'A Little Disappointing': Indiana Basketball Upset by Minnesota in DeVries' First Loss

As Minnesota junior forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson's 3-pointer bounced off the rim and skied into the air, four players circled underneath the basket — two in crimson, two in gold.

One player in gold, sophomore guard Isaac Asuma, grabbed the rebound. The other, senior guard Langston Reynolds, fell to the ground after a foul on Indiana senior guard Conor Enright. The two crimson-clad Hoosiers — Enright and senior guard Lamar Wilkerson — had nothing to show but a foul and the burden of playing another defensive possession.

Such was life for Indiana men's basketball Wednesday night at Williams Arena, as the No. 22 Hoosiers (7-1, 0-1 Big Ten) battled fouls, rebounding woes and general physicality in a 73-64 loss to Minnesota (5-4, 1-0 Big Ten) in Minneapolis.

The Golden Gophers outrebounded the Hoosiers, 40-25, and turned 10 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points. Indiana went only 12-of-20 shooting at the free throw line, a season-worst 60% clip, and committed 22 fouls, which led to 27 free throws for Minnesota.

"There are just a lot of little things that matter," Indiana coach Darian DeVries said postgame. "Winning free throw box outs and some things like that, making free throws. A lot of the things we've done really well for the most part this year, that, when you're in conference play and you're in games like that, those possessions are so golden.

"So, you got to value every little aspect of the game and the basketball. ... That's something hopefully we'll really be able to take from this."

DeVries described the loss — which currently ranks as a Quad 3 defeat in the NET — as "a little disappointing," in large part due to inefficiency on both ends.

Each of Minnesota's five starters scored in double figures. The Golden Gophers shot 48.9% from the field and were 8 of 21 from distance while connecting on 70.4% of their foul shots. Minnesota scored 30 points on 2-point field goals, and all of them came inside the paint. The Golden Gophers made 11 layups.

Offensively, Indiana struggled. The Hoosiers shot only 40% from the field and 29.6% from 3-point range, both of which were their second-worst mark this season.

"Defensively, we've been pretty good all year. I thought we just gave up a lot of clean opportunities for them tonight. Some layups and some open threes," DeVries said. "Offensively, we just let their physicality kind of bog us down a little bit and we didn't get the type of quality shots that we've been getting and accustomed to getting."

Senior forward Sam Alexis, who tallied 10 points and three rebounds on 5-for-7 shooting, echoed DeVries' thoughts regarding the Hoosiers' sluggish offensive performance, one in which they averaged just 1.01 points per possessions.

“They was just being physical with us," Alexis said. "But it was a tough loss. We're going to pick it back up.”

Indiana hadn't yet tasted defeat under DeVries. The Hoosiers were 5-0 in exhibition games and 7-0 to begin the regular season, and they entered Wednesday as 10.5-point favorites.

Evidently, Indiana's loss proved big — and surprising — enough to prompt a court-storming from Minnesota fans, who'd watched their team lose three consecutive games to San Francisco, Stanford and Santa Clara before taking down the nationally ranked and undefeated Hoosiers.

But seeing fans run past him on a mission toward the center court celebration won't be what sticks in DeVries' mind moving forward.

"The image is we lost the game," DeVries said. "It was going to happen at some point. But the main thing is, 'Now that you've lost one, how do you respond?' And, 'What happens in that locker room, on the practice floor, as you get ready for the next game?'

"Because there's a lot of really good games we're going to have this year, and every night's going to be a fight just like this."

Indiana will need better performances from its best boxers to win more bouts as the season progresses.

The Hoosiers' leading scorer entering Wednesday, senior forward Tucker DeVries, matched a season-low with 9 points on 3-for-13 shooting, including 3 of 10 from distance. Wilkerson scored 15 points but needed 14 shots to do so.

Senior guard Tayton Conerway led the team with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, though he committed three of Indiana's seven turnovers.

Minnesota's defense made life difficult for Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries. The Golden Gophers were physical, forcing tough catches and disrupting the platform each shooter was designed to find.

Now, Indiana's coaching staff has to go back to the drawing board.

"Like I told the team, we got to do a better job as a staff of figuring out, ‘Okay, here's how we're going to get guarded from these two guys,’ and still be able to utilize everybody else by how they're guarding them," Darian DeVries said. "We'll create opportunities for those guys, but also still find ways to be able to get them free and get them open."

Indiana never stopped fighting and competing, DeVries said, which serves as a silver lining in an otherwise gloomy performance.

But the Hoosiers have little time to make corrections and get back on track. Their toughest test yet awaits at 2 p.m. Saturday, when they face No. 6 Louisville (7-1) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

While challenging, it's an opportunity to erase memories from Wednesday night — and DeVries is confident Indiana has the ingredients necessary to bounce back on a quick turnaround.

"We have a group that's pretty connected," DeVries said. "We've got some guys that have played a lot of basketball. So, I expect them to come ready and to respond and be ready for Saturday.”