The Minute After: Oregon

Photos from IU basketball's 92-74 win against Oregon.

Thoughts on a 92-74 win against the Ducks:

This one started choppy, Oregon’s length and size making the Hoosiers a bit hesitant and stagnant on offense.

Lamar Wilkerson missed his first five shots. Nick Dorn took four first-half 3-pointers and missed ’em all. The Hoosiers shot just 4-of-16 (25 percent) from deep over the first 20 minutes. Still with Jackson Shelstad out for the season and Nate Bittle 1-of-6 from the floor, Oregon had to look to its bench (Wei Lin, nine points) to try and keep pace with the Hoosiers in the first half, and Indiana held a halftime advantage of 36-30.

The second half told a different tale, as Indiana’s offense went on an absolute heater.

Early on, its movement—the cutting, spacing and screening was elite and led to some buckets down low. Wilkerson’s slow start became a dominant explosion. Tonight’s game felt just like his record-setting, 44-point performance against Penn State back in December. All he needed was the ball, and any shot he took seemed destined to find the bottom of the net. The Sam Houston State transfer began his ascent in the first half, making his last five shots after missing his first five. He ended up with 16 points at halftime. Wilkerson then went 8-of-10 after the break, including a 4-of-6 mark from deep for 25 points in the half. At one point, he made a deep 2 from the left side as the shot clock was winding down, a shot with a high degree of difficulty he made look easy. He connected on 13 of his last 15 shots before departing the contest late with 41 points, another 40-plus point performance in the books.

Just as impressive? Wilkerson’s 80 percent shooting mark in the second half was actually lower than the team’s. That’s right: Indiana shot 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) after the break. The live box score had the Hoosiers at 1.8 points per possession in the second half. Indiana got up 16 at the 15:40 mark, and Oregon cut it to 10 a little over two minutes later. You wondered if this was going to be yet another game where Indiana got up by double-digits early in the second half, only to squander the lead and have to grind it out, or worse yet, lose the lead entirely.

But Darian DeVries, perhaps wondering that himself, took a timeout to slow things down. Oregon never got closer than 10 the rest of the way. The Hoosiers ballooned the lead up by as much as 21 before settling on the 18-point victory.

Sam Alexis continues to play his best basketball of the season. After his 9-of-10 (19 points) mark from the floor against Wisconsin on Saturday, Alexis went a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor for 16 points in this one. Tucker DeVries continues to make himself valuable beyond scoring. While he did have 15 tonight (5-of-10), he also dished out seven assists. Dorn got it going over the final 20 minutes, going 2-of-3 from deep and 5-of-5 from the line (11 points). The Hoosiers finished with an effective field goal percentage of 71 and scored 1.39 points per possession. IU had 22 assists on 30 made baskets.

Indiana left no doubt in this one thanks to a strong second half. After their four-game skid in January, the Hoosiers have now won five of six. At 8-6 in conference with six games to go, can the Hoosiers finish above .500 in league play? There are some tough games, particularly on the road, ahead. But it’s within reach.

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