Indiana Basketball Needs Tucker DeVries to 'Get Out of His Head' Amid Shooting Slump

LOS ANGELES — Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson stood only a few feet apart, launching 3-pointers from the right corner during pre-game warmups Tuesday evening at the Galen Center.

Together, Indiana men's basketball's captains traded shots — and makes — until Wilkerson eventually missed. They made at least eight consecutive triples apiece in the uncontested, unpressured, unweighted setting 45 minutes before tipoff.

For Wilkerson, the success translated. For DeVries, it didn't.

Indiana (15–8, 6–6 Big Ten) suffered an 81–75 loss to USC (17–6, 6–6 Big Ten) on Tuesday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, in large part because the Hoosiers had no complementary scorer for Wilkerson.

The sixth-year senior guard and Ashdown, Ark., native scored 33 points, his second-most this season, on 11-for-20 shooting from the field while going 5 of 12 from beyond the arc. Tuesday was, by all accounts, one of his most dominant games this season.

DeVries, meanwhile, endured one of his quietest efforts. The fifth-year senior forward scored 5 points, tied for a season-low, and went only 1-for-9 shooting from the floor and 1 of 8 from 3-point range.

Across Indiana's two-game west coast swing, which started with a 98-97 double overtime win over UCLA on Jan. 31 and ended with Tuesday night's loss at USC, DeVries totaled 14 points on 3-for-17 shooting from the field and 2-for-12 shooting from distance.

DeVries, twice the Mountain Valley Conference Player of the Year at Drake and a midseason Wooden Award watchlist member, is a key piece to the Hoosiers' puzzle — but he's struggled finding his footing in Big Ten play.

Wilkerson, however, is optimistic DeVries' breakthrough is coming.

"Tucker's a great player," Wilkerson said postgame. "All he's got to do is get out of his head and keep playing. Once he finds his groove, it'll be all right. I got the ultimate faith in Tucker. He's been doing it a long time. We just stay encouraging each other, and hopefully we'll figure it out."

DeVries has battled the Big Ten blues for several weeks.

Through the Hoosiers' first 13 games, a span that includes 11 non-conference games and a pair of Big Ten contests, DeVries averaged 16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 40.2% from the field and 35.7% from 3-point range.

Since returning from the 13-day gap between games over winter break, DeVries has averaged 10.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest. His scoring has significantly regressed, and so has his efficiency, as he's knocked down only 35.6% of his shots overall and just 28.2% of his 3-pointers.

DeVries inspired confidence he'd broken free from his drought after scoring 15 second-half points against Michigan on Jan. 20 and following suit with a 22-point performance Jan. 23 at Rutgers, but in the three games since, he's scored 23 points combined.

Indiana coach Darian DeVries said Tucker DeVries, his son, hasn't been through a slump quite like this before.

"From a shooting standpoint, it's just one of those things that happens that he hasn't experienced before," Darian DeVries said postgame. "He'll get it going. He's just got to stay confident with it and continue to work and believe in himself. I know we all do. His teammates all do. So, it'll come."

After Tuesday night's loss, Tucker DeVries is averaging 13.7 points per game, the lowest mark of his five-year college career. He's shooting below 40% from the field for the first time in his career, and his 32.8% clip from beyond the arc is also a career worst.

At his best, DeVries is one of college basketball's best shooters and pure scorers. He scored 20-plus points in four of Indiana's first nine games, headlined by a 27-point outburst against Marquette in the second game of the season, and he's scored 15-plus points three times since Big Ten play resumed in January.

DeVries has proven valuable outside of scoring, be it as a rebounder or facilitator, but his calling card remains filling up the points column. The Hoosiers know DeVries has it in him. Their current challenge is ensuring he knows it, too.

"I think the biggest thing, when you're a good shooter and you go through maybe something you haven't gone through before, is just to stay confident," Darian DeVries said. "Trust your work. You've done it your whole life. Just continue to believe in that. Sometimes that's hard when you are in a little bit of a slump to continue to find it.

"He's been trying to really, ‘Hey, I’m not shooting as well,’ trying to facilitate and do some other things while he's trying to work through that."

Tucker DeVries' strong performance at Rutgers helped jumpstart a three-game winning streak that pushed Indiana onto the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. DeVries made three 3-pointers against Purdue and nearly had a triple-double — 9 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists — against UCLA.

But on Tuesday, when DeVries struggled, so did Indiana.

Wilkerson aside, no Hoosier scored more than 8 points. DeVries was scoreless at halftime, and after making his first 3-point attempt three minutes into the second half, he didn't score again until hitting a pair of free throws with 47 seconds remaining in the game.

Whether DeVries gets his season back on track may ultimately determine how far Indiana goes this season, and how soon it regains momentum after Tuesday night's loss.

Wilkerson needs his wingman, the Hoosiers need their shooter and DeVries needs to be himself — the confidence-oozing, shot-making, long-range sniper he's proven to be at each stop in his career — to right the ship at noon Saturday, when Wisconsin (16-6, 8-3 Big Ten) enters Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for a conference bout.