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IU basketball bounced back from losses to Minnesota and Louisville with a 113-72 beatdown of Penn State on Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The win improved the Hoosiers to 8-2.
Here are five takeaways from the win against the Nittany Lions:
Lamar Wilkerson’s remarkable shooting performance
It’s not hyperbole to say that Lamar Wilkerson’s shooting performance on Tuesday was historic.
Wilkerson shattered two IU basketball records and he needed only 24 minutes to do it.
The Arkansas native was just 4-for-15 from 3 in IU’s losses to Minnesota and Louisville, but he bounced back extraordinarily against Penn State.
Wilkerson scored an Assembly Hall record 44 points and made 10 3-pointers. The performance broke the previous record for 3-pointers in a game by a Hoosier, held by Roderick Wilmont, Matt Roth and Robert Johnson.
It was a remarkable display of efficiency by Wilkerson, who shot 16-for-22 from the field, which included a 10-for-15 mark on 3s and a 6-for-7 performance on 2s.
“It was fun to see him kind of get loose and kind of showcase all that work he puts in,” Darian DeVries said postgame.
Wilkerson also added four rebounds, four assists and three steals, earning his third KenPom.com game MVP of the season.
Reed Bailey thrives in a reserve role
For the first time in 10 games, Reed Bailey came off the bench in Tuesday’s win.
The Davidson transfer has been up-and-down through the early part of the season and scored in double figures just three times in the first nine games.
Bailey was as aggressive as he’s been this season against Penn State, tallying 18 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
He also pulled down five rebounds in 21 minutes.
“He handled it great,” DeVries said of Bailey’s response to coming off the bench. “Very aggressive.”
Indiana was able to get Bailey playing in space against the Nittany Lions. He drove the ball hard to the paint and with little resistance in the paint from Penn State, Bailey finished plays with dunks or easy layups.
He’s now shooting 31-for-50 on 2s through IU’s first 10 games, good for 62 percent. There will be plenty of games when Bailey struggles to finish against size and physicality in the Big Ten but the more the IU coaching staff can keep him on the move offensively, the more effective he will be.
Nick Dorn continues his torrid perimeter shooting pace
After breaking out with five made 3-pointers against Louisville, Nick Dorn had another strong performance against Penn State.
Dorn scored 13 points off the bench in 25 minutes. The Elon transfer was 3-for-3 on 2s and 2-for-4 on 3s.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is a confident shooter who doesn’t hesitate when he’s given space.
The sample size is small, but Dorn is now 13-for-27 from 3-point range this season and he continues to make a case for more minutes.
If Indiana can put Dorn on the floor more often with Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson without giving up too much defensively, the Hoosiers can more effectively space the floor.
A team effort from the perimeter
It wasn’t just Wilkerson and Dorn who connected from the perimeter in Tuesday’s win.
Five different Hoosiers made 3-pointers, resulting in a 17-for-31 performance from the perimeter in the win.
Not only was it a season-high in made 3-pointers but the 54.8 percent mark on triples was also a season-best for Indiana.
Tayton Conerway made both of his 3-point attempts, Tucker DeVries finished 2-for-6 and freshman Aleksa Ristic made his only 3-point attempt to record his first career points as a Hoosier.
Indiana is shooting 38.2 percent on 3s through 10 games, which ranks 36th nationally. The Hoosiers are scoring 37.4 percent of their points on 3s (54th nationally) and 48 percent of their field goal attempts are 3-pointers. That’s the 36th highest 3PA/FGA rate nationally, per KenPom.com.
Blowout win helps IU recover in the computer rankings
After last week’s losses to Minnesota and Louisville pushed IU down in the computer rankings, Tuesday’s lopsided win helped the Hoosiers recover.
The Hoosiers moved from No. 28 in KenPom to No. 21, from No. 31 to No. 20 in the NCAA NET rankings and from No. 24 in Bart Torvik to No. 19 following the win.
It’s too early in the season to obsess over computer rankings.
The early-season takeaway, however, is that the current IU coaching staff understands the value of keeping losses close and throttling overmatched competition.
The two previous IU coaching regimes did not prioritize this and the program’s metrics suffered as a result. For a team that could be on the NCAA tournament bubble by season’s end, it matters how every game is won or lost.
See More: Five Takeaways, Lamar Wilkerson, Nick Dorn, Penn State Nittany Lions, Reed Bailey
