Indiana basketball is ahead of schedule, indicated by win vs Marquette, but has plenty to improve

Indiana basketball wins vs Marquette: Insider thoughts, analysis

Tucker DeVries took over the first half, and Lamar Wilkerson the second half. Here are IndyStar IU insider Zach Osterman’s thoughts.

• Tucker DeVries scored 24 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, setting the pace for a blowout win.
• Lamar Wilkerson added 23, 15 in the second half, each of Wilkerson and DeVries hitting six 3-pointers in IU’s win.

CHICAGO — Indiana basketball’s traveling party was in an expedient mood Sunday afternoon, as members traded quiet fist bumps and back slaps inside the basement hallways of the United Center.

Darian DeVries took a few moments in the stands with family, but otherwise moved through his postgame duties with the same efficiency his team had just displayed in a 100-77 win against Marquette. Flanked by his son, Tucker, and another former Drake Bulldog, Conor Enright, Darian DeVries worked the press room front to back, then pointed his team toward the bus.

There was something akin to a snow hurricane floating out over Lake Michigan, threatening to drop feet, plural, of November snow onto Chicago, and no one here was interested in getting stuck in the Second City.

Nothing could slow the Hoosiers down Sunday.

“We talked about it before the game, just staying composed,” DeVries said. “We couldn’t let [Marquette’s] presses and their tenacity on defense speed us up. We needed to stay within ourselves and trust the offense, trust our movement and I thought the guys did that.”

No team should be fully formed right now, and no one should rush to conclusions about this one after just two games that count. But whatever Marquette (2-1) becomes or doesn’t across the next four months, there’s an awful lot to be said for the proof of concept the DeVries era is already showing, and for the basic, inherent value of momentum at this time of year.

Beyond just the win, that’s what Indiana (2-0) gets for being willing to test itself so early in the season.

DeVries got those extra practices and games because of his decision to take the Hoosiers to Puerto Rico this summer, undeniably leaving his team better prepared than the average in Week 1.

Preparation still does not guarantee results. Nothing that’s happened up to this point, since DeVries took the job in March, has spoken so well of his credentials as watching his team take apart arguably the best Big East program other than UConn across the last three years.

“It was overall a great team effort from our guys,” DeVries said. “Really proud of a lot of different contributions that we got tonight.”

It started with his son.

Tucker DeVries scored 24 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, at times personally overwhelming a Marquette team that could not seem to look past its own dogmatic philosophies to realize the damage they were causing.

While the Golden Eagles played at a pace too fast for the decisions they were making and the shots they were putting up, DeVries epitomized an Indiana team comfortable playing fast and almost totally in control of itself. He hit five of his six 3s in the first half, contributing significantly to a teamwide 14 of 28 performance from distance.

“That was obviously a big performance from Tuck in the first half,” Darian DeVries said. “Just got us going.”

Lamar Wilkerson shouldered the load after halftime.

Once Marquette finally adjusted, and fouls started to pile up, Wilkerson stepped in for his equally dangerous teammate and put on a second-half clinic that rivaled what Tucker DeVries had done in the first.

Wilkerson scored 15 of his 23 points after halftime, all of them on 3s. He also finished with a career-high eight assists, compared to zero turnovers. In the same way Tucker DeVries’ first-half shooting set Indiana’s range, Wilkerson’s passing both sides of halftime headlined an afternoon Indiana finished with 27 assists to just eight turnovers, as an entire team.

“That’s something that I really like about this team: We have a lot of different guys that are capable of having moments like that throughout the game,” Darian DeVries said.

Perhaps none quite so meaningfully as that senior duo. But Sunday did endorse the idea that — especially as this team finds its depth in the coming weeks — the Hoosiers understand how to make their strengths consistently outweigh their weaknesses.

There are still those weaknesses.

Indiana did a better job on the boards Sunday, but their lack of size won’t resolve itself anytime soon. And the Puerto Rico foul trouble we thought might just be about issues with international rules doesn’t look so right now. The Hoosiers have committed 43 fouls through four regulation halves of basketball.

“We need to do a better job,” Darian DeVries said. “We got a little handsy at times. We’ve got to clean that up. We have to be physical with discipline.”

Two games into the season, though, after a performance like that one, DeVries might consider those champagne problems. He knows what his team is and is not, and crucially, his team seems to understand that as well.

The Hoosiers look comfortable with what makes them tick, where they need to cover up and how they win. And they’ve got the confirming evidence of a meaningful win five days into the season to back that up.

It’s a start, but it’s a good one.  

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