Energy concerns persist for IU basketball in win against Lindenwood

After averaging 99.7 points through its first three games, Indiana men’s basketball has struggled to shoot in back-to-back games.

The Hoosiers scored 73 points against Lindenwood on Thursday after a 69-point performance against Incarnate Word on Sunday. IU leaned on its first-half defense to open up a double-digit lead despite missing more shots than expected and again left something to be desired in the second half in a comfortable 73-53 victory.

Indiana shot only 38 percent from the floor and 32 percent from 3-point range and Lindenwood held a 48-44 edge in rebounding despite making just 25 percent of its shots and shooting 3-for-18 (17 percent) from beyond the arc.

Redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries, who led Indiana with 25 points on 5-of-10 3-point shooting and scored 13 straight points in less than three minutes of game time to push Indiana’s lead to 22 points midway through the second half, said effort has been a focal point for the Hoosiers in practice lately.

“We’ve just got to play harder,” DeVries said. “It’s been an emphasis in practice and we’ll get it fixed. I think it’s pretty obvious we were a little flat.”

First-year head coach Darian DeVries said he was a bit alarmed by Indiana’s flat performance against Lindenwood, considering a similar lack of consistent intensity allowed Incarnate Word to cut a 16-point halftime deficit to as little as five points on Sunday. When trailing by the same amount through 20 minutes of game time on Thursday, Lindenwood trimmed Indiana’s lead to six points early in the second half before the Hoosiers pulled away for good.

“I thought (the players) really learned from some of the things that happened in our last game,” DeVries said. “They were playing hard tonight, (there) just wasn’t the same juice.”

Indiana has come down to earth after eclipsing 100 points twice in its first three games and the recurring sentiment from Darian DeVries and his players alike is that there is less intensity when the shots don’t fall. He said a mindset shift is needed for Indiana to continue pulling away, even if points don’t come at a frenetic pace.

“It was choppy,” DeVries said. “Learning as a group to really embrace the defensive side and let that be our identity and where (our) enthusiasm comes from.”

DeVries pointed out that Indiana held Lindenwood to 18 points on 18 percent shooting in the first half, which he will accept on a lot of nights. Sam Alexis continued to shine down low, grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds, racking up four of Indiana’s five blocked shots and once again bringing a high level of intensity off the bench.

“I love what Sam’s doing,” DeVries said. “He’s bringing the physicality. Even more so is the rebounding, energy level (and) enthusiasm. I just like what he’s doing for us right now. That’s the type of rim protection we need from him and he’s doing a great job with it.”

Lamar Wilkerson was the only Indiana starter other than Tucker DeVries to score in double figures, though his 10 points came on 4-of-16 shooting and he made just one of his seven 3-point attempts. Alexis said that one of his goals is to play with the same vigor off the bench, even if Indiana’s usual shotmakers are struggling.

“I just want to get on the court and give energy every time,” Alexis said. “If the starting five start off slow, just come in and bring a different type of energy.”

Alexis’s high degree of effort has not gone unnoticed by his teammates.

“It’s so great for us when he comes into the game,” Tucker DeVries said. “It changes the game. Physicality down low and the excitement that he plays with, everybody can see it when he’s out there. He loves playing the game of basketball.”

Indiana will likely need its offense to perform more to the level of its first three games, rather than its last two, when Kansas State visits Assembly Hall on Tuesday.

The Wildcats, led by preseason All-American PJ Haggerty, are averaging over 94 points per game and, like the Hoosiers, are 5-0 to begin the season.

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