Indiana has counted on Lamar Wilkerson's offense a lot so far, but when he picked up his fourth foul just two minutes into the second half, the Hoosiers fell apart and lost 72-60 to Kentucky on Saturday night in Lexington. The Hoosiers fell to 8-3 on the season, and made just 4 three-pointers.
LEXINGTON, Ind. — From the first day with Indiana basketball this season, it was very clear that Lamar Wilkerson was going to be a key part of the Hoosiers' offense.
When the 6-foot-6 senior guard is on the floor and humming, we've seen great things. He averaged 22 points in Indiana's first three games, and set an Assembly Hall record Tuesday night, scoring 44 points.
He got off to a good start on Saturday night, too, scoring 12 first-half points in 11 minutes of action. But he also finished the half with three fouls and picked up a fourth less than two minutes into the second half. Without him on the floor, Indiana's 7-point halftime lead quickly disappeared.
Kentucky got on a run, and never looked back, cruising to a 72-60 in the first regular season game in the rivalry in 14 years.
Without Wilkerson, the Hoosiers staggered through one offensive possession after another. Their second half might have been their worst of the season.
"Not having Lamar out there is a big part of our offense, and his foul trouble really limited him,'' Indiana coach Darian DeVries said of Wilkerson, who only played 24 minutes and finished with 15 points. "In that stretch where he wasn't out there, that's when the turnovers started.
"I thought the first half we got some pretty good action, pretty good movement. I thought in the second half, Kentucky certainly turned up the pressure and was able to get into us. We didn't respond well enough. We turned the ball over too much, and live-ball turnovers against them are really hard because now they are out in transition playing in space. The turnovers and offensive rebounding really flipped the game around in the second half.''
Indiana (8-3) led 39-32 at the break, making the most of dribble penetration and getting to the rim. They were fouled often, and made 18-of-19 first half free throws. They were also very good defensively, with Kentucky shooting just 32 percent from the field and just 1-of-9 from deep.
The Hoosiers were up 42-35 with Wilkerson picked up his fourth foul at the 17:58 mark. When he got back on the floor nine minutes later, Kentucky was ahead 54-51. But Indiana had three misses and a turnover in its next four possessions, and UK stretched the lead to 59-51. Indiana never got closer than six points, and a late 7-0 run by the Wildcats pushed their lead to double-digits.
Indiana was just 6-for-22 shooting in the second half, and made just 1-of-10 threes. For the game, they finished with 18 turnovers, 12 in the second half, and were just 4-for-24 from deep, their worst shooting night of the year.
"The turnovers were a combination of things. We left our feet a few times, and I thought we got on our heels a little bit,'' Darian DeVries said. "We didn't play as disciplined as we need to, especially when the crowd got into it.''
Kentucky got much more aggressive on the defensive end, too, and it showed. Indiana didn't have a good answer for the added pressure.
"The No. 1 thing when you get ball pressure is you have to do it with more force. Get some movement. Once we got movement again, we started to get better looks. It’s something we’ve got to get better at.”
Tucker DeVries, who finished with 15 points but was just 1-for-9 from three, was less concerned about the shooting woes as he was their overall execution.
"To be honest, making and missing shots tonight wasn't our problem. Even with that being said, there are other areas we need to be a lot better at as a group,'' he said. "Making and missing shots sometimes, it's just basketball. The turnovers and offensive rebounds in the second half, I take responsibility for that. The four turnovers for me, that's too many.''
Indiana is 8-3 now, and has two nonconference games left before the Big Ten schedule kicks into high gear. They play Chicago State next Saturday at Assembly Hall after finals week, and then will play Siena on Monday, Dec. 22. Then it's nearly two weeks off before hosting Washington in a Big Ten game on Jan. 4.
What the Hoosiers have proven thus far is that they can be pretty good when they are executing well on offense and making perimeter shots. But when things aren't clicking, they are struggling to score.
In their three losses, they are averaging only 67.3 points per game and have shot just 26.4 percent from deep. In their wins, they are 91-for-227 — 40.1 percent — from the perimeter.
Live or die by the three? That looks to be how things will work with this team. At least now they've got plenty of time to work on it.