Five takeaways from IU basketball’s win against Incarnate Word
- Alex Bozich
- 3h ago
IU basketball improved to 4-0 with a 69-61 win against Incarnate Word on Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Here are five takeaways from the win against the Cardinals:
Sam Alexis continues to shine in IU’s frontcourt
Through four games, Florida transfer Sam Alexis has been an indispensable piece in the IU frontcourt.
The 6-foot-8 forward was IU’s leading scorer against Incarnate Word on a night when the 3-point shot wasn’t falling for the Hoosiers.
Alexis finished with a team-high 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field and a 6-for-8 mark from the free-throw line. He added eight rebounds, also a team-high, to go along with an assist and a blocked shot in 28 minutes.
The Apopka, Florida, native is averaging 12.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and a blocked shot in 21 minutes for IU this season.
He’s shooting 72.7 percent from the field and 84.2 percent from the line on 19 attempts.
“Sam is playing great,” Darian DeVries said postgame. “He was one of the guys tonight that really brought some good energy, some good physicality. There was about a handful of possessions in the second half where he switched on a guard and guarded about as well as anybody.”
The offense will look ordinary when 3s don’t fall
Indiana’s offense is built to take and make 3-pointers. On Sunday evening, the Hoosiers took a healthy volume of triples – 24 – but shot less than 21 percent.
While the offense was able to generate open looks, Incarnate Word dictated the pace of the game and the Hoosiers never found their rhythm offensively.
After three straight games with 70 or more possessions to open the season, Sunday’s win featured just 64 possessions.
Incarnate Word tried different defensive looks, including a 1-3-1 zone, to keep the Hoosiers off balance. It worked.
“I think them starting out in the zone gets you a little bit out of your normal rhythm as an offense and we got a little stagnant there,” Darian DeVries said. “Then, when they went to their man, I thought we did a decent job at times, but the ball definitely just didn’t move the way that we’d like it to tonight.
“So we ended up with a lot more just the ball stuck in one guy’s hands and a lot more one-on-one tonight, and that’s not really what we’re designed to do as an offense.”
One shaky offensive performance is no cause for concern.
To this point, Indiana has outperformed expectations and is 4-0. After three comfortable wins to open the season, having in-game pressure to execute late is beneficial for a group that is still learning to play together.
Indiana struggled defensively in the second half
The Hoosiers built a comfortable advantage – 35-19 – at halftime.
But a poor defensive second half allowed Incarnate Word to stick around and get within five points in the closing minutes.
What went wrong in the final 20 minutes? A combination of defensive breakdowns and the Cardinals hitting some tough shots.
Incarnate Word went 6-for-13 on 3s after halftime and many of the looks were clean. But Incarnate Word also made some tough midrange shots that were contested, low-percentage looks.
The Cardinals shot almost 55 percent from the field in the second half and scored 42 points.
“Credit to them. They hit some tough shots,” Tucker DeVries said. “At the end of the day, it’s just finding a way to win once you get into those situations.”
Trent Sisley isn’t playing like a freshman
Indiana scored 26 bench points in Sunday’s win and the production came from two players – Alexis and Trent Sisley.
Sisley, a freshman from Santa Claus, scored in double figures for the second time in four games, finishing with 10 points.
The 6-foot-8 forward doesn’t hesitate when he’s given space from the perimeter. In Sunday’s win, he shot 2-for-4 from 3-point range and is now 5-for-11 from distance through four games.
Sisley also had a strong night on the boards as he pulled down eight rebounds in 20 minutes. Defensive rebounding is a clear area of emphasis for DeVries with a team that is undersized in the frontcourt.
There will be moments where Sisley struggles or looks overmatched – it happens to every freshman – but he’s established himself as a clear rotation player who belongs just four games into his IU career.
A game like Sunday’s is more valuable than a lopsided blowout
Incarnate Word isn’t near the quality of team Indiana will face later in the non-conference schedule or in the Big Ten.
However, the Cardinals aren’t a complete pushover. After Sunday’s game, Incarnate Word is No. 182 in KenPom and No. 184 in Bart Torvik. They’ll be more than competitive in their league, the Southland Conference.
It’s a win that won’t matter on an NCAA tournament resume and a closer-than-expected margin of victory won’t help IU’s metrics.
But the Hoosiers can grow from being challenged rather than winning by 25+ points with no pressure late in the game.
“I like learning after wins,” Darian DeVries explained. “That’s much better, but there are a lot of positives there, too. “We’ll take it for what it is and learn from it and move on.”
Indiana now has three days off before hosting Lindenwood – one of three sub-300 KenPom opponents – on Thursday. Expect a much sharper and focused performance from the Hoosiers in their final tune-up before a critical non-conference showdown against Kansas State on November 25.
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