I’ve been watching Indiana basketball for more than 50 years, and I don’t say this lightly: that second half was one of the best offensive halves I’ve ever seen a Hoosier team play.
Not just hot shooting. Not just one guy going nuclear. But execution. Togetherness. Calm. Purpose.
Against an Oregon team that tried hard to turn the night into a grind — zone defense, pace control, physicality — Indiana responded with a clinic. The Hoosiers shot better than 80 percent in the second half, scored 56 points, and turned what had been a choppy first half into something joyful and decisive. Final score: Indiana 92, Oregon 74.
That doesn’t happen by accident.
It starts with Lamar Wilkerson, who put on a performance Assembly Hall will remember for a long time. 41 points, efficiency after an 0-for-5 start, poise every time Oregon hinted at momentum. He’s now one of just five IU players ever with multiple 40-point games in a season, and he did this as the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week — somehow raising the bar again.
I don’t toss around statements like this casually, but Lamar Wilkerson is having one of the best seasons I’ve seen from a Hoosier. Not just because of the scoring totals, but because of when and how those points come. He settles the team. He answers runs. When Wilkerson checked out of the game before he could break his own Assembly Hall scoring record, he received a well-deserved standing ovation.
And it wasn’t just him.
Sam Alexis continues to grow right in front of us. After going 9-for-10 against Wisconsin, he followed it up with another near-perfect night, finishing everything inside and punishing the zone with confidence. This wasn’t just effort — this was skill, patience, and belief. You can feel his trajectory bending upward.
Nick Dorn deserves credit, too. After a rough start and some recent struggles from three, he didn’t sulk or disappear. He took what the game gave him — free throws first, then a big three — and finished with 11 points. That’s maturity. That’s a shooter staying with it.
Tucker DeVries played a quietly strong game that won’t fully show up in highlight reels but absolutely mattered. Seven points, three assists, steady defense, smart decisions. Even when his outside shot wasn’t falling early, he impacted the game in all the ways good players do.
And then there’s Conor Enright — the bulldog. He might be one of my favorite Hoosiers in recent years. Charges. Pressure. Toughness. Little plays that swing possessions and tone. Every good team has someone like that. This one has Enright.
What tied it all together was the way Indiana played offense. Cuts. Screens. Ball movement. Trust. Fourteen assists on the first 18 baskets. Seventeen makes on their first 19 shots in the second half. Oregon actually played well on offense themselves — they shot far better from three than they usually do — but it didn’t matter. IU just kept executing.
And here’s the thing that matters most to me tonight:
This was fun. Not stressful. Not survival. Not hoping the clock would run out. Fun.
Oregon tried to make this a grind. Indiana turned it into something you enjoyed watching. I’m enjoying watching this team again, with the kind of enthusiasm that reminds me why I fell in love with IU basketball in the first place
Indiana has now won five of its last six games and sits 8–6 in the Big Ten, with very tough road games coming up at Illinois on Sunday and Purdue next Friday. Those will be real tests. Nobody’s pretending otherwise.
But this is exactly how you want to be playing heading into them. Growing.
Connected. Confident.
And capable of nights like this — nights you remember. 🔴⚪
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