'We're Like Brothers': How Indiana Basketball's Tayton Conerway, Lamar Wilkerson Forged Roommate Bond

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A few minutes before Indiana men's basketball started its practice Tuesday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, strength and conditioning coach Ryan Horn wrapped his hands around Tayton Conerway's feet and helped stretch the legs of the Hoosiers' senior guard.

For a moment, they had a viewer: Indiana senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, who briefly stopped his around-the-world-style 3-point shooting warmup to check in on the proceedings.

Two days prior, the three of them pedaled 10 miles around a biking trail in Bloomington. It was the second iteration of a new tradition several months in the making: On Sundays, the trio of Horn, Conerway and Wilkerson rides bikes.

"We wanted to just get outside," Conerway told Indiana Hoosiers On SI on Tuesday at IU's media day. "And we normally get our Sundays off. So, we didn't want to just sit back and then come back on a Monday trying to attack it. Coach is always saying, 'Keep your body going.' That way, when Monday comes, it's not as hard."

They've ridden the Clear Creek trail, Wilkerson said, and another he can't remember. He doesn't often think too much when he's on his bike. It's a time where he enters a rare headspace, one without a basketball spinning in it. He mentally resets.

For 10 miles, it's just Wilkerson, Conerway and Horn — and now, thanks to a Week 2 adjustment, they're accompanied by music.

"So, the first time, we was quiet, and we ain't really mess with it," Wilkerson told Indiana Hoosiers On SI on Tuesday. "So, the next time, we brought the speaker, we had the music going. All three of us really enjoy music. So, we just bond over music, for real."

Wilkerson is oft described as an old soul. When he controls the speaker, he plays lots of throwbacks from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The Ashdown, Ark., native also listens to a country playlist on occasion. His favorite artist currently is Lil Poppa, a Jacksonville rapper known for his lyricism.

Conerway and Horn have little choice but to like it. After all, they're only two weeks into riding together, fulfilling a summer idea that fell through due to scheduling conflicts. Oh, and they just bought their bicycles.

The trio's treks were delayed, but they've been well worth the wait.

"We've been having a great time," Wilkerson said.

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Wilkerson and Conerway's relationship spans far beyond basketball and bike rides. They met near the end of April, the week after both committed to Indiana. Conerway's pledge came 32 hours after Wilkerson's, a stretch that gave Indiana one of the best backcourts the transfer portal could provide.

Conerway and Wilkerson are represented by the same agency, Seros Partners. Conerway's agent, T.J. Cox, is close friends and business partners with Wilkerson's agent, Cody Hopkins.

After committing to Indiana, the two senior guards moved in together in Dallas. Their agents wanted to put them in the same spot, so Wilkerson and Conerway lived and trained with one another.

They also incorporated facets of each other's skill set into their own, culminating in a transformative stint in Dallas.

"I got some parts of my game that I need to get from him, and then some parts from his game that I would like to have a part of mine," Conerway said. "Which is, like, (his) shooting and ability to be real vocal out there. My defense and ball handling is something he wanted to get.

"So, kind of putting us together and seeing how each other worked out helped us a lot."

Wilkerson added they've been "set in stone" ever since.

Living together in Dallas eased their transition to Bloomington. Neither Conerway nor Wilkerson had prior relationships with any of the Hoosiers' other 11 scholarship players. Indiana spent this summer bonding, but Wilkerson and Conerway had a month-long head start before arriving to campus in early June.

Now, Conerway and Wilkerson live together in Bloomington, right down the road from Kirkwood Avenue on the west side of campus. Naturally, they don't spend too much time at home.

Conerway hails from Fort Worth, Texas. He grew up living outside — he jokes that his mom, Crystal, used to lock him outside to play. An hour away from his home, his family owned a ranch, where he'd ride horses and play with cows. From eighth grade into high school, he was part of the Future Farmers of America. He still partakes in rodeos.

"That's a cowboy, for sure," Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson, meanwhile, is a fisherman who says he's more country than cowboy. He and Conerway hit the water "all the time," to go along with hiking, riding bikes in the woods and anything else to get them in nature.

They took different approaches to describing one another as roommates. To Wilkerson, what you see with Conerway is what you get. Nothing more, nothing less.

As for Conerway's view of Wilkerson?

"Man, clean freak," Conerway said. "Man, he swears he can cook. He can cook a little bit every now and then, but he's really just a clean freak. Spaghetti, that's his thing. He loves spaghetti. Man, he loves that stuff."

Wilkerson, who spent the past three years at Sam Houston State, and Conerway, a Troy transfer, led Indiana in scoring during its three-game exhibition series in Puerto Rico. Wilkerson averaged 15.7 points per game, while Conerway added 13 points and four assists per game, the latter mark tying for the team high.

Should Indiana's offense maximize its potential, Wilkerson and Conerway figure to be key components in the engine. As a ball-handler, Conerway boasts a twitchy, fast-paced, aggressive style that generates quality looks. Wilkerson can make plays on the floor, too, but Indiana coach Darian DeVries believes he's one of the nation's best shooters.

How high the Hoosiers, with a brand-new roster and coaching staff, can reach this season will depend on how quickly they jell together. If Wilkerson and Conerway are any indication, chemistry won't be hard to find.

"I can always count on him," Conerway said. "We're like brothers now, man. As fast as they threw us into the fire and as fast as we had to learn together, I feel like I can count on him to do a lot of things for me that a lot of people just wouldn't be able to do or couldn't do."