The Minute After: Baylor

Photos of IU basketball vs. Baylor at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on October 26, 2025.

Thoughts on a 76-74 win against the Bears:

If Indiana’s first exhibition showed its strengths — the impressive ball movement and 3-point shotmaking on full display — its second exhibition against Baylor exposed its weaknesses.

The Bears, another team with an entirely new roster, trotted out more size, length and athleticism than the Hoosiers. It showed early. Indiana struggled to contain the bounce, as Baylor scored several buckets at the rim on the drive. The Bears gobbled up offensive rebounds. On the other end, Baylor took Indiana out of its stuff. The Hoosiers struggled to move the ball and find good, easy looks in their offense.

After a JJ White 3-pointer put Baylor up 13 points (31-18) with 7:42 remaining in the first half, Indiana appeared outmatched.

But just as IU showed in Puerto Rico, getting down early doesn’t mean a victory is out of reach. This is a group that, so far, possesses resilience and fight. They play with high energy. The collective basketball IQ is high. Bring that game in and game out, and you’re going to have a chance, even if the matchup doesn’t always appear in your favor.

So Indiana just kept at it. With the 3-ball harder to come by and not dropping well in the first half (2-of-10), Lamar Wilkerson went to work on the drive on multiple possessions, getting fouled a number of times. He made 7-of-7 at the line and scored 16 of Indiana’s 36 first-half points, a huge reason the Hoosiers were able to head into halftime down just four at 40-36. Tucker DeVries also kept the Hoosiers afloat in the first half, scoring nine points and usually making the right play and being in the right spot. Indiana also started buckling down better on defense, not letting the Bears have their way so easily on drives.

Out of halftime, Indiana took control. The defense took it up another notch. Hands were in passing and driving lanes, and Baylor struggled to assert itself. Indiana’s defense helped it get out and score on the other end, with 14 of its 40 points in the second half coming off Baylor turnovers. Sam Alexis also provided some strong rim protection for the Hoosiers, as he blocked three shots.

“We were much more aggressive in the second half defensively,” Darian DeVries said post-game.

Baylor coach Scott Drew added, “They’re not as athletic as they were at West Virginia, but they have the same defensive toughness.”

Indiana appeared to be in the driver’s seat up nine with 8:24 to go after two DeVries free throws, but Baylor didn’t go quietly. The Bears followed with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to two points at 64-62 with 5:15 to play. And after the Hoosiers bumped the lead back out to six, Baylor’s ensuing 8-0 run put the Bears up by two points at the 2:10 mark. Indiana looked a little gassed and sluggish on offense during that run and this could have slipped into the loss category.

But the Hoosiers continued to hang tough. Wilkerson got to the line twice and hit all four free throws on an afternoon Indiana made 20-of-21 from the charity stripe. DeVries made a clutch baseline jumper off a Wilkerson drive with 45 seconds left to put the Hoosiers up a point, 74-73.

And with the game tied at 74-all after Michael Rataj split a pair of free throws on a double-bonus opportunity, Tayton Conerway, guarded high out near half court, drove by his defender, got into the lane and hit a crafty lay-up for the game-winning bucket, missing the only free throw of the game for Indiana, as he was also fouled on the make.

Cameron Carr missed a 3-pointer and Dan Skillings Jr.’s putback attempt fell flat on the last possession of the contest.

This was a good game for Indiana’s new staff and team to get on the schedule. It gave the Hoosiers experience against a top-quality program, allowing them to work through some mismatches.

And it showed once again the early resilience of the Darian DeVries era.

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