Indiana's second-half comeback proves lack of size may not matter

They were down 23 points, outmuscled in the paint and staring at a scoreboard that seemed to confirm every preseason doubt about their size.

Then, nearly out of nowhere, the Hoosiers flipped the game on its head.

In a dazzling stretch on Saturday night in Puerto Rico, Indiana overwhelmed Serbian professional team Mega Superbet with a 70–19 run, erasing a 44–21 deficit and securing a 93–71 exhibition win.

It wasn’t just a comeback — it was a statement against the chorus of critics who have questioned whether this undersized roster could handle bigger, more physical opponents.

They’re too small. They can’t survive in the Big Ten. They don’t have a true center. Those whispers have followed the Hoosiers ever since head coach Darian DeVries finalized his first roster in Bloomington. On Saturday, those doubts were tested against a team boasting four players listed at 6-foot-11.

Indiana’s tallest on the trip? Reed Bailey at 6-foot-10. The only rostered player taller than him, Andrej Acimovic, didn’t make the trip as he awaits his visa.

The size gap was undeniable, and for 15 minutes, it looked like a fatal disadvantage. Trailing 44–21 midway through the second quarter, Indiana was being outmuscled.

“Their physicality really bothered us in that first 10 minutes,” DeVries admitted postgame.

Guard Lamar Wilkerson was blunt: “At first, they were punking us.”

Then the Hoosiers flipped the script, sparking that 70–19 run that turned a 23-point hole into a 22-point win — proof that Indiana’s lack of height might not be the Achilles’ heel many predicted.

SEE ALSO: ‘Learn how to win together’: Leaning on its toughness, Indiana ‘pulled together’ and flipped the script in blowout win

DeVries didn’t stumble into this roster. From his introduction in Bloomington, he promised playmakers, ball handlers and shooters, not a plodding, post-heavy attack.

“I don’t anticipate us having great rim protection,” he admitted earlier this summer at Huber’s Winery. “We’re a little undersized at the 5 position.”

If anything, that’s by design. At Drake and West Virginia, DeVries rarely relied on elite shot-blockers, but still fielded four top-100 KenPom defenses.

“There’s a lot of different ways to protect the rim,” he added.

Saturday night offered a sneak peek into his playbook: switching everything, scramming mismatches, digging in the post and trusting versatile wings to guard up.

NBA draft pick Bogoljub Markovic — Mega Superbet’s 6-foot-11 prize — was held to just three points on 1-of-4 shooting, thanks largely to Tucker DeVries, who took the assignment instead of Bailey or fellow big man Sam Alexis.

The result? Two steals, two blocks and the clearest evidence yet that Indiana’s defensive plan doesn’t revolve around traditional matchups.

Indiana’s second-half surge wasn’t born from a screaming match in the locker room. Instead, it came from belief.

“We were encouraging them to get stops,” DeVries said after the game. “I like the fact that they took a message that we delivered at halftime and they were able to carry it onto the floor in a way that was productive.”

Defensive discipline was the difference. In the first half, rotations were a step slow and mismatches were exploited. In the second, Indiana’s length on the wings suffocated passing lanes, and their closeouts made Mega Superbet’s shooters rush.

“We brought our physicality up a little bit,” Wilkerson said. “It helped us a lot in the second half.”

RELATED: Indiana Basketball: Highlights from Indiana’s 93-71 win over Mega Superbet in Puerto Rico

If size concerns bleed into any stat, it’s rebounding. Yet Indiana won the battle on the glass 45–40.

Alexis led with eight boards, but the real story was the collective effort: Jasai Miles snagged eight, Tucker DeVries grabbed six and Bailey and freshman Trent Sisley each added five. That’s the blueprint — a rebounding-by-committee model that relies on aggressive wings to crash the defensive glass.

The DeVries era is already unrecognizable from the post-centric Indiana teams of recent memory. This roster is about spacing, pace and switchability.

Nine players stand 6-foot-6 or taller, allowing DeVries to deploy length without sacrificing speed. Against Mega Superbet, that modern identity was stress-tested — and passed. It’s not that size won’t matter this season, but rather that Indiana has ways to make it matter less.

For one night in Puerto Rico, the Hoosiers proved that defensive versatility and relentless effort can stand as tall as any 7-footer.

The Big Ten grind will bring its share of battles against true giants. But if Saturday night’s comeback was any indication, Indiana’s supposed fatal flaw might just be another weapon in disguise.

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