Darian DeVries gets his group back in the win column with a blowout in Piscataway.
Not much had been going well for Darian DeVries’ Indiana Hoosiers over the last four games, over which they went 0-4 and lost the last three games by 10 or more points. DeVries desperately needed a get-right game to keep his first season at Indiana from going off the rails heading into Friday night’s game at Rutgers.
DeVries needed more from his upperclassmen in particular, so it was a good sign when his son Tucker knocked down a 3-pointer on Indiana’s first offensive possession. Tucker had been struggling of late, being held under 10 points in losses to Iowa and Michigan State.
The version of Tucker DeVries that Indiana got tonight was the one it will need the rest of the season if it hopes to make the NCAA Tournament. He finished with 22 points, the first time he broke the 20-point threshold since December 6th against Louisville.
DeVries was one of three Hoosiers to reach 20 points tonight the Scarlet Knights. Lamar Wilkerson, who ended up with 27 points, led Indiana in scoring, but the real story was Nick Dorn, making his first start as a Hoosier tonight.
Dorn had a career-high six made 3-pointers on the night en route to a 23-point performance in 36 minutes of action. With Tayton Conerway still recovering from an apparent leg injury (though still available for limited minutes), this was the scoring punch Indiana needed to snap its losing streak.
Rutgers is not one of the stronger teams in the Big Ten this year, but Indiana’s defense managed to outperform its Kenpom projections on both ends of the court, making a blowout out of what was projected to be a 77-70 game.
Most importantly, Indiana avoided the bad loss. It was unable to do so on the road at Minnesota, so tonight represents some growth from earlier this season.
Category: General Sports
