Nick Dorn made the most of his first start for Indiana, posting season highs of 23 points and six 3-pointers in a skid-busting 82-59 win over Rutgers on Friday in Piscataway, N.J.
Lamar Wilkerson led the Hoosiers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten) with 27 points, and Tucker DeVries tallied 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Sam Alexis added 10 rebounds and six blocks as Indiana snapped a four-game losing streak.
Dorn started in place of Tayton Conerway (ankle), who came off the bench to play 16 minutes after being limited to two minutes earlier this week at Michigan. Conerway supplied six points.
The Hoosiers shot 15 of 35 from 3-point range as part of a 50% effort from the field. Dorn, Wilkerson (five) and DeVries (four) combined to make all 15 triples.
Tariq Francis scored 21 of his 28 points in the first half for Rutgers (9-11, 2-7), which dropped its third straight and fourth of five. Kaden Powers and Jamichael Davis added eight points apiece.
Francis went 10-for-23 from the field and the rest of his team made 11 of 35 shots.
Indiana capitalized on a number of open looks and started the game 8-for-14 from the floor with four 3-pointers for a 20-9 lead.
Francis opened the game 5 of 6 from the field and made back-to-back tough shots, including a three-point play, to trim it to 20-14.
DeVries poured in four straight Indiana field goals to build back the double-digit lead, and Dorn knocked down two triples 35 seconds apart on the way to a 47-32 Hoosier halftime lead.
Francis’ 8-of-14 shooting in the half propped up the Scarlet Knights; the rest of the team was a combined 3-for-16.
Two more triples by Dorn helped Indiana build a 60-40 lead five minutes into the second half. Rutgers scored the next seven points to scrap back into it, but Indiana’s timeout halted the momentum and Dorn hit his sixth 3-pointer immediately out of the break.
Francis got the Scarlet Knights within 12 with 11:07 to go, but they went almost four minutes before scoring again. Wilkerson hit a pair of triples to up the Indiana lead past 20 once more.
–Field Level Media
