Indiana Basketball Cites Fatigue, Lack of Tenacity in Loss at USC: 'Hard Trip'

LOS ANGELES — For 15 seconds, Darian DeVries stood with his arms crossed and his face blank while his left hand rubbed his chin, then his cheek.

Indiana basketball’s first-year coach was firmly lost in thought — about the factors behind the Hoosiers’ three-game winning streak crashing down, about the two hours of highs and lows preceding this moment and, perhaps, about the walk he’d take and the words he’d exchange with referee DJ Carstensen as the final seconds ticked away.

Then, if only for a second, DeVries shook his head. Right, then left.

To DeVries’ left, away from his gaze, USC’s Ryan Cornish knocked down a pair of inconsequential free throws. DeVries hardly watched the second. Fate sealed. Frustration capped. Game over.

Indiana (15–8, 6–6 Big Ten) trudged through an 81–75 loss to USC (17–6, 6–6 Big Ten) on Tuesday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

“I just didn't think we had the same tenacity that we've had here these last few games,” DeVries said postgame. “We seemed half a step slow tonight.”

The Hoosiers struggled finding consistent sources of scoring outside of sixth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, who notched 33 points. They were dominated on the glass, as USC pulled down 40 rebounds to Indiana’s 25, and in second-chance points, as the Trojans scored 15 to the Hoosiers’ 6.

Indiana trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half but rallied in the waning minutes, trimming USC’s lead to 2 points with just over 30 seconds remaining. But after sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway, back in the rotation after missing two games with an ankle injury, saw his free throw rattle out after an and-one layup, the Hoosiers were never within one possession again.

DeVries’ team could’ve thrown in the towel with its deficit at 10 points at the under-4 timeout, but Indiana kept battling. It merely couldn’t get over the proverbial hump and draw even.

Wilkerson’s frustration, however, stems less from the Hoosiers’ inability to finish the fight and more from the fact they put themselves in a disadvantageous position to begin with.

“We shouldn't have been that close in the first place,” Wilkerson said. “We dug ourselves a hole, and then we just couldn't get out of it. That’s on us.”

Indiana is left trying to figure out where it gained the shovel.

DeVries didn’t have an immediate answer for why the Hoosiers were, in his assessment, a half-step slow. Wilkerson disagreed with DeVries’ thoughts entirely regarding Indiana’s play speed.

"Nah," Wilkerson said, shaking his head, when asked if he felt the Hoosiers were a step slow as DeVries believed.

DeVries noted Indiana played heavy minutes in Saturday’s 98–97 win at UCLA, a game that required double overtime after the Hoosiers blew a 10-point lead inside the final two minutes of regulation. Four of Indiana’s five starters played 39-plus minutes against the Bruins, and three were on the floor for at least 43 minutes.

Still, DeVries felt the Hoosiers were in a quality place entering Tuesday.

“We just couldn't get it done,” DeVries said. “But the guys had prepared well. I thought we had a good two days of practice. They were really engaged and coming into the game, I thought we were ready. We just didn't quite have it tonight throughout the contest.”

Wilkerson, who’d never been part of a west-coast swing, said he’s unsure if there are ways to counteract fatigue from long trips away from home, but that’s where he’d start with fixing Indiana’s issues in the Galen Center.

“I don't like to make excuses, but it's a hard trip, man,” Wilkerson said. “That's why a lot of people don’t come out here to be successful on these two-game road trips in California. We've been out here for a week, tired, fatigued, stuff like that. But I don't make excuses for it, man.

“We got to do better, and we'll figure it out.”

The Hoosiers acknowledged their woes extended beyond energy and fatigue.

Wilkerson said Indiana “could have played better basketball in every area of the game,” while DeVries immediately cited USC’s success getting to, and capitalizing at, the foul stripe. The Trojans were 25-for-31 shooting free throws, and they nearly doubled Indiana’s output — the Hoosiers made 13 of 16 attempts at the line.

Before the game, DeVries emphasized Indiana couldn’t put USC at the free throw line. The Trojans entered as the Big Ten’s leader in foul shot attempts per game, while Indiana averaged 19 fouls per game, which ranks No. 277 nationally. On paper, USC held a significant advantage. On the court, the Trojans did, too.

DeVries spent several seconds voicing his displeasures to Carstensen at the end of the game. DeVries said he didn’t have any specific angst, “just normal stuff,” and didn’t expand further into the conversation.

Free throws aside, DeVries cited rebounding as a decisive factor. The Hoosiers were tidier on the boards in the second half — they were outrebounded 19–12 but held USC to three offensive rebounds — but still, collectively, struggled clearing the glass.

“I didn't think we were hitting as well, making as much contact as we had,” DeVries said. “I thought we gave them some free runs at the basket. Some of them, we were in some rotations where we were coming late to get to them.

“Overall, it wasn't quite what we were looking for.”

Neither was Indiana’s scoring distribution. Wilkerson, with 33 points, delivered 44% of the Hoosiers’ total points. No Hoosier scored more than 8 points, which senior forwards Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey both reached.

Junior guard Nick Dorn, who averaged 22.3 points in the previous three games, went 2-for-12 shooting, all from 3-point range, in a 6-point effort. Senior forward Tucker DeVries tallied 5 points, tied for a season-low, while senior guard Conor Enright added just 3 points.

Wilkerson aside, Indiana’s other four starters combined for 22 points. USC’s starters scored 75 points.

Still, the Hoosiers fought. DeVries said they tried to find ways to get momentum going, and they found pockets of success, but USC weathered the storm just enough to escape. Indiana needed one more push, one more 3-pointer, one more steal.

The Hoosiers, be it due to fatigue or their own shortcomings, merely didn’t have one more punch to throw — and their three-game Big Ten winning streak, their first under DeVries, met a humbling wall Tuesday night.

“We've been playing good basketball and had a rough one tonight, but we can't let it linger,” DeVries said. “We've got to get refocused and get ready for Saturday.”

Indiana will fly back to Bloomington on Wednesday before returning to practice Thursday and Friday. The Hoosiers, DeVries said, are focused on resting, regrouping and preparing for a noon tipoff Saturday against Wisconsin (16–6, 8–3 Big Ten) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

The Big Ten rests for nobody, but Indiana needs a quick breather. The Hoosiers went 1–1 on their west coast swing, adding a Quadrant 1 victory over UCLA but ruing a missed opportunity at USC. Still, Indiana heads home on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Tuesday didn't go according to plan — DeVries' blank stare, chin rub and head shake told more than the score itself — but opportunity awaits in Bloomington.

And with fresh legs and a few nights in their own bed, the Hoosiers hope to rediscover the winning methods that eluded them inside the Galen Center — a process that begins with a deep internal look after a night gone wrong in Los Angeles.

“No matter who's in front of us, whether it's the top of the Big Ten or the bottom of the Big Ten, it's always about Indiana basketball,” Wilkerson said. “When we come out and play with the physicality, the toughness we try to play with, that we talk about in walkthrough and scout, we'll handle it how it’s supposed to.”