After Indiana absorbed its fourth straight loss Sunday, a 77-64 home decision to Michigan State, leading scorer Lamar Wilkerson dissected his team’s woes.
“We’re not playing our best,” he said. “There are a lot of things we have to fix. We’re playing some good teams. We have to find a way to get back to the way we were playing at the end of January and beginning of February.”
Back then, the Hoosiers were winning five of six and looking like a cinch to make the NCAA tournament. Now, they are the ultimate bubble team as they prepare to host Minnesota on Wednesday night in Bloomington.
Indiana (17-12, 8-10 Big Ten Conference) has struggled in nearly every facet of the game lately. It’s averaged only 61.8 points during its losing skid while allowing 78.3. Rebounding was a problem Sunday as Michigan State earned a 35-27 advantage, scoring 12 points off nine offensive rebounds in the second half.
“They came up with all the loose balls and big plays … which were killers,” said Hoosiers coach Darian DeVries.
Wilkerson scored 29 points and is averaging 21.3 to lead Indiana. Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son, is scoring 13.8 per game.
Meanwhile, the Golden Gophers (14-15, 7-11) have fashioned a nice late-season run despite a foot injury to Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, their second-leading scorer, that has reduced their playing rotation to six men.
Minnesota won for the third time in four games Saturday with a 78-73 home verdict over UCLA, getting a career-best seven 3-pointers and a season-high 23 points from Bobby Durkin. Cade Tyson added 21 as the Gophers canned 29 of 50 shots from the field, including 12 of 23 from the 3-point line.
First-year coach Niko Medved has dialed down the tempo considerably to make up for a lack of depth. He’s also mixed up his defenses, and the team has benefited from both moves.
“We are playing slower than we’ve ever played and really kind of picking our spots,” he said. “The good news is we explained to the guys that it’s kind of what we have to do, and they are bought in.”
–Field Level Media
