LOS ANGELES — The Indiana basketball team’s 98-97 double-overtime win over UCLA was the definition of a team win.
The short-handed Hoosiers (15-7, 6-5 Big Ten) got key contributions from basically everyone who stepped on the floor Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
“Showed a lot of guts, lot of character, lot of poise by a lot of different guys,” IU coach Darian DeVries said. “Having the ability to be ready when your number is called. We had guys in spots they had never played before.”
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Indiana freshman Trent Sisley was the prime example.
He knocked down the go-ahead free throw with .3 seconds left in double overtime, despite having played limited minutes (15) and going 0 for 3 from the field.
With three players on the bench from fouling out and starting guard Tayton Conerway (ankle) sidelined, Sisley was the first option on the out of bounds play that DeVries drew up with 1.5 seconds to go, and the Santa Claus native made a heady play to get to the line.
“We told him, no hesitation,” DeVries said. “He did a good job of going up with force and drawing the foul.”
The wild finish came after IU gave up a 10-point lead in the final 1 minute, 50 seconds of regulation.
They combined for 50 points, but others had to step up as Nick Dorn cooled off — his last field goal came with 1:50 to go in regulation — and Bailey fouled out.
Dorn, who was Conerway’s replacement in the starting lineup, helped the Hoosiers build a big lead by knocking down five 3-pointers in the second half. Reed Bailey also made an impact as a two-way force on the inside for the Hoosiers.
“From top to bottom, everybody had a significant part of the game,” Dorn said. “I felt like that shows how connected we are as a team, how we are growing as a team, also learning how to play each other even more and getting more crisp every time we step onto the court.”
Indiana guard Lamar Wilkerson picked up the slack with the coaching staff telling him to attack the rim and force UCLA to stop him in the overtime periods. He scored 10 points over the two overtime periods with the Bruins struggling to defend him.
“I thought Lamar was terrific,” DeVries said. “We started going to him a lot more, we told him to be assertive. He had an up and down game a little bit, he took it on shoulders, took it to the rim and got fouled.”
DeVries rattled off a series of other key moments, from his son Tucker battling for key rebounds and setting up the offense — he inbounded the ball to Sisley — to Sam Alexis altering a handful of UCLA’s shot attempts at the rim in critical situations.
It all added up to a win at the start of a crucial West Coast road trip for a Hoosiers team looking to solidify their NCAA tournament resume.
“They are just playing their guts out right now,” Darian DeVries said. “That’s what I love about them. They are giving us everything they got.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball ‘playing their guts out’ to build NCAA tournament resume
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
