Indiana Basketball Wanted 'Spark,' Changed Starting Lineup. Will It Continue?

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — After back-to-back losses halted Indiana basketball's momentum and dropped the Hoosiers from national rankings, first-year coach Darian DeVries wanted to reignite his team.

DeVries, for the first time through five exhibition games and nine regular season contests, made a change to his starting lineup. He swapped senior forwards, inserting Sam Alexis into the starting five over Reed Bailey, and his experiment delivered precisely the returns he'd hoped for.

Indiana surged to a 113-72 victory over Penn State on Tuesday night. The Hoosiers led by 20 points with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first half, by 32 points at halftime and by as many as 49 points in the second half.

"It wasn't anything more than we just wanted to try to create a spark," DeVries said postgame. "Wasn't anything negative towards either one of them. We wanted to take a look at it."

The lineup's first impression created a good problem for DeVries and his staff to figure out entering the Hoosiers' 7:30 p.m. tipoff Saturday night against Kentucky at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

In his first start since the Southern Conference tournament with Chattanooga on March 10, 2024, Alexis was part of the Hoosiers' hot start but had his least productive game of the season. He didn't score, let alone attempt a shot, while logging two rebounds and three assists in 16 minutes.

Bailey, meanwhile, came off the bench for the first time in his 107th career college game, and he responded with one of the most efficient games of his career. He scored 18 points on 6-for-6 shooting while going 6 of 6 at the foul stripe, and he pulled down five rebounds in 21 minutes.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound Bailey played a physical, inspiring brand of ball, but DeVries held off from saying it stemmed solely from beginning the game on the bench.

"I thought Reed played very well," DeVries said. "Whether it was not starting that contributed to it, nobody knows for sure. But I did think he played pretty loose and free and aggressive, very confident. So that was good to see from that standpoint."

Bailey attributed his performance to the abundance of offensive success around him. Senior guard Lamar Wilkerson scored an Assembly Hall-record 44 points, and along with Bailey, three other Hoosiers reached double figures in senior guard Tayton Conerway (17), junior guard Nick Dorn (13) and and senior forward Tucker DeVries (12).

Indiana made 17 3-pointers, its most since 2016, and dished 30 assists to just 10 turnovers.

"When we're making shots, it opens up the middle of the floor," Bailey said postgame. "That's everybody, credit to 'Mar finding me on some of those rolls, then everybody else. We had 30 assists. That's just credit to everybody moving the ball around, trying to find the open teammates, playing unselfish basketball."

The question now facing Indiana is whether Bailey did enough to regain his starting spot, or if his strong performance off the bench further supports Darian DeVries' decision.

DeVries said Bailey "responded great" to coming off the bench, which allowed him a brief chance to process the game — he checked in at the 16:45 minute. Starting Alexis, meanwhile, gave the Hoosiers "a little more physicality" to open the game, DeVries said, before letting Bailey use his athleticism as a change-of-pace.

DeVries didn't commit either way to starting Bailey or Alexis on Saturday against Kentucky. But the lineup worked Tuesday night vs. Penn State, and the Hoosiers may not tempt fate with a reversal in Rupp Arena.

"Like everything, nothing's permanent, ever," DeVries said. "But, if it's working, we'll continue to stay with it."