When Indiana basketball is clicking, it’s a thing of beauty - crisp ball movement, confident shooting, and a rhythm that makes everything look effortless. That’s exactly what we saw in the first half against Chicago State on Saturday. The Hoosiers came out firing, and for 20 minutes, they looked like one of the most dangerous perimeter shooting teams in the country.
Indiana opened the game with a barrage from deep, hitting at a 56 percent clip while barely even looking inside the arc. This wasn’t just a hot start - it was a full-on shooting clinic.
Lamar Wilkerson and Nick Dorn were the catalysts, combining for 27 points in the first half on 9-of-15 shooting - all from three-point range. That kind of efficiency from beyond the arc not only stretched the defense but blew the game wide open early, giving Indiana a commanding 52-29 halftime lead.
Wilkerson, in particular, looked like a man on a mission. Just like his 44-point explosion against Penn State earlier this month, he came out with confidence and rhythm, scoring nine of Indiana’s first 14 points. When he gets going early, the Hoosiers’ offense takes on a different level of fluidity.
And speaking of fluidity - the ball movement was outstanding. Indiana racked up 17 assists on 18 made field goals in the first half.
That’s the kind of unselfish, high-IQ basketball that coaches dream about. Conor Enright played a major role in that, dishing out five assists before the break and finishing with seven on the night.
He turned the ball over just once, pushing his assist-to-turnover ratio to 4.75 - good for fifth in the country and second in the Big Ten behind Nebraska’s Sam Hoiberg. That’s elite-level decision-making from the point guard spot.
At halftime, Indiana had already knocked down 14 threes on 26 attempts and looked poised to shatter its season-high of 17 made triples. But then came the second half - and the script flipped.
Despite continuing to generate open looks, the Hoosiers went ice cold from deep, hitting just 1-of-20 from beyond the arc after the break. It wasn’t for lack of effort or poor shot selection - the same clean looks were there.
They just weren’t falling. And as the misses piled up, you could feel the confidence drain from the floor.
Chicago State outscored Indiana 29-26 in the second half, not because the Cougars found a rhythm - they shot just 34 percent from the field and 20 percent from three - but because Indiana simply couldn’t buy a bucket. The Hoosiers went more than 11 minutes without a made three, and while the 78-58 final score never put the outcome in doubt, it did raise some red flags about Indiana’s consistency and ability to adjust when the perimeter shots stop falling.
Indiana attempted 20 of its 30 second-half shots from deep, sticking with the game plan even as the offense sputtered. Head coach Darian DeVries acknowledged after the game that there’s a fine line between trusting your shooters and knowing when to pivot.
“The easy thing to do is say, ‘Hey, let’s get more paint touches, go drive it,’” DeVries said. “After a while, if we’re not making them, we have to be able to get in there.”
He likened Indiana’s shooting streaks to a baseball team that feeds off one hot bat. When one guy gets going, the rest follow. But the reverse can be just as contagious.
“Guys feed off one another,” DeVries said. “In that second half, you could definitely feel it go in a negative way for us.
We lost a little bit of our confidence. They weren’t shooting it with the same swagger that they’re accustomed to.”
That swagger - or lack of it - has been a recurring theme for this Indiana squad. One night they’re lighting it up from deep, like their 50 percent outing against Milwaukee.
The next, they’re struggling to find the rim, like the 5-for-24 performance against Incarnate Word. But the stark contrast between halves against Chicago State was particularly jarring.
DeVries noted that the quality of looks didn’t change - the execution did.
“The shots we got in the second half were the same ones (as) in the first half,” he said. “We were getting really good, clean looks by some of our best shooters.”
The concern now is how this team responds when the competition ramps up. Chicago State ranks near the bottom nationally in scoring offense, defense, and rebounding. And while Indiana’s defense held firm enough to secure a 20-point win - even while giving up 11 offensive boards - that margin for error won’t be there when Big Ten play resumes on January 4 against Washington.
DeVries was candid about the need for more toughness on the glass.
“That hasn’t quite registered yet with our group,” he said. “You have to do it a certain way for us to be successful.
It’s not going to be a run-and-jump contest for us. It’s got to be a physicality, toughness contest.”
The Hoosiers showed flashes of what they’re capable of - a team that can shoot the lights out and share the ball like a veteran group. But the second half served as a reminder that talent and execution aren’t always in sync. If Indiana wants to make noise in the Big Ten, they’ll need to find a way to sustain that first-half magic - and respond quicker when it fades.