Wilkerson’s Clutch Free Throw Shooting Leads the Hoosiers over #29 Excel H Sports Ranked Badgers 

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

   Lamar Wilkerson went 8-8 from free throw line and scored 25 points as the Indiana Hoosiers beat Wisconsin Badgers 78-77 on Saturday Afternoon in Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall in a nailbiter. Wisconsin led 72-68 with 57 seconds left in regulation when Wilkerson hit two free throws to make it 72-70 with 50 seconds left. Andrew Rhode missed a three pointer with 25 seconds left and fouled Wilkerson with 16 seconds left in regulation. Wilkerson hit two more free throws 16 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 72-72. John Blackwell missed a jumper with one second left as game went to overtime 72-72 after Wisconsin outscored Indiana 42-36 in the second half.

   Wisconsin scored first with 3:48 left in overtime as Nolan Winter scored on a layup to lead 74-72. Wilkerson knocked down two free throws with 2:21 left to tie the game 74-74. Nolan Winter gave the Badgers the lead 76-74, knocking down two free throws with 1:54 left. Nick Boyd gave the Badgers a three-point lead knocking down a free throw with 56 seconds left. Lamar Wilkerson drove the basket and scored as Wisconsin led 77-76 with 30 seconds left. Nick Boyd was called for an offensive foul on Conor Enright with 15 seconds left in overtime. John Blackwell picked up his fifth foul with 2 seconds left as Wilkerson went back to the line knocking down both free throws to give Indiana a 78-77 lead. Braeden Carrington threw a half-court shot at the buzzer as the Hoosiers win their second overtime game of the season as the Badgers did not make a field goal for the last 3:48 of the overtime.

   Indiana had four players in double figures with by Wilkerson. Sam Alexis scored a season high 19 points along with 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. Tucker DeVries scored 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks as he broke his three-game streak scoring in single digits. Conor Enright scored 11 points, dished out 6 assists, 4 rebounds and no turnovers. Indiana went 30-63 from the field for 47%, 5-22 from downtown for 22% and 13-15 from the free throw line for 86%.

   The Hoosiers pulled down 37 rebounds, dished out 13 assists, 9 blocks, 1 steal and 8 turnovers. Indiana scored 44 points in the paint, 14 second chance points, 9 points off turnovers, 7 bench points and zero fastbreak points. The Hoosiers did a better job of driving to the basket, scoring in the paint and getting offensive rebounds. The free throw shooting was the key to Hoosier’s win especially down the stretch as Wilkerson knocked down all eight of his free throws to give the Hoosiers win. Tayton Conerway was out due to Illness and was sent home right before the game.

   Wisconsin is 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the Big Ten. Nolan Winter scored a career high 26 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. The seven-footer was 9-13 from the field, 3-5 from three-point range and 5-5 from the free throw line. Winter is always a matchup issue for the opponent as he can stretch the floor with his range and his length inside. Sam Alexis went toe to toe with Winter as Alexis was big on the boards but huge on the defensive end with big blocks.

   Nick Boyd scored 20 points. John Blackwell scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half. Braeden Carrington scored 7 points and Andrew Rhode added 6 for Wisconsin. The Badgers went 27-71 from the field for 38%, 12-36 from three-point range for 33% and 11-12 from the free throw line for 91%. Wisconsin pulled down 37 rebounds, dished out 16 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks and committed seven turnovers. Wisconsin scored 28 points in the paint, 15 points off turnovers, 14 second chance points, 7 bench points and zero fastbreak points.

  Indiana jumped out to a 7-0 lead with Lamar Wilkerson scoring the first five points of the game. The Hoosiers had their largest lead of the game leading by 14 points with 8:26 left in the first half 26-12. The Hoosiers led 36-30 and led throughout the second half until the Badgers took the lead with 1:48 left in the second half as the game saw three ties and two lead changes for the rest of the game.

  Indiana has a quick turnaround as they host the Oregon Ducks Monday night at 8:30 PM. Oregon will have Nate Bittle back as he returned after missing almost a month due to a foot injury. Bittle scored 23 points as Oregon lost 68-64 at Purdue Saturday Afternoon as Ducks come to Bloomington 8-15 overall and 1-11 in the Big Ten. For Indiana it will be another chance to protect home court and continue to keep their NCAA Tournament chances alive. Indiana is 16-8 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten with four of their last seven games at home.

  Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard was not happy and stormed out of the post-game press conference after 45 seconds, not pleased with the officiating who had questionable calls throughout the game but especially at the end of regulation and overtime. “I’ll take the fine. The league office is going to hear from me too. That’s a stolen win on stolen land.” Gard also said that he has “never seen anything like that” after Nick Boyd was called for the offensive foul against Conor Enright in the final stages of overtime.

  Indiana Head Coach Darian DeVries has talked about Conor Enright making winning plays and showed why he continues to be the floor general and defensive stopper for the Hoosiers. “We were trying to get a quick trap, see if we could get a quick steal. We thought we had enough time to try to take a few chances there, and if we could get them speed up, try to get one first.” DeVries added “Conor just does what he does. He keeps competing, keeps fighting, and that was a huge play for us.”

   DeVries praised Lamar Wilkerson and what he has done all season for the Hoosiers. “Lamar, he’s an elite player. I even think from like a pro standpoint, I think he’s one of those guys that people aren’t talking about enough because he’s going to play in that league for a long, long time. He has all the things you need, the intangibles, in addition to like he has that one skill that everybody wants, and he can throw them in there, And he’s a winner. I love everything about him, and he continues to showcase what makes him so special.” Indiana has figured out ways to win games and after leading for most the game and Wisconsin fighting back the Hoosiers got it done at the free throw line down the stretch.