The Minute After: Washington

Photos from IU basketball's 90-80 win against Washington at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Thoughts on a 90-80 win against the Huskies:

After a long break, Indiana showed little sign of rust in its return to play tonight.

Early on, Washington made its defensive game plan known. It was happy to let Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright shoot from deep out of a triangle and 2 defense, keeping the ball out of Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson’s hands. The problem for the Huskies? Conerway and Enright made them pay.

By the first media timeout at the 15:48 mark, Conerway (3-of-3) and Enright (2-of-2) combined to shoot 5-of-5 from 3-point range, scoring all of Indiana’s 15 points. But on the other end, Washington was just about as hot from the field and the game was tied up at 15.

It was a first half where the offense hummed for both teams. Indiana went 10-of-10 from the line, 5-of-10 from deep, 18-of-27 overall and turned the ball over just twice. The Hoosiers posted an effective field goal percentage of 78 and scored 52 points on a staggering 1.67 points per possession. And this was all with DeVries (six points, no 3-pointers) and Wilkerson (four points, one basket, no 3-pointers) being relatively quiet. Conerway went 5-of-5, including 4-of-4 from deep, to lead Indiana with 18 points. Enright’s hot start from deep — along with a nifty and-1 heading to the basket — had him with 11 entering the break.

Despite scoring 1.29 points per possession in the first half, Washington still found itself down 12 at halftime, 52-40.

Indiana allowed the Huskies just one free throw the entire first half. And what looked like a big trouble spot for the Hoosiers up front with Hannes Steinbach and Franck Kepnang, coupled with Washington’s strong offensive rebounding and ability to score in the paint, didn’t net out that way in the first half. And that could really be said for the entire contest. Indiana had a higher offensive rebounding percentage than Washington for the contest (34 percent vs. 27 percent). And the Hoosiers stayed right with the Huskies in points in the paint (Indiana: 30, Washington 34) and second-chance points (Indiana: 13, Washington: 14).

“I was really pleased,” Darian DeVries said post-game about his team’s rebounding. “We spent a lot of time on it during our break, in these practices, of increasing our physicality and doing a better job there — getting that mindset. Washington, they’re big. They play around the rim a lot.”

Washington was able to find much more success getting to the line in the second half (21-of-24, 87.5 percent), thanks mainly to Zoom Diallo (4-of-6) and Desmond Claude’s (6-of-6) aggression on the attack and by using Steinbach (7-of-8) better down low.

A 10-2 run to start the second half for Washington cut Indiana’s lead to just four (54-50). But that was as close as Huskies would get the rest of the game, despite challenging a bit late. Trent Sisley was a huge reason Indiana was able to bump that four-point lead back up to double digits. Sisley went on a 10-0 run all by himself, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers, along with two scores in the paint. Sisley’s 10 points in this game were his first in double-digits since Indiana’s win against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 29 (14 points).

Wilkerson was able to find some more daylight in the second half, hitting three 3-pointers and 5-of-11 overall for 18 points. He ended with a game-high 22 points.

The question for Indiana going forward: Can it continue to get contributions from its supporting cast like it did tonight, as Big Ten defenses are sure to keep keying on Wilkerson and DeVries? If so, it’ll go a long way to keeping the Hoosiers competitive as the schedule ramps up in the weeks ahead.

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