3 Instant Takeaways from Indiana Basketball's 93-64 Loss at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Darian DeVries turned away from the scene of the foul, dropped his head and stretched out his arms, frustrated and perplexed after another call went against his Indiana basketball team.

With his arms crossed, the Hoosiers' first-year coach eventually glanced over and watched Purdue senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn sink a pair of free throws late in the first half. He'd made another some 30 seconds earlier after an and-one.

Such was life for DeVries and the Hoosiers (17-10, 8-8 Big Ten), who mightily battled size, first-half foul trouble and all-around defensive inefficiency en route to a 93-64 loss to No. 7 Purdue (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten) on Friday night at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.

Here are three takeaways from the Hoosiers' second consecutive loss.

Purdue offense finds its stride, Indiana's defense disastrous

Indiana went 8-for-12 shooting from the field over the final nine-plus minutes of the first half, and its deficit grew from 11 points to 17 at the break. Purdue made 10 of its last 12 shots and scored 31 points in the final 10 minutes to carry a 46-29 lead in the break.

The Boilermakers benefitted from entering the bonus halfway through the first half, but much of their success stemmed from personnel, too. Kaufman-Renn finished with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, aided by a significant size advantage — 2 inches, 15 pounds — over Indiana senior forward Tucker DeVries.

But Purdue was hardly a one-man show.

Senior guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer flourished in their final regular season game against the Hoosiers. Smith tallied 15 points and eight assists, while Loyer recorded 18 points on 5-for-5 shooting, including 4 of 4 from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Omer Mayer added 18 points off the bench.

All told, Purdue shot 64.7% from the field, went 10-for-18 shooting from 3-point range and averaged 1.55 points per possession. Indiana had no defensive solutions.

Conerway delivers standout effort off the bench, Wilkerson heats up after slow start

Indiana sixth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson entered Friday averaging 24.2 points per game in Big Ten play, and he notched 15-plus points in 13 of the Hoosiers' first 15 conference games. But Wilkerson struggled through the first 25 minutes in West Lafayette, scoring just 2 points.

Eventually, with the game well out of reach, Wilkerson leveled up. He finished with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field and 2 of 17 from beyond the arc.

Amid Wilkerson's quiet start to the night, the Hoosiers received positive contributions off the bench, especially from sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway.

After playing only eight minutes combined in the Hoosiers' previous two games, Conerway saw the floor for 26 minutes and operated with more control, more poise, of the offense than he'd shown at any point since suffering an ankle injury Jan. 17 against Iowa. He finished with 12 points and seven assists.

Senior forward Tucker DeVries added 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting.

The Hoosiers shot 52.2% from the field and were 7 of 20 from distance. They averaged 1.067 points per possession and hit a few crowd-quieting 3-pointers, but their offense couldn't match Purdue's torrid pace.

Indiana's NCAA Tournament hopes take a hit, but Hoosiers still in field

Indiana started Friday as a 9- or 10-seed in most NCAA Tournament projections, and a Quadrant 1 loss to one of the nation's top 10 teams shouldn't inherently hurt the Hoosiers' chances.

But the 29-point loss adds to a troubling trend: Indiana has struggled mightily on the road against ranked teams. The Hoosiers lost by 21 points at Michigan State on Jan. 13, 14 points at Michigan on Jan. 20, 20 points at Illinois on Sunday and by 29 points at Purdue on Friday.

Indiana won five of six games entering its road game against Illinois. The Hoosiers had two chances this week to earn resume-building road wins, and they not only fell short, but they were largely uncompetitive.

So long as Indiana takes care of business at home to close the regular season, the NCAA Tournament still feels a strong possibility. But the Hoosiers don't look the part of a team long for March.