Indiana cruises into holiday break with 10th win, albeit with troubling trend

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana eased its way past Siena and into an earned holiday break Monday, with a respectable-if-forgettable 81-60 win.

Here’s what I liked and disliked, and what the Hoosiers’ win means.

Advertisement

What I liked in IU basketball’s win vs Siena

Lamar Wilkerson stays hot. Another 23 points for the player emerging as Indiana’s most important, as the new year looms. Wilkerson undeniably struggled to adjust to the speed and strength expected of him at this level early on (with a forgivable shooting slump a primary culprit), but that’s three 20-point games in his last four for the Sam Houston State transfer. He is rapidly becoming the Hoosiers’ alpha.

Complementary pieces. Another good shooting night for Nick Dorn, who made three 3s and finished with 11 points off the bench. Some of the most assertive point guard play we’ve seen both driving and directing from Tayton Conerway (16 points, four rebounds, four assists) this month. Reinforcement of the idea that this team’s offense can and does spread further than Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries.

Rebounding. Right now, any night it’s not an issue is an improvement. Indiana finished plus-12 on the boards, allowed just 11 second-chance points. The path for this team to avoid anymore hard-to-explain conference losses starts with the kind of collective effort we saw on the glass Monday night in the Hoosiers’ nonconference finale.

On Dorn: Nick Dorn is looking like the player Indiana needs him to be, and more

What I disliked in IU basketball’s win vs Siena

Another second-half slump. They are becoming pronounced enough to point out now. Maybe the Hoosiers (10-3) could be forgiven trying to pace their way through long-decided games, given some of their depth issues. But it’s more than just poor shooting. Too often (not always, but enough to worry) the Hoosiers have just looked casual and lacking an edge out of halftime, especially defensively. After a dominant first-half performance at that end of the floor, they got soft after the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/indiana-cruises-holiday-break-10th-011057246.html

Author :

Publish date : 2025-12-23 01:10:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.