CHICAGO — Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries had a response at the ready on Sunday afternoon when he was asked what stood out over his team’s first two games.
DeVries met with the media fresh off a 100-77 win over a Marquette team that never cut the lead to under 10 points in the second half at the United Center.
Indiana displayed plenty of offensive firepower with 14 made 3-pointers — the team shot 50% from long range — and strong individual efforts from Lamar Wilkerson (23 points) and Tucker DeVries (27 points).
None of those impressive numbers were on DeVries’ mind after the game.
“I’ve been saying this for a while, and you’re starting to see it now that we’re playing games,” DeVries said. “They’re just a really unselfish group.”
The Hoosiers had 27 assists on 33 field goals, the most assists for the program in a single-game since March 6, 2024. All eight of their scholarship players who checked in had at least one assist and four of the five starters had multiple assists.
“They’re very willing passers and understand in moments like when Tucker has it going, they understand to keep finding him, Lamar has it going, we have guys that understand to keep finding them,” DeVries said. “It’s a group that really, I think, plays very unselfishly every night.”
Indiana had 23 assists in the season opener against Alabama A&M to give the program 20 or more assists in back-to-back games for only the second time in the last seven seasons. It was the most assists in back-to-back games (50) since 2016.
Last season, the Hoosiers only had 20 or more assists in four regular season games.
“I think they’re just good basketball players,” DeVries said. “They understand it. I think they prioritize winning. None of them really care who gets the credit. They talk about it every day. It’s like, I watch them do this in practice all the time.”
Wilkerson, who is one of college basketball’s top 3-point shooters, dished out a career-high eight assists in the win and didn’t turn the ball over once. He came into the game averaging 1.3 assists over 96 career games.
“He was one of the guys that, as we got into the flow of the game, we were using him a little bit more of that facilitator,” DeVries said. “Then in the second half, he got rewarded back with guys finding him.”
The encouraging part for DeVries is that he sees the same approach from his players everyday in practice, something that gives him confidence that IU’s unselfish play won’t be just a passing trend.
“One day, TC (Tayton Conerway) may get one shot, there might be a day he gets 10 shots, and he doesn’t care,” DeVries said. “He just plays to win, and that’s what this whole group, I feel like, has really bought into right now. And they’ll continue to get better and better because it’s important to them.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball’s unselfish play takes the spotlight in Marquette win
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
