It’s backcourt on backcourt in Indianapolis.
No. 22 Indiana men’s basketball’s trio of Tayton Conerway, Conor Enright and Lamar Wilkerson has helped make the Hoosiers’ offense go night in and night out. Conerway is capable of getting to the rim and playing strong defense, Enright plays whatever role he’s needed on a given night and Wilkerson is capable of getting hot from deep.
They’ll meet a stacked group on the other end of the court on Saturday in No. 6 Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr., Isaac McKneely
and Ryan Conwell. Brown Jr. is a future NBA starter and plays like it while McKneely and Conwell are both capable of getting hot from beyond the arc, both making over 41% of their attempts from long range.
Brown Jr. isn’t as strong of a shooter at 27.4% but gets 7.8 attempts in the air per game. But he’s averaging 5.6 assists per game helping set the table for McKneely and Conwell, who get up 7.6 and 9.3 attempts, respectively.
It’s easy to say “Indiana needs to run them off the 3-point line,” and while yes that’s certainly true it’s easier said than done. Louisville has multiple different ways to generate looks from deep between Brown getting a defense in rotation, post kickouts and constant movement between the players and the ball itself.
But yes, the trio of Conerway, Enright and Wilkerson will have to be stout defensively. Louisville is gonna get shots up one way or another, so the least the Hoosiers can do is make them difficult. Enright was able to frustrate Kansas State’s P.J. Haggerty pretty effectively at Assembly Hall and Indiana will likely call on him to do something similar with Brown Jr. or Conwell, with Conerway playing that role as well. Wilkerson can match Brown Jr.‘s size, but might have to focus more on Conwell while Conerway handles the Brown Jr. assignment.
Louisville’s defense isn’t as efficient as the offense, but it’s more than adequate. The Cards generally force longer possessions and Indiana hasn’t done the best job in late clock situations, so that could prove problematic. They’ve also held teams to less than ideal shooting numbers all over the court. In short, yeah, it’s a good defense.
Wilkerson is going to have to find ways to score that don’t involve catch-and-shoot 3s, Indiana had him cutting plenty against Minnesota but he was less than effective when he got met under the rim. If he can’t find other ways of scoring with the ball in his hands, Indiana will be in trouble and Louisville’s backcourt is big enough to cause it.
As for Conerway and Enright, they’ll need to keep the ball moving so possessions don’t drag out too long. Enright’s done this particularly well and Conerway can get a defense moving with the ball in his hands. Again, Louisville is poised to pressure them, so they’ll have to avoid turnovers or empty plays with a bad shot in the late clock.
There’s a path to victory if those two are able to find enough offense off of movement while keeping the Cards from getting up good looks, but they’ll have to play a full 40-minute game to keep it up.
