3 Takeaways from Indiana men’s basketball’s 72-67 win over Purdue

Indiana men’s basketball had played well for stretches this season, but, until tonight, lacked the quality win to show for it. The Hoosiers had suffered some bad losses, and let good wins slip away, making Tuesday night’s matchup with Purdue even weightier than the usual rivalry game.

Darian DeVries had his group ready for the matchup out of the gate, keeping Purdue off balance with good ball movement offensively and constant pressure on the defensive end. His group also appeared to have the edge energy-wise, outrebounding the Boilermakers 15-13 in the second half.

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It wouldn’t have been a good win if Purdue hadn’t fought back in the second half, testing Indiana’s ability to weather a storm. We’ve seen this team crack in that situation plenty of times already this season, but with Curt Cignetti and the football team in attendance, Indiana could not lose tonight.

Here are 3 Takeaways from the game:

Nick Dorn

If there is a silver lining to Tayton Conerway’s injury, which kept him out of the lineup entirely tonight, it’s been the emergence of Nick Dorn. Dorn has started the last two games, shooting a combined 10-19 from 3-point range over those games and establishing himself as one of Indiana’s primary scoring threats.

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Matt Painter knew coming into this game that Indiana would rely on the shooting from deep. Like most coaches entering tonight’s game, though, he focused the bulk of his defensive energy on Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson, two more established shooters on this roster.

Dorn’s emergence as a third perimeter threat will really create matchup problems in the Big Ten, especially once Indiana gets Conerway’s athleticism and driving ability back in the lineup.

Besides being another perimeter threat, Dorn created shots for himself both at the rim and from behind the arc, adding another layer to an Indiana offense that has already been able to overwhelm opponents with ball movement and shooting volume.

The full 40 minutes