Indiana’s streakiness with 3-point accuracy was on full display Saturday afternoon when it made 15 of 46 attempts in a victory over Chicago State.
The Hoosiers shot well in the opening 20 minutes and built a big lead before going cold in the second half.
On Monday evening, the Hoosiers will hope to turn in a more consistent showing from behind the arc when they face Siena in Bloomington, Ind., in the Big Ten team’s final non-conference game.
Indiana (9-3) is sixth in the Big Ten at 36% from the arc, and in Saturday’s 78-58 home victory over Chicago State, it had made 14 of 26 shots by halftime. Indiana finished four shy of the team record for 3s and set a school record by attempting 46, eclipsing the previous record of 39.
Indiana made double-digit 3s for the eighth time and is 7-1 when doing so. The Hoosiers also made their second-most 3s after turning in a 4-of-24 performance in a 72-60 loss at Kentucky on Dec. 13.
“I know we’re a 3-point-shooting team,” Indiana coach Darian DeVries said. “That’s what we do. But our mindset has to be regardless of shots falling, our defense has to keep us in the game. For the most part in the second half, we still held them to 34%.”
Lamar Wilkerson, who is shooting 42.9% from behind the arc, made five 3s and scored 21 points for the Hoosiers against Chicago State. He is 17 of 32 from 3-point range in his past three games, including a program-record 10 3s in a 44-point showing against Penn State on Dec. 9.
Reed Bailey added 17 points on Saturday without taking a 3 while Nick Dorn contributed all 15 of his points on five 3-pointers.
Siena (9-3) has not allowed more than 10 3s in a game this season, and the Saints yielded only 10 once, in an 82-66 win over Bryant on Nov. 3. Siena saw its seven-game winning streak stopped when it shot 6 of 21 from 3-point range and a season-worst 38.8% from the field Wednesday in an 83-69 loss at Vermont.
The Saints are led by Gavin Doty, who averages 14.8 points a game. Doty notched a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds while Brendan Coyle finished with 15 points in a game in which the Saints were outscored 41-27 in the first half.
“We got out-toughed (Wednesday), straight up, I’m going to say it,” Doty said. “We didn’t execute as good as we could have. It’s hard to battle back when you get down 20 points.”
–Field Level Media
