No. 22 Indiana gets B1G reality check in loss at Minnesota

Lamar Wilkerson drives to the basket.

Just ahead of the under-four-minute timeout in the first half, Tucker DeVries jumped a careless pass that slipped through the hands of Minnesota’s Langston Reynolds. The redshirt senior pushed the ball up the floor with nothing between him and the rim.

But instead of finishing, DeVries eased up, giving Grayson Grove just enough time to chase him down and block the dunk attempt.

It was a momentum-changing play in No. 22 Indiana’s 73-64 loss to the Golden Gophers at Williams Arena on Wednesday night.

The Hoosiers had recovered from a sluggish start with a 12–5 run to build a seven-point lead, only for the Gophers to answer with a four-point possession and pull even at 33 by halftime.

“There were just a lot of little things that matter,” Indiana coach Darian DeVries said postgame. “A lot of things that we’ve done really well, for the most part this year, but when you’re in conference play, and you’re in games like that, those possessions are so golden.”

Wednesday night in Minneapolis marked the first Big Ten game of Darian DeVries’ tenure at Indiana. The game was also the Hoosiers’ first true road game of the season. And with an entire roster making its Big Ten debut, Indiana appeared rattled early.

Out of sync from the jump, the Hoosiers struggled to move the ball offensively while allowing Minnesota to have its way in the halfcourt. There were stretches of play in which the Hoosiers had broken through, only to revert to sloppy play quickly.

Unable to gain any separation, the Hoosiers fell behind midway through the second half. And even with a late run to cut the deficit down to 3 in the waning minutes, Indiana faltered en route to the loss.

The shooting numbers told the story. Indiana finished 8-for-27 from beyond the arc, missing open looks with a chance at closing the deficit late in the game.

Struggles at the free-throw line proved just as costly. Indiana finished 12-for-20 from the charity stripe, making 7-for-14 in the second half.

Minnesota’s game plan centered around running Indiana, specifically Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson, off the 3-point line – and it worked. Indiana’s two sharpshooters combined to shoot 8-for-25 and 5-for-16 from deep.

“[Minnesota] did a good job being physical on Tucker and Lamar, making the catches tough,” Darian DeVries said. “They made the opportunities for them to come off clean, challenging.”

Tayton Conerway led the Hoosiers, scoring a game-high 18 points, but only played 23 minutes because of foul trouble.

As the buzzer sounded in Williams Arena, students swarmed the court, mobbing Golden Gopher players in jubilation. The celebration surrounded first-year head coach Niko Medved’s first conference win and the program’s first victory against Indiana since 2019.

On the flip side, Indiana’s loss was a blunt reminder that any Big Ten team can lose on any given night.

Now the Hoosiers have two days to wipe away the sting of their first defeat of the season before a Saturday matinee with Louisville in Indianapolis. The focus? Not allowing Wednesday’s poor performance to spill into the weekend.

“The main thing now is that now that you’ve lost one, how do you respond?” Darian Devries said. “There’s a lot of really good games we’re gonna have this year. And every night’s gonna be a fight just like this.

“We have a group that’s pretty connected, so I expect them to come ready and to respond and be ready for Saturday.”

A loss on the road won’t derail Indiana’s season. Still, Wednesday night felt like a step backward and an early reminder for a new-look program of the unforgiving reality of Big Ten basketball.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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