” DeVries said. “So now they can take advantage of the guys trying to deny them. Now they can almost screen their own guy and free up a guard coming off and getting off clean and now we’re playing downhill and at the rim.

“Our versatility and our depth, our balance I think is going to be a strength of ours all year. There’s going to be nights that they’ll (opponents) take those guys away, but I think we have enough other guys that can go take advantage of those opportunities and the way the floor gets spaced if they’re going to stay hugged up on those two shooters.”

Lamar Wilkerson had just eight games last year where he shot less than 30 percent from three. On the flip side, he had 19 games shooting 40+ percent. After his first game on Wednesday, Wilkerson shot 38.9 percent from three (7-of-18). So, his poor shooting performance in game one is the outlier.

And, this staff is well aware of that.

“I kind of like the fact that he struggled shooting in an exhibition game, because he doesn’t struggle very often. So, this is a good one to get out of the way,” DeVries said of Wilkerson. “He’s one of those guys that I don’t care if he goes, 2-for-20, because that means he’s going to go 18-for-20 some night. He’s that good of a shooter, just had a tough night.”

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