Out of all of Indiana’s portal additions this year, perhaps none were as sought after as senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, who chose Indiana over Auburn and Kentucky this summer. The Sam Houston transfer was
a consensus top-50 prospect in the portal and one of the crown jewels of Darian DeVries’ first class as Indiana’s head coach.
Here’s what you need to know about his game ahead of the season.
The Background
Before Indiana, Wilkerson spent three years at Sam Houston State, emerging as a starter in his second year with the Bearkats. Before that, he was at Three Rivers Community College. As part of last year’s Sam Houston team, he actually got the chance to play in Assembly Hall, scoring 18 points against the Hoosiers in a 97-71 Bearkat loss. In his two seasons as a starter, Wilkerson was named to the All Conference USA First Team twice, leading his team in scoring twice.
The Stats and Skillset
Even casual fans of Indiana basketball are likely to know that Wilkerson has a reputation as a shooter. On a whopping 7.7 attempts per game last season, he shot a career-high 44.5% from 3-point range. Behind that shooting, he was able to average 20.5 points per game last season.
Indiana fans didn’t really get to see this when he came to Bloomington last year, as he attempted just four threes in that contest, but Wilkerson is somebody who (rightfully) has a greenlight unlike anyone we’ve seen play for Indiana lately. On six separate occasions last year, Wilkerson attempted 10 or more threes, including a 5 for 12 shooting performance in the early season against a ranked Baylor team.
At 6’6” and 205 lbs. Wilkerson also has the size and physicality to beat guys off the dribble when they push out too far. He’s particularly good at punishing guys closing out to him on the perimeter, utilizing a pump fake or hesitation to keep defenders honest around the 3-point arc.
At just 2.1 assists per game, Wilkerson is primarily driving for himself and would be best used as a pure shooting guard, despite some outlets listing him as a combo guard. While he is capable enough off the dribble, he’s at his best off the ball as a shooter and a secondary driver next to a true point guard.
Like most shooters of his caliber, Wilkerson is also good from the free throw line, shooting over 80% from the charity stripe in each of his three seasons at Sam Houston. This makes him even more difficult to defend off the drive, as he will certainly punish teams that try to be too physical against Indiana’s fast offense.
The Role
Given his shooting ability and proven production at the college level, it’s safe to assume Wilkerson will be the starting shooting guard or wing for Indiana this coming season. He’s got more experience than most of the guards, and is potentially the best shooter on the roster, with Tucker DeVries also being in the mix.
At the risk of being redundant, Wilkerson is valuable for this team not just because of his high shooting percentage, but also his willingness to shoot. Indiana has added good shooters from the portal in the past, but didn’t run an offense that allowed them to shine. Wilkerson is a guy that is going to get his shots regardless, and probably make a good number of them.
Of course there will be an adjustment for Wilkerson coming to a higher level, but he has the skillset and experience to help bring Indiana’s offense into modernity. Accordingly, I think we see DeVries get as many minutes as possible out of him as part of the dramatic overhaul he has planned for Indiana’s playing style.
