IU drops a grinder at USC, but the bigger picture still looks promising
Over the last couple weeks, Indiana has looked its best when the offense feels shared.
Four or five guys scoring. The ball moving. Defenses having to pick their poison.
That multi-weapon rhythm — where nobody has to force anything and everyone contributes a little — is when this team has flourished.
That version just didn’t quite show up Tuesday night.
Instead, the offense leaned heavily on one steady hand, and against a long, physical USC team, that’s a hard way to live for 40 minutes.
Still, IU never stopped competing.
Down 14 in the second half, the Hoosiers chipped and clawed their way back within two possessions late. Reed Bailey attacking downhill. Stops stacking up. Lamar Wilkerson hitting tough shot after tough shot to keep the rope from slipping. It wasn’t pretty, but it was stubborn, possession-by-possession basketball.
That fight matters, even if the final reads USC 81, Indiana 75.
Wilkerson was terrific, finishing with 28 and basically carrying the offense for long stretches. Alexis gave efficient minutes inside. But beyond that, the balance IU has relied on just wasn’t there. Too many good looks didn’t fall, especially from deep, where Indiana went 8-for-30 from three.
IU coach Darian DeVries pointed to that lack of support in the post game press conference.
“Nick’s been shooting about as well as anybody in the country,” DeVries said. “He just had an off night. Tuck had some really good looks as well. They just didn’t go down… Lamar really tried to carry us there.”
The other big difference showed up in the details — fouls, free throws, and second chances. USC got to the line 31 times and extended too many possessions on the glass, and DeVries didn’t mince words about that either.
“We couldn’t put them at the free throw line and they shot 31 free throws… I just didn’t think we had the same tenacity that we’ve had here these last few games… we kept trying to battle… but just couldn’t come up with that one more play to get us over the top.”
IU battled all night, but didn’t seem to have quite the urgency and intensity we’d seen the previous three games, which put them a half step behind too often. A reach instead of verticality. A rebound not quite secured. A possession that should’ve been over suddenly lasting five more seconds. Against a team with this kind of length, those little slips add up fast.
And credit where it’s due — USC simply looks better than the version most of us remember. In Year 2 under Eric Musselman, they’re organized, physical, and very Big Ten-ready. Their size bothered IU at the rim all night, and freshman Alijah Arenas had a coming-out performance, answering nearly every Indiana push.
Sometimes you run into that on the road. Which is why context helps today.
Indiana is 6–6 in league play, has won three of four, and split the California trip. That’s not a team spiraling — it’s a team still learning how to close out tough road games. Now the opportunity shifts home, with Wisconsin Badgers and Oregon coming to Bloomington before two major road tests at Illinois and Purdue.
Take care of business at home, and this one looks like a bump, not a bruise.
There’s a difference between losing because you just aren’t good enough and because you didn’t execute. This felt like the second kind. Those are fixable. Clean up the fouls, rebound a little better, and get back to that shared, multi-weapon offense, and nights like this start tipping your way.
Not the result we wanted. But a team that fights back from 14 down on the road isn’t one I’m worried about.
Still learning. Still scrapping. Still right there. 🔴⚪
Leave a Reply