BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — For three weeks from Jan. 23 to Feb. 9, things were trending upward for Darian DeVries' first Indiana basketball team. They won five of six games — and looked good doing it.

The only loss was at USC on the back end of their long Los Angeles trip, and even that game was theirs for the taking. The beat No. 12 Purdue and won hard-fought overtime games at UCLA and Wisconsin, two teams heading for the NCAA Tournament.

And then, it all blew up, and without a good explanation. The Hoosiers have staggered to the finish line, losing five of six games by an average of 17.8 points. They've been bad.

Really, really bad.

The Hoosiers have ended the regular season what an 18-13 overall mark and a 9-11 record in the tough Big Ten. Once firmly in the NCAA Tournament field by most every bracketologist, they are now on the wrong side of that bubble, and it's clearly about to burst. 

All that's left now is the Big Ten Tournament, and the No. 10-seeded Hoosiers probably need to win at least two games to have a shot at the NCAAs. They open play on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. with a second-round game against either Northwestern or Penn State, who play Tuesday night in the first round of the first 18-team Big Ten Tournament.

If they win Wednesday, a rematch with seventh-seed Purdue awaits on Thursday. The two rivals — probably the two most disappointing teams in the Big Ten this year — have split their two meetings, both winning on their home courts.

The Hoosiers need to get better — and fast. They've been hard to watch lately, especially defensively. 

“I would say in this stretch outside of the Minnesota game — (the lone win, a 77-47 victory last Wednesday) — we've given up too many three, like too high of percentages, too clean of looks. And that's really caught up to us in those games.”

DeVries is focused on hitting the re-set button, and worrying more about tomorrow instead of yesterday. He's not interested in looking back, just staying focused on playing well in Chicago, for however long the trip might last.

"I think the biggest thing now is it's the next chapter,'' DeVries said Sunday after the season-ending loss at Ohio State. "The regular season's over. Now, you prepare for postseason play. You get ready for that next one, and you play as long as you can, and win as many games as you can, and that's going to be our mindset. Just worry about the one in front of you. The one in front of us is going to be Wednesday, and that's really all we care about at this point.

“I think, obviously, we want to play well. We want to put ourselves in a position to win the game, and for us to have a stretch like that, it's certainly disappointing. But our guys are going to continue to battle, that's all I know. So, we're going to get home and we're going to get ready for our next game.” 

The one bright spot all season has been the play of fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, who's been the Hoosiers' best player all season. He scored 18 points Sunday at Ohio State, and scored at least 15 points in 17 of his 20 Big Ten games this season.

Wilkerson scored 464 points during Big Ten play, averaging 23.2 points per game. His 464 points were the most ever by a Hoosier in conference play, passing the mark of Don Schlundt. The Hoosier legend scored 459 in the 1952-53 season, a record that held up for 73 years.

Wilkerson is close to taking down another Hoosier legend, too. He made two three-pointers against the Buckeyes and now has 103 for the season. Steve Alford holds the school record of 107, set in Indiana's national championship-winning season in 1986-87. That was the first year the three-pointer was used in college ball.

We know Wilkerson at least has 40 minutes left to catch Alford. Indiana gets the Penn State-Northwestern winner. Wilkerson went nuts in December against Penn State, scoring an Assembly Hall record 44 points that included 10 made threes, also a school record. 

In the last to Northwestern two weeks ago, he scored 18 points and made 4-of-11 threes.

The Hoosiers have taken these losses hard, because they know they're better than what they've shown these past three weeks. Indiana center Reed Bailey agreed with DeVries that the sole focus now is on the tournament. Beat that Northwestern-Penn State winner, and then take it from there.

It's not over until it's over. 

“I think we just have a lot of motivation to come into the Big Ten Tournament and show what we really can do,'' Miller said. "I mean, just having that bad taste in your mouth, I think it's motivation enough to really come out and try and make a run.”

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