Indiana 'kept fighting' to survive in overtime thriller against Wisconsin

Indiana made just one field goal in the last 10 minutes combined between regulation and overtime.

Indiana shot just 22.7 percent from 3-point range.

Indiana allowed a 13-point lead into the second half to turn into a four-point deficit with less than a minute to go.

All of those things are true, and yet Indiana escaped with a 78-77 overtime win over Wisconsin. It wasn’t pretty, and you could make a strong argument that IU shouldn’t have won the game, but the final score was the final score.

There will be a W next to Indiana’s game against the Badgers when its resume is looked at before Selection Sunday, and with both teams looking to make a statement as it related to the NCAA Tournament conversation, IU pulled off a extremely crucial win on Saturday afternoon.

And the fact that Indiana had to win ugly to do so might be the beauty in it. Sure, if the Hoosiers pulled away late because Wisconsin took its foot off the gas, that would’ve made for a nice double-digit win, but Indiana’s ability to pull off victories in close games says a lot about Darian DeVries’ team.

“That was where you saw a little bit of like these dudes don’t quit. They keep competing. They keep fighting. I think you saw it again tonight,” DeVries said postgame.

Instant Analysis: Three takeaways from Indiana’s overtime win over Wisconsin

The Hoosiers didn’t shoot the lights out. In fact, they didn’t shoot the ball at a high rate by any stretch of the imagination. That’s what is supposed to be Indiana’s winning formula, but instead it was defense, toughness, and clutch plays that decided what was a thriller at Assembly Hall.

“A night like tonight, where you’re 5 for 22 from 3, typically the way our roster is built and how we’re playing, that’s a hard night for us,” DeVries explained. “We were able to win that game because we held them to 38 percent from the field. So our defense did just enough.”

IU’s defense forced Wisconsin’s 3-heavy offense to shoot 33.3 percent from beyond the arc and held the Badgers’ field goal percentage to just 38 percent. In a matchup that could’ve featured a ton of points, the Hoosiers were able to adapt, a testament to their growth as a team.

And when Indiana blew its lead and found itself down two possessions with 50 ticks on the clock left, the Hoosiers never wavered. Sure, their execution down the stretch resulted in a late-game collapse, but that didn’t mean DeVries’ team would give in.

“Yeah, it was similar to UCLA. It was very calm and collected, no screaming at each other, pointing fingers, kind of just next-play mentality, which I think we’ve gotten a lot better at as the season went on,” guard Conor Enright mentioned after the win.

Player Q&A: Conor Enright, Sam Alexis react to Indiana’s overtime win over Wisconsin

After Lamar Wilkerson knocked down four straight free throws to send the game to overtime, Indiana had new life after Wisconsin’s comeback. And like Enright mentioned, it was a lot similar to the Hoosiers’ win at UCLA a week ago.

Nothing was truly working offensively in the overtime period, but Indiana found a way. Even down by one with less than 20 seconds on the clock, Enright took a charge from Nick Boyd to completely change the complexion of the game.

Although the call was controversial from Wisconsin’s point of view, Enright’s unwavering belief and competitiveness resulted in one last opportunity for the Hoosiers to go and win the ballgame.

Once again, the Hoosiers couldn’t find a good shot, but Wilkerson found a way. He drew a foul from John Blackwell and stepped up, making both free throws to put Indiana up by one. And after Braden Carrington’s missed half-court heave, the Hoosiers could exhale.

“Even Lamar, he didn’t shoot 16 3s. He went and got fouled, got to the rim. So I thought that was good for him to take that adjustment to the game,” DeVries added.

Wilkerson went 8 of 8 from the free throw line, with all eight coming in either the closing minutes of the second half or in overtime. Instead of firing up threes like he normally would, Wilkerson drove into the lane and fought through contact.

He may have made just one of his eight 3-point attempts, but Wilkerson finished with a team-high 25 points after going 7 of 12 from shots inside the arc.

Finding the 2-point offense common theme with the rest of the team as well. Almost none of the Hoosiers were shooting the ball well, so they decided to get the ball into the paint and execute that way. It’s not even close to Indiana’s bread and butter, but IU still managed 44 points in the paint compared to Wisconsin’s 28.

Sam Alexis was a game-changer in that area, scoring 19 points on 9 of 10 shooting, all in the paint. He provided a spark in the second half and allowed the Hoosiers to score points despite its last made 3-pointer coming with over 13 minutes left in the game.

He facilitated a dominance on the inside that Indiana hasn’t experienced against power conference competition all season long, but when Indiana needed to change things up, it made the necessary adjustments to get it done.

“We’ve really been trying to do that a lot more. These last five, six games, we felt like there’s a couple games in there where we just weren’t being aggressive enough driving the ball,” DeVries explained. “I thought the guys did a good job of adjusting and adapting.”

No, it wasn’t pretty. No, it wasn’t an overly impressive win. But when you’re on the NCAA Tournament bubble, individual plays could decide your tournament fate, and those plays went Indiana’s way on Saturday.

For the second straight Saturday, Indiana blew a second-half lead only to make the plays down the stretch in order to secure an overtime victory. And for a second straight Saturday, Indiana’s toughness on defense, attention to detail on the free throw line, and willingness to change up the game plan resulted in a big-time victory.

The Hoosiers are almost developing a theme of winning close games. Maybe they like living on the edge, but whatever the case may be, if Indiana’s name is called on Selection Sunday, you can point toward a thriller of a win against Wisconsin as a prime reason why.

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