Indiana has won five of six games and had a chance to catch its breath with six days between games. The Hoosiers are back in action on Sunday at No. 8 Illinois, and they've got a challenge on their hands with the Illini.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana has five of six games the past three weeks, and has put themselves squarely in the NCAA Tournament conversation. But there's still plenty of work to do to close out the regular season, and that starts Sunday at No. 8.
The Illini are 20-5 overall and 11-3 in the Big Ten, tied for second place behind Michigan. They've lost two straight games in overtime, but had won 12 straight games prior to that. Every loss has been to a ranked team except for Wisconsin on Tuesday, and the Badgers will almost certainly be ranked on Monday after getting another top-10 win vs. Michigan State on Friday.
The Illini are huge, and they're also No. 1 in the nation in offensive efficiency. They'll be a big challenge for the Hoosiers, who are 17-8 right now, and 8-6 in the Big Ten.
"There is a lot that concerns you when you watch Illinois,'' Illinois coach Darian DeVries said Friday. "They are just so big and balanced, and there's really not much of a weakness that you can attack."
The Hoosiers have been efficient on offense themselves, and they've been led by guard Lamar Wilkerson, who had 41 points in Monday's win over Oregon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. He scored 44 against Penn State in December, making him the first person to ever top the 40-point mark twice at Assembly Hall.
He's averaging 24.4 points per game in Big Ten play, tops in the league. He's working his way into Player of the Year conversations now, and DeVries is behind that idea 100 percent.
"Just look at the numbers. Look at what he's doing," DeVries said. "He's a big focal point of defenses, and he's a complete player, doint in on both ends of the floor.
"You know how hard it is to get 41 points? He's done it twice this year already and putting up monster numbers with percentages to go with it. And he is an incredible teammate on top of it. So, there is nothing I would not be in favor of him being the best player and voting for him being the best player in the league."
Wilkerson has made 84 three-pointers already this year, but he's really turned his game up another notch in the past month by attacking the basket more. It's opened up more options for him — and for his teammates, too
"He's done a great job of finding his windows all season long, and he's getting a lot of attention,''' DeVries said. "He's had to really work at learning how to get open, and our guys have done a great job of finding ways to screen for him and locate him.
"When he gets into a zone of making sure that he continues to get those touches and opportunities, he can have the nights like he has. He's playing at an incredibly high level.
Sam Alexis and Nick Dorn have benefitted from Wilkerson's attacks at the rim, getting a lot of open looks themselves. Alexis was 8-for-8 from the field Monday. Dorn averaged 22.7 points per game in his first three starts, but has cooled off lately, going just 4-for-22 from deep.
He gave Indiana a big boost when guard Tayton Conerway went down with an ankle injury last month. Conerway is close to being full strength, and these six days between games should help him.
DeVries was non-committal on Friday after how much time Conerway will see against Illinois.
“We’ll just take it a game at a time and see what those rotations look like,” DeVries said. “But as we head into it, we’ll stick with what we’ve been going with here recently and try to get him back involved as that happens.
"Then those minutes will be distributed based on kind of how we’re playing, how he’s playing, and we’ll just take it from there.”
The Indiana-Illinois game starts at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday and will be nationally televised on CBS.