Indiana men’s basketball headed to Champaign as hot as it’s been all season, having won five of the last six, including a pair of Quad 1 wins over Purdue and at UCLA. For the opening minutes, it looked like this would carry the Hoosiers to a close game on the road at No. 8 Illinois.
Sam Alexis continued his hot streak early, making a couple of easy buckets on Indiana’s first couple of possessions while the Hoosiers traded buckets with the Illini. Nick Dorn also got to the line early, making it look like he was going to be an offensive weapon even if the shot wasn’t falling for him today.
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Despite the promising offensive start, it was clear early on that Indiana would not have the answer for Illinois’ offense, which is currently No. 1 nationally in KenPom’s efficiency rankings. Freshman Keaton Wagler had seven of the first 11 Illini points, and he was doing it without the 3-ball falling.
When Indiana’s offense started to cool off around the ten minute mark of the first half, Illinois took a large lead that it never surrendered. It started with a nine point run to make it 24-15, which Indiana looked like it might recover from when Jasai Miles and Lamar Wilkerson hit a couple of threes to make it a one possession game.
Illinois was able to answer with a three of its own on the other end, this time from David Mirkovic, who led all scorers by the end of the game with 25 points. He went 3-6 from 3-point range.
Lamar Wilkerson had 21 points of his own, but the lack of true secondary scoring once again cost Indiana. Tucker DeVries, who had 13 points, was the only other Hoosier to make a 3-pointer, outside of Miles and Wilkerson.
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This is a game that Indiana was projected to lose, as Illinois has consistently looked like one of the best teams nationally, let alone the Big Ten. Still, the 20-point margin reaffirms that Indiana is more of a bubble team while Illinois will be one of the top seeded squads come the NCAA Tournament.
Darian DeVries’ group will have five days to regroup before another tough road game at Mackey Arena this Friday, February 20.
