The Minute After: UCLA

Trent Sisley after IU's win at UCLA.

Thoughts on a 98-97 win against the Bruins:

This one was high-level and hard-fought, a grueling contest where the battle for every rebound felt like life or death.

And in the end, through regulation and two overtimes, Indiana emerged victorious, its second Quad 1 win in a row.

The Hoosiers didn’t make it easy on themselves.

It looked like they’d put it away for good after a Nick Dorn 3-pointer with 1:50 to go, a dagger which put them up 10 points (71-61). But the Bruins had other plans. They snagged four offensive rebounds, leading to six points over the next minute of game action to cut the lead to five points. And the Hoosiers had some serious problems against UCLA’s press late. They needed three timeouts to avoid five-second calls. One came as Tucker DeVries couldn’t get the ball inbounds on the baseline. The others came to save Indiana against double-teams — Reed Bailey near the right corner, Lamar Wilkerson next to UCLA’s bench. Wilkerson also had a bad-pass turnover in the backcourt and was called for another turnover for stepping out on the sideline, though it certainly looked like a foul could have been called on the play as well.

The aforementioned Wilkerson bad-pass turnover led to a layup by Eric Dailey Jr., and suddenly, Indiana was clinging to just a two-point lead (73-71) with 30 seconds to go. Two Bailey free throws gave Indiana a four-point cushion with 25 seconds left. But on UCLA’s next possession, Trent Perry rebounded his own miss and was fouled by Conor Enright. He made both free throws to cut it to two. And after Bailey split a pair at the line to push the lead to three points, Perry knocked down a 3-pointer on the other end to tie the game with two seconds to go and force overtime.

Did that really just happen? It did.

But to Indiana’s credit, it didn’t sulk. The Hoosiers didn’t wilt. They just kept playing.

Enright fouled out late in regulation on that Perry foul. So DeVries (nine points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) stepped in as ballhandler and kept the train moving for Indiana. He made the first shot of the first overtime. Then Bailey, who was playing his best game of the season (24 points, six rebounds, five assists) fouled out with 2:46 left in the first OT. Sam Alexis and Trent Sisley made key contributions in his absence. DeVries found Alexis for a score with six seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 84-all, a bucket that made sure the game advanced to a second overtime.

Sisley snagged a tough offensive rebound early in the second overtime, got fouled and made one of two at the line. He split another pair later after getting fouled. And Sisley helped seal it on the game’s deciding play, cutting to the basket on a baseline out-of-bounds play and getting fouled in the process. With the game tied and just .3 seconds left, Sisley hit the first one. That was enough for Indiana to get the win, 98-97.

Wilkerson also avenged his struggles late in regulation with some big buckets on drives, leading the way with 10 points across both overtimes. He was absolutely essential to Indiana grinding this one out tonight and sticking with it.

“Road wins are incredibly hard,” Darian DeVries said after the game. “… They left it all out there, and fortunately, we were able to come away with a win.”

What could have been devastating for Indiana turned into triumph, the Hoosiers outlasting the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion — just barely. We’ll see if they have anything left in the tank in Los Angeles on Tuesday night against the Trojans.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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