Lamar Wilkerson erupted for 44 points, shattering scoring and three-point records as the Indiana Hoosiers dominated Penn State 113-72 in a record-setting performance at Assembly Hall. He broke the building record previously held by Trayce Jackson-Davis.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Making history. That's just what they do at Indiana these days.
Indiana's basketball team has taken a bit of a back seat to the record-setting and history-making football team recently, but the Hoosiers hoopsters made some history of their own Tuesday night. Guard Lamar Wilkerson scored 44 points, setting a Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall record.
He made 10 three-pointers, which is also a school record, as the Hoosiers crushed Penn State 113-72 for their first Big Ten win of the season. The Hoosiers are now 8-2 on the year, bouncing back nicely after two losses to Minnesota and Louisville a week ago.
“Coach (Darian DeVries) told me today was going to be the day that I got hot because I've been having a rough couple games,'' Wilkerson said. "He fed me the ball. I saw one, two, three go in, then after that they just found the hot hand. They kept feeding me, and the shots kept going in.
"The hole looked big as the ocean today, man, so I was just throwing it up there. It just happened to go in. All glory to God, man. We lost the last two, so we were coming as a team, collective, trying to get back to the way we were playing. The ball was just going in.”
Wilkerson, a 6-foot-6 senior from Ashdown, Ark., made 16-of-22 shots from the field, including 10-of-15 threes. After a great start in his first three games of the year — where he made 15 threes in the three games and averaged 22 points oer game, Wilkerson was just 10-for-40 from deep over the last six games.
Then came this explosion from the former Sam Houston State star. He previous career high was 32 points last March.
"Like I said a few times, he's had a couple nights where he's struggled. I was never worried about that. He's that level of a shooter,'' DeVries said. "He's not going to do 44 every night. He has that confidence. He puts in the work every day. It was fun to see him kind of get loose and kind of showcase all that work he puts in.
“Yeah, I think it's great for him. I think even for really good shooters, sometimes if you overthink it, you can start to pressure a little bit in your own mind. When he gets one or two down, you can just see it was a relief for him tonight. Then after that it was just fun. So yeah, we need him. He's an important piece, especially for our offense. He draws a lot of gravity for that reason. When we can get him going, then we get one of those other guys going, you can get two of them going on the same night, that's where offensively you can have a night like this.''
Trayce Jackson-Davis, who's No. 3 all-time in scoring at Indiana, had the previous Assembly Hall scoring record. He had 43 against Marshall on Nov. 27, 2021. Jackson-Davis currently plays for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA
It was imperative that the Hoosiers got off to a good start Tuesday after digging a 16-0 hole Saturday in the loss to Louisville. They did exactly that — with guard Lamar Wilkerson leading the way.
He hit three three-pointers in the first 2-plus minutes, and by the time he went to the bench with two fouls at the 8-minute mark, he already had 20 points. He came out blazing in the second half, too, hitting six more threes. After he got to 44 on a pair of free throws
Penn State had no answers at all for the Indiana offense. If they weren't making threes — they had seven in the first 13 minutes — they were getting easy layups at the rim on back cuts. Their 58 first-half points were a season high.
Indiana’s 17 made three-point field goals are the most in a single game since connecting on 19 in a win over Illinois in 2016. It’s just the fifth time in program history that IU has made 17-or-more baskets from deep. They were 17-for-31 from long range and were 4-for-61 overall, good for 69 percent shooting.
The Hoosiers tied the program’s single-game assist record in a Big Ten contest with 30 helpers against Penn State. It is tied for the most in a single game against any Division team in school history.
"We had 30 assists, and that's just credit to everybody moving the ball around, trying to find the open teammates, playing unselfish basketball,'' said center Reed Bailey, who didn't start for the first time all year — Sam Alexis did. Bailey had 18 points in 21 minutes, going 6-for-6 from the field and making all six free throws.
Tayton Conerway added 17 points and Tucker DeVries added 12.
Wilkerson’s 44 points are tied for eighth most in a single game in program history. He’s the first IU player to score 40-plus points in a Big Ten game since Alan Henderson had 41 at Michigan State on March 9, 1994.
This is IU’s first time beating a Big Ten opponent by 40-or-more points since a 48-point win over Penn State on Jan. 9, 1993. IU’s 113 points are the most scored in a Big Ten contest since putting up 118 in a win over Iowa on February 17, 1990.
Next up for the Hoosiers is a trip to Lexington, Ky., where they will renew their bitter rivalry with Kentucky on Saturday night. The annual series ended after Indiana's dramatic upset of the No. 1 Wildcats back in 2011. Indiana hasn't played at Rupp Arena since Dec. 11, 2010. Indiana has lost three straight there. Indiana's last win at Rupp came on Dec. 20, 1988.