Indiana men’s basketball seems locked into its late-season starting lineup of Conor Enright, Lamar Wilkerson, Nick Dorn, Tucker DeVries and Sam Alexis. All things, considered, that’s probably fine.
It’s the lineup that sparked a late season surge and, with acknowledgement given to Dorn’s recent 3-point slump, is probably the group that gives the Hoosiers the best chance to win with three deep scoring threats on the floor at spots 2-4. Enright has done an admirable job running the offense, Wilkerson
is one of the best scorers in the country, Dorn is still a floor spacer, DeVries’ role has shifted and Alexis has made a turn as a scorer down low.
So where does Tayton Conerway, Indiana’s former starter at point guard, fit in? As the sixth man, probably.
He’s Indiana’s best downhill threat as a crafty scorer around the rim, but struggles scoring from 3-point range. His assist and turnover rates exceed those of Enright in conference play, but he has less experience with DeVries and this new lineup than Enright. He’s probably Indiana’s best perimeter defender, but takes chances on the ball that open up opportunities for opposing offenses at times.
Conerway’s minutes have come and gone as he’s recovered from an ankle injury he suffered against Iowa midway through January and a sickness he was out with against Wisconsin. It’s been tough to mix him back into the team ever since. He might not work as well with the starters, but could be a boost off the bench.
Indiana doesn’t need consistent scoring at point guard to succeed, Enright’s proven that. What Indiana could use is a scorer off the bench as the rotation has thinned late in the season. There hasn’t been much scoring outside of the starting lineup outside of Reed Bailey’s occasional moments, Jasai Miles feels like an additional defender to give one of Wilkerson or Dorn a breather.
Inserting Conerway off the bench for Enright would give the offense a change of pace if things get stale. Like, say, if Indiana’s hurting for scoring outside of Wilkerson as it was against Illinois. He played just four minutes against the Fighting Illini with one assist and a shot attempt, a missed layup, before being subbed out. He wasn’t playing particularly poorly, the defense collapsed on a drive of his and he made the right read to kick the ball out to Wilkerson for that assist.
Enright’s a pass-first point guard and when Conerway’s on the floor it feels like Indiana is asking him to play that role at times, his shot attempts have been relatively limited even factoring in his missed time. Maybe asking him to look to score first as a downhill option would be more effective when Enright is on the bench. Conerway can pass, the stats say as much, but his numbers on layups are pretty strong relative to the rest of Indiana’s starters. Asking him to attack the rim with floor spacers like Wilkerson and Dorn alongside him could give Indiana some additional scoring punch it can’t get elsewhere.
Indiana’s running out of opportunities to tweak its lineups, but it’s worth finding a way to use a guy hitting 67.3% of his shots inside the 3-point arc including 75.7% at the rim.
