Indiana Survives Wisconsin, Building Identity in Resilience: 'These Dudes Don't Quit'

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — During the huddle that preceded a fate-deciding 15 seconds, memories of past heroics played on the video board hanging above Indiana basketball's Branch McCracken Court.

There were scenes of Robert Phinisee's game-winners over Butler and Purdue, of Kirk Haston's buzzer-beater against Michigan State and, as an emphatic punctuation, of Christian Watford's 3-pointer to beat Kentucky.

But most of these Hoosiers — a roster with 13 scholarship players and only one with in-state ties — carry no recollection of those times. They only know what they've done in dramatic late-game scenarios in Puerto Rico, in Bloomington and in the Westwood village of Los Angeles.

Indiana coach Darian DeVries' team is no stranger to living on the ever-fine blade of victory and defeat. The Hoosiers are also well-acquainted with finding ways to win, be it erasing 20-point deficits in San Juan, Puerto Rico, surviving a late-game push against Purdue at home or blowing a 10-point lead then winning in regulation at UCLA.

There's no fear, no doubt, no nerves. Only a veteran-laden roster filled with late-game bravado because it knows no other way.

So, as the Hoosiers huddled with 15 seconds left in overtime, the weight of their immediate past didn't matter.

The 13-point second-half lead they let slip away? Not at the front of their mind. The fact they'd made only one field goal over the past 10-and-a-half minutes? An unimportant indictment in the moment.

Indiana cared only about rectifying its 77-76 deficit and maximizing the opportunity created by senior guard Conor Enright's heroic charge drawn before the timeout. In front of its bench on Assembly Hall's north side, Indiana gathered together with belief, not hope, it would add another clip to the video board's montage of game-winners.

"It was similar to UCLA," Enright said postgame of the huddle. "It was very calm and collected, no screaming at each other, pointing fingers, kind of just next play mentality, which I think we've gotten a lot better as the season went on.

"You can tell with a senior group like this, obviously we don't want to blow leads and go to overtime and do all that, but we still battled together and got it done."

The Hoosiers gave the ball to sixth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, who drove to the rim, drew a foul and stepped to the line with two shots separating Indiana from its fourth win in five games.

Wilkerson wiped the bottom of his bright, multi-colored shoes while he eyed the official and waited for the ball to bounce his way. He walked to the foul stripe, caught the ball and flipped his right wrist to loosen it.

One dribble. Pause. Splash.

The processed repeated. He walked to the line, caught the ball, flipped his wrist. Dribbled once. Paused. Shot. Splash.

Wilkerson turned around and, in a brief moment of solitude, pumped his fists. He looked toward Indiana's student section, lifted his left arm and told his peers to cheer louder.

Soon, Wilkerson and the Hoosiers (16-8, 7-6 Big Ten) celebrated with the students, the boosters and the fans who'd watched them do it — fight, scratch, claw and win — again after a 78-77 triumph over Wisconsin (16-7, 8-4 Big Ten) on Saturday at Assembly Hall.

"They kept fighting," DeVries said postgame. "They kept, in the huddle, encouraging one another, and I think that's a sign of a veteran team. They didn't panic inside the huddle. They just knew you've got to make that next play, and they were able to do that."

Indiana is perhaps not yet the modern-era Kardiac Kids, but the Hoosiers have a knack for late-game magic. And the more they win, the more their confidence grows in handling such scenarios moving forward.

Though Indiana games have, of late, turned into two hours of gut-wrenching, nerve-testing basketball, the Hoosiers are finding an identity in emerging victorious, no matter how untraditional the methods.

The identity, DeVries said, started on a warm Saturday night in San Juan, when the Hoosiers turned a 23-point first-half deficit into a 22-point win over Serbian pro team Mega Superbet.

"That was where you saw a little bit of, like, these dudes don't quit," DeVries said postgame. "They keep competing. They keep fighting. I think you saw it again tonight. There's some things out there we'd like to clean up a bit. We get a double-digit lead there late, we don't need to go to overtime.

"But again, they found a way. They didn't give into it."

Indiana has a seasoned roster. The Hoosiers started four seniors — Wilkerson, Enright and forwards Tucker DeVries and Sam Alexis — to go along with junior forward Nick Dorn. Of the eight Hoosiers who played, freshman forward Trent Sisley, who saw four minutes of action, was the lone who wasn't a junior or older.

The Hoosiers needed every last point Saturday, and their senior class led the way. Wilkerson had a team-high 25 points, while Alexis scored a season-best 19 points. Tucker DeVries broke from a slump to record 16 points, and Enright notched 11 points to go along with six assists and no turnovers.

Indiana scored 78 points. The team's seniors — the four starters plus forward Reed Bailey, who added 1 point — combined for 72 points.

The Hoosiers are rooted in resiliency. Their seniors, who are fighting to raise the ceiling of their final college season, are a significant engine behind it.

"It's our last year. We're all trying to make it, like, a big year for us," Alexis said. "So, we're just trying to go out there and play hard and make it fun."

Indiana certainly had its fun Saturday.

Alexis and Tucker DeVries stood motionless, arms raised high above their heads, after the clock hit zero. DeVries lifted two thumbs up to the crowd. Wilkerson, treated like the star he's become from pre-game introductions onward, was cheered as a local hero.

Their celebrations were hard-earned.

The Hoosiers didn't have their finest collective performance. Their roster is built to win from the perimeter, but they shot only 5 of 22 from 3-point range. Darian DeVries preaches ball movement and high assist numbers, but Indiana assisted on only 13 of its 30 made field goals. Leading by 6 points with four minutes remaining, the Hoosiers allowed a 10-0 run.

Their offense faltered and their defense fell apart. Their belief never wavered.

From the first practice in June onward, Darian DeVries preached togetherness. Indiana's season could've spiraled after losing four straight games in mid-January, and the Hoosiers could've quit Saturday while trailing by 4 points with less than one minute remaining in both regulation and overtime.

But Indiana knows better. The Hoosiers know they're resilient, they're scrappy and they're playing for more than themselves.

Indiana has flipped the script on its season over the past two weeks. The Hoosiers never doubted they could. They've merely grown closer — and the more they survive late-game scares with wins, the more the identity DeVries instilled long ago rises to the surface as Indiana's fabric.

"We know guys are out there giving their 100%, so pointing fingers isn't going to do anything for us," Enright said. "Just staying together, that's what coach has been preaching to us every day. I think that's just showing what we worked on."

And their work, now more than ever, paid off Saturday.

Though Wilkerson's two free throws may not make the video board highlights at Assembly Hall, the memories of another dramatic win won't soon leave the scrapbook of the 2025-26 Hoosiers — quickly becoming one of the nation's most mentally tough and resilient teams.