Indiana men’s basketball came off a nearly two-week break looking like the hottest-shooting team in the country, with Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright combining to go 5-5 from 3-point range in the first four minutes of play.
The Huskies were going shot-for-shot with the Hoosiers for much of that streak, though, and led for brief periods of the first half.
The scoring slowed down slightly over the second ten minutes of the first half, but Indiana found ways to score in the paint that helped build a modest
lead. Nick Dorn and Reed Bailey combined for 11 first-half points off the bench, mostly off cuts to the rim assisted by the Hoosier guards.
Between the post scoring and the 50% shooting from deep, Indiana took a 12-point lead into the break, but a scoring drought to open the second half allowed Washington to pull within four. The Huskies relied heavily on their highly-touted big, Hannes Steinbach, for that stretch, which Indiana had no answer for.
Steinbach led Washington with 20 points on the night, with eight of those coming in the second half, when the officiating got really lopsided. After being called for just four fouls in the first half, the Hoosiers were whistled for 15 in the second half, and issued a bench warning.
Despite the second-half free-throw discrepancy, Indiana was able to survive behind a strong second half from Lamar Wilkerson, who scored 18 of his 22 in the final 20 minutes. He wasn’t himself from deep on the night, but hit shots that mattered, like a thee with just under four minutes to go that got Indiana’s lead back to nine.
Wilkerson also hit his free throws in the final minutes, closing out a 10-point victory that puts Indiana at 2-1 in Big Ten play and 11-3 on the season. The Hoosiers are back in action this Wednesday at Maryland.
