The Minute After: Lindenwood

Thoughts on a 73-53 win against Lindenwood:

It’s a 20-point victory, but this wasn’t the strong bounce-back Indiana was looking for after its ho-hum victory against Incarnate Word.

The Hoosiers had another flat offensive first half, where everything felt half-speed, the cuts and movement and crispness not at the level Indiana showed in its first three games of the regular season. The shots weren’t falling, either. Lamar Wilkerson missed all four of his 3-point attempts, going 2-of-10 from the field over the first 20 minutes. The Hoosiers scored just .97 points per possession. On defense, Indiana didn’t control the boards well, allowing the Lions 13 offensive rebounds.

Lucky for the Hoosiers, Lindenwood didn’t make them pay for it, as it only cashed in for six second-chance points. In fact, the Lions were even worse than Indiana on offense by a considerable margin. They finished 0-of-10 on 3s and just 7-of-39 (17.9 percent) from the field in the first half. Indiana’s defense played well, but the Lions also missed plenty of solid looks.

Off the bench, Sam Alexis and Trent Sisley again provided a spark like they did against Incarnate Word, playing with noticeable hustle and combining for nine rebounds and six points. Indiana carried a 34-18 lead into halftime.

And then the Lions ripped off a 10-0 run to start the second half, cutting the lead to 34-28, the 334th-ranked team on KenPom making a go of it in the second half against the Hoosiers. But that would be that. Indiana then busted out on a 14-3 run of its own to get the lead out to 19 points after a pair of free throws by Tucker DeVries. Indiana led by as much as 24 points. Lindenwood only got as close as 18 late in the game.

The Hoosiers were in the bonus early in the second half and scored a third (13) of their 39 second-half points at the line. DeVries also started feeling it and led the way. He scored 17 after the break, hitting 3-of-4 from deep, 4-of-4 from the line and 5-of-8 overall. He finished with 25 points. The only other Hoosier in double-figures was Wilkerson, who scored 10 points on an inefficient 4-of-16 mark from the field.

It’s now back-to-back games the Hoosiers have scored 1.07 points per possession after averaging 1.38 points per possession in their first three outings.

“I thought the last couple of days of practice, the guys really learned from things that happened in our last game,” Darian DeVries said after the contest. “I thought they responded really well from an energy level … they were playing hard tonight, but it wasn’t the same juice. Part of it maybe is when the offense isn’t flowing, they gotta learn how to fight through that. It’s all the things early in the year that, as you’re getting going, you learn how to win games in a lot of different ways, and that’s an important thing to have.”

Indiana can survive this type of performance against the Incarnate Words and Lindenwoods of the world. But a peek ahead at the schedule reveals names like Kansas State (KenPom No. 66), Louisville (KenPom No. 10) and Kentucky (KenPom No. 11, despite some early struggles).

Come out like this against them? Indiana will have a much harder time emerging with the W.

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